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Our vision for research culture at King’s

A culture where people thrive and are valued. A place where great research practice is our everyday norm. An environment where innovation flourishes, impactful discoveries unfold and everybody feels part of a richly diverse community. This is our goal.

Together with stakeholders from across the sector, King’s is a driving force in shaping research culture. A culture that not only meets the highest academic standards but also embodies the principles of inclusivity, integrity, and collaboration.  

Creating holistic change

Our Research community includes everyone engaged in or facilitating research - from students to technicians and those employed in professional services.

Our work in research culture is supported by our Research Culture team, who collaborate on projects across King's research community, as well as the wider Higher Education sector. The Research Culture team work closely with the Research Ethics, Research Governance and Research Integrity teams, within King's overarching Research Management and Innovation Directorate.

As well as the work we do in our central team, we also make funds available to other faculties and directorates across King’s to help inform and enable local strategies. The faculty-level work is supported by our network of Vice-Deans for Research, Research Integrity Champions and Research Integrity Advisors.

A culture of learning

In our Strategy 2026 delivery plans, we acknowledge the importance of cultivating an inclusive and welcoming community, providing room for professional development and amplifying voices that might otherwise go unheard.

These factors are crucial in enabling everyone involved in research to perform at their best. As such, people (rather than targets or output volume) are central to our Research Culture vision, which is underpinned by our Principles in Action.

We commit to learning from our past experiences and the experiences of others, and support a culture of learning both within King’s and across the sector.

Our areas of focus are structured within three inter-connected pillars:

Monitoring progress and sharing our learning

A woman reading a book in a library

We believe in the importance of understanding what does and doesn't work in creating culture change. We're committed to monitoring, evaluating and sharing our work in ways that are open and transparent, and will use a range of approaches including surveys, audit, analysis of routinely collected data and prospective studies. We'll hold an annual event where we’ll share the learnings from our research culture work with our community and others working in the research culture space across the wider community.

Evaluation framework

A group of students sitting around a circular table with laptops and books in the Maughan library

With many different initiatives designed to enhance research culture, it’s hard to identify robust indicators of change. We’re developing an evaluation framework with several strands: • Helping develop strong indicators of Open Research with the UK Reproducibility Network. • Participating in VITAE-led workshops to create indicators for People, Culture, and Environment. • Finding indicators for new and developing policies and processes that positively impact research culture. • Working with our King’s community to identify meaningful and valid measures.

Externally-funded projects

INKLUDE

A focus on embedding inclusive practices, funded by Wellcome.

STEP-UP

Supporting research technical professionals, funded by the EPSRC.