The second phase of the RISE (Research in an Inclusive and Sustainable Environment) project is complete, and has informed a set of recommendations to help maximise the potential of the University’s research community.
RISE has a commitment to inclusivity at its heart, gathering ideas and approaches on the research environment from across the University. The second phase of the project has involved wide ranging conversations with almost 600 colleagues in diverse areas.
Identifying activities that are important to us
RISE Phase 2, building on the findings of the first phase, was an institution-wide conversation between September and November 2021. It focused on two key questions:
- What do we want to measure and incentivise as part of our research environment?
- How we should do this, with specific focus on team-based research?
Participants included researchers at different career stages from all three faculties, networks of University staff with protected characteristics and non-academic colleagues through a technicians’ forum and Professional Services workshop.
Findings and recommendations
The conversations from RISE Phase 2 highlight a clear appetite for a greater requirement, acknowledgement and recognition of a wider range of activities than the current research and impact assessment. This includes contributions towards supporting people (including EDI initiatives) and working with partners on knowledge exchange.
These findings have enabled the RISE team to identify a set of recommendations, which align with national ongoing changes in the research environment being led by UKRI.
The four key findings can be summarised as support for:
- A wider set of activities to be assessed and measured alongside more traditional measures.
- Greater incentives and support for teamwork to enable more diversity, excellence and sustainability of research teams.
- Use of narrative statements to provide a more rounded assessment of contributions and to support team research.
- Continuation and reform of the Reading Programme focused on improvement of research output quality, based on strengths and weaknesses identified by RISE participants.
Three cross-institutional working groups will begin work to further develop thinking and implementation planning around these four strands.
The full RISE phase 2 report is available here: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/intranet/the-academy/researching/rise/