The Researcher Development and Culture team are delighted to announce that £449 has been raised for the University’s Liv to Give charities as part of our commitment to match this donation to the number of responses to CEDARS this year. This money will go to support The Walton Centre Charity. The Walton Centre is the UK’s only specialist NHS trust providing pioneering care for people with brain, spine, and nervous system conditions. We thank all respondents for their time in contributing to this valuable survey.
Additionally, the winners of the £20 voucher prize draw were:
- Dr Natasha Bayes
- Dr Vinay Tatipamula
- Dr Charlotte Buckley
The Culture, Employment and Development in Academic Research Survey – (CEDARS) is a nationally benchmarked survey that seeks to capture the experiences, views, and needs of research staff and their managers in higher education institutions. The university has run this survey biannually since 2011 (in its previous iteration as CROS and PIRLS) and used information from it to inform our policies and practices around supporting researchers’ career and professional development, employment and research culture improvements.
What next: How we will use the CEDARS data at Liverpool?
We will use these data, together with our data from 2021 and 2023, to assess our progress on supporting a positive working environment and research culture following different activities, in addition to considering the best next steps to support and enhance the career and professional development of researchers. These responses also provide invaluable information for all REF leads to understand the views of research staff and their managers on the following themes:
- How you feel that you are recognised and valued at the university
- Your professional and career development opportunities
- The environment within which you work
Professor Georgina Endfield, Associate Pro Vice Chancellor (APVC) for the Research Environment and Postgraduate Research and co-chair for UoA7 on the REF PCE pilot said: “CEDARS enables us to tell a compelling story of our commitment to research culture. Listening to our researchers through surveys such as CEDARS can ultimately help us enhance our researcher development programmes and the data we collect allows us to benchmark our progress against sector-wide trends.
Our proactive use of CEDARS also aligns with REF’s call for evidence of sustained and systemic support for research staff. The University is in the planning phases for a Research Culture Survey in 2026 and 2027 which will yield important insights into our effectiveness in valuing people and culture – a critical dimension of research excellence.”
If you would like more information about CEDARS, please contact the Researcher Development and Culture team: researcher@liverpool.ac.uk