In March 2023 the University announced a call for internal funding applications as an avenue for distributing funding we had received from Research England under a ‘Research Culture’ application. This initiative aligns with the government’s vision outline in the 2021 R&D People and Culture Strategy.  This strategy aims to ensure that our research system nurtures talented and diverse individuals in an environment that brings out their best, to pilot new initiatives, increase the scale of already-proven activities and continue activities already supported.

Applicants were asked to explain how their applications fitted with the  suggestions offered by Research England and/or areas covered in the R&D People and Culture Strategy. We also advised colleagues we would positively welcome collaborative (ideally interdisciplinary) submissions between academic and professional support (either central or Faculty) and that we were also particularly keen to encourage applications oriented to strengthening our research and innovation environment from the perspective of future projected REF and KEF submissions.

The response to the call was good, with 15 applications requesting a total funding of £384,708. However, given the available funds of £115,000, the Selection Panel faced tough decisions. Ultimately, five projects were chosen for funding, each contributing uniquely to the enhancement of research culture within the University.  Details are provided on each project below (please contact the first named investigator if you wish to know more about each project):

Coaching for Research Success (Jane Creaton [FHSS], Lisa Rhodes [RIS])

This project aims to enable more staff to benefit from individual coaching as part of university, faculty and departmental continuing development programmes (for example, the MCA to Reader programme, the Hidden Assets programme, the FHSS Pathways to Publication programme).

Mentoring Circles (Laurel Forster [CCI], Lisa Rhodes [RIS])

The mentoring circles project aims to develop and grow mentoring activity across the institution, through the development of mentoring circles, to enable more researchers at all levels to benefit from mentoring. 

Supporting the development of sustainable institutional arrangements for open/transparent research data (Simon Kolstoe [FSAH])

This project is designed to establish how best to sustain open research within a range of diverse institutions, and to equip the research community to evolve better answers to that question over time.

University-wide (UoA) Visiting Research and Innovation Scholars Scheme (Jo Corbett [FSAH], Andy Dixon [RIS], Nigel Williams [BaL], George Burrows [CCI], Jim Briggs [Technology], Angela Crack [FHSS].

This project aims to provide funding for all current REF Unit of Assessment (UoAs) (16 in total) to host a visiting scholar at UoP to work and interact with researchers within the UoA, supporting the internationalisation of our research and growing our international collaborative network.

UoPen: Developing an institution-wide open science network at the University of Portsmouth (Matt Miller-Dicks [FSAH], Beatriz Lopez [FSAH], Gary Pike [Library], Liz Brindley [Library], Harry Mayes [FSAH], Joy Watts [FSAH]).  

This project will focus on developing new initiatives and resources aimed at increasing the scale of staff support and the subsequent uptake of open science practices at the University of Portsmouth (UoP). The project will utilise already-proven initiatives at UoP such as the student-led Reproducibilitea network and existing external resources to embed open science practices at different stages of the research process (e.g., intention to apply and research ethics).