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Research

Sharing Research Cultures

Many thanks to all those who attended the Research Culture Team’s ‘Sharing Research Cultures at Queen Mary’ event on Thursday 21st March. Colleagues from across the university gathered to hear talks that aimed both to share news of exciting research culture initiatives at Queen Mary and to prompt consideration of how the university can build upon its research culture strengths.

After an introductory talk by Tim Warner (Dean for Postgraduate Research and Director of the Doctoral College), Chloe Orkin (FMD) began proceedings with a powerful talk reflecting on the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry’s journey to securing Athena Swan Gold in December 2023, stressing how EDI was everyone’s responsibility and how academic citizenship should not be a tax that falls solely on the individuals facing barriers in their professional and working lives. Dylan Morrissey (FMD) and Aoife Monks (HSS) co-delivered a talk that illustrated some discipline-specific subtleties considered for apparently straightforward ethical decisions, reinforcing the need to ground ethical considerations sensitively and appropriately within local researcher cultures. Their presentation embodied the reflexivity which QMERC typically applies to facilitate research activity while protecting the rights and dignity of participants in the research process.

A series of shorter talks followed. Emmanouil Benetos (S&E) highlighted the initiatives ongoing in Electronic Engineering and Computer Science to strengthen research culture within the school, Sam Wallis (FMD) underlined the importance of smaller networks and events in delivering bespoke support and career development opportunities to postdocs within the Barts Cancer Institute, and Sarah Gifford (Office of the Principal) emphasised Queen Mary’s Civic University Agreement and its role in shaping equitable partnerships with the East London communities with whom we research with and for.

Many thanks to the speakers for giving up their time to present on the day and to all those who attended.

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