Research Culture

The University of Hull is committed to enhancing the research culture in our institution. We are driving forward a wide range of initiatives that empower our researchers to achieve success within a supportive, ambitious, vibrant culture that values and recognises our people.

Professor Liz Walker

Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research Culture)

Research Culture Action Plan

To underscore our commitment to enhancing the research culture at the University of Hull we have established a Hull Research Culture Action Plan. Developed through consultation with our research community, this action plan sets a strategic direction for enhancing our institutional research culture, as well as an operational work plan running to 2029.

The Hull Research Culture Action Plan is ambitious – it is both values-driven as well as action-oriented. It addresses processes and policies of the University, as well as the behaviours and norms within our research community, recognising the shared responsibility for enhancing our research culture as an institution.

Through dialogue with our research community, we have identified four strategic objectives:

To strengthen support for researcher and career development
To facilitate time for research
To enable collaboration and new ways of working
To enhance and recognise inclusive and responsible research practices.

The Action Plan addresses these strategic objectives through a suite of cross-cutting projects and actions. Fundamentally, the Research Culture Action Plan is about making Hull an outstanding place to do research. It is about attracting the most talented researchers and reassuring them that this is the place for them to build their academic careers.

Find the Research Culture Action Plan here.

Research culture encompasses the behaviours, values, expectations, attitudes, and norms of our research communities. It influences researchers' career paths and determines how research is conducted and communicated. Research culture is about how research happens and how it is experienced by the people involved, from academics to participants to research-enabling staff.

The Royal Society

Research Culture Week 2-5 June 2025

Our annual event is an opportunity to step back and take in the breadth and quality of research taking place across the University, and to recognise the people by whom that research is underpinned.

It is also an opportunity to stage an institutional reflection on how we conduct research at the University: the support systems that enable researchers to work effectively and the researcher development frameworks that enable academics to thrive.

The event also allows us to focus on the partnerships through which our researchers reach out beyond the academy, and how we nurture a culture of integrity, ethics, and openness within our research community.

Open Research

Open Research is essential to a healthy research culture. A culture of openness is a culture which destigmatizes negative results, values research integrity and facilitates wider collaboration.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) plays a vital role in research, by ensuring that people from a diverse range of backgrounds can access and contribute to research activities in an equitable manner.

Researcher Development

At Hull we are committed to the development of our researchers. From bespoke training sessions to integrated development programmes and opportunities for networking, we offer our research staff the support they need to thrive in their careers.

Early Career Researchers

We provide a nurturing and supportive environment for early stage academics to build their research skills and profile, convening an institution-wide, and faculty-based, ECR networks, and coordinating a dedicated cross-faculty early career researcher development programme, THRIVE.