Research Culture

Subjective formulation of research culture drives momentum for positive person-centred change. A common articulation is one, which emphasises cultural problems arising from overemphasis of the ‘lone academic’, exploitation of ‘lesser-academics’ and invisibility of enabling roles. This article considers systemic implications of this dominant narrative for research leaders and research leadership, giving specific attention to the nature, status and visibility of knowledge and its accompanying dynamics. Two contrasting cultural formulations are considered respectively as ‘People, Process and Impact’ and ‘The Knowledge View’ with corresponding conceptual models proposed as ‘Social Benefit Factory’ and ‘Knowledge Cooperative’. Concern is raised at the apparent dominance of the factory model within research culture discourse, and a vision is presented for the development of a balancing knowledge conversation: both to engage interdisciplinary thinking on research culture, and to contribute directly to cultural discourse. Opportunities for the latter are considered briefly in relation to research leadership, objectivity and collegiality. The author attended the International Research Cultures Conference to gain a sense of the agenda and to co-locate his professional interests. This reflective response to the event is grounded in personal academic practice rather than academic specialism. It aims to invite connections and conversation. It is at the same time a preliminary conceptual inquiry into the nature and flux of academic boundaries, whether subjective, objective, practical or institutional. Funding Acknowledgement The author thanks funding for the activities and experiences, which have informed this article from the EPSRC (EP/P006892/1, EP/R025983/1 and EP/V051458/1) and the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (University of Sheffield).