CAREERS
Helping each other to succeed
Glasgow succeeds when its people succeed. We are committed to making the University the best place to pursue a career. To achieve this, we have focused on enhancing our research culture, providing development support through training programmes tailored for all career stages, and increasing the visibility of all staff groups in contributing to our research success.
Enhancing our positive research culture
'Research culture' is the collective result of the way we think, feel and act. It is created by the choices we make and the way we behave towards each other. The University’s research culture is strongly driven by the way we define, support, evaluate, and reward success in research. And who we recognise as having contributed to that success. A good culture drives high engagement, trust, productivity, sustainability, wellbeing, and ultimately great research. The University’s Research Culture Team is focused on issues that are specific to the way we do research, and the way we support research careers.
Our five research culture priorities are:
- Collegiality
- Research Integrity
- Open Research
- Research Recognition
- Career Development.
In 2024, we launched the second phase of the Lab for Academic Culture, with an expanded membership, a Co-Director leadership model and a remit to contribute strongly to the sector. The Lab is dedicated to fostering, developing, and enhancing positive academic cultures where all members of the university community can thrive. It serves as a hub for creativity, collaboration, and experimentation with new ideas and initiatives. The Lab plays a key advisory role in shaping the University’s Research Culture Priorities and Action Plan.
The University Research Strategy has been pivotal in improving research culture in the College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, most notably in the context of support and training for early career academic colleagues. These have been transformational. Professor Gerard Graham, Dean of Research, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences
We provide robust career support through various opportunities. Since 2020, we have expanded ArtsLab Labs, increased outputs training, facilitated work-in-progress groups, and introduced new governance structures to enhance access to research roles. Additionally, we have improved access to management and leadership training for professional services staff. Professor Dauvit Broun, Dean of Research, College of Arts and Humanities
The University’s Research Strategy has driven multiple initiatives in the College of Science and Engineering and enabled us to introduce new ideas. For example, of Research, College of Social Scienceswe made significant investments in fellowships, focusing on talented researchers at a very early career stage and piloting collaborative fellowships. Professor Margaret Luc
Supporting our research community during COVID-19
Everyone in our research community was affected in some way by the COVID-19 pandemic, but some experienced greater disruption than others. This uneven disruption, both during and in the aftermath of COVID-19, risked creating inequalities in the ability of researchers to work productively.
Following analysis by the Lab for Academic Culture, the University launched two initiatives to minimise disruption, funded by the Scottish Funding Council. The first scheme supported the recruitment of teaching posts to free up the time of Research & Teaching colleagues or independent researchers who had increased post-COVID-19 teaching commitments. The second targeted Research & Teaching, Research-only, and Technical & Specialist roles to pay for various expenses to ‘free up time’. Examples of funded interventions included support with additional childcare costs, administrative and archival assistance, and purchase of equipment and materials. A total of £680,654 was awarded to support nearly 300 colleagues, with feedback indicating that research productivity was partially or fully restored.
Improving consistency for our postgraduate research students
Recognising the profound impact of the pandemic on our postgraduate research (PGR) community, since 2020 we have provided additional funding to 593 PGR students, with UKRI offering financial assistance to another 200 individuals. The estimated cost for the university-funded programme is £3.2 million, with some funding still being distributed.
We have significantly improved PGR governance, systems, policies and processes in this strategic cycle. For example, we have launched a new PGR Dates Dashboard in MyCampus, developed and implemented a new online Annual Progress Review (APR) system, and created a comprehensive ‘one-stop shop’ PGR SharePoint space, which is set to launch in October 2024. Our new PGR committee structure has allowed us to move quickly to address any PGR issues, effectively respond to community needs, and collaborate seamlessly across the University.
Talent Lab
Our Talent Lab, which represents a key pillar of the Research Strategy, has grown since 2020 to house an impressive 11 programmes that focus on developing leadership in research, and researchers as leaders. From postgraduates to professors, Talent Lab has programmes for researchers at all career stages, with 1,285 colleagues participating so far.
Talent Lab recognises the power of each of us to influence the research environment and the research culture in which we operate. It takes a cohort model bringing together career-stage peers, offering structured development opportunities to explore research leadership. This allows participants to undertake reflective practice that accelerates career development, and to foster mentoring and networking relationships.
Research Professional Staff Network
The Research Strategy involves not just researchers, but also technicians and professional services staff, recognising the indispensable contributions that these staff groups make to our research. Research Professional Staff Network is a collaborative community of research professional staff in diverse roles across the University. It was launched in 2023 to connect research professionals, offer opportunities to share knowledge and expertise, and provide a collective voice in key consultations.
Since its launch, the network has welcomed 285 members, elected a vibrant executive committee, devised a five-point action plan, and organised a hugely successful and sold-out conference.
Investing in emerging talent
The Lord Kelvin Adam Smith (LKAS) Leadership Fellowship provides supplementary funding of up to £100,000 to those applying for eligible externally funded fellowships, or to those who wish to bring their existing, eligible externally-funded fellowship to Glasgow. The fund is primarily aimed at researchers commencing their independent research journey and is open to those who are not yet in a permanent, open-ended contract.
Since October 2020, there have been 387 applications to this scheme, with 49 committed fellowships currently supporting academics holding external fellowships. Since January 2022, the LKAS Leadership Fellowship has included continuation options for successful fellowship holders, with the view of retaining talent within the University of Glasgow.
The award-winning James McCune Smith (JMS) Scholarships and Development Programme is a pioneering initiative that provides funding and tailored support for Black UK doctoral researchers. In addition to being life-changing for our Scholars and conferring benefits in terms of networks, placements, mentoring and leadership training, this flagship programme underscores the principles of the Research Strategy and drives new areas of scholarship.
The JMS programme launched in 2021, with the first 17 Scholars commencing in 2022. We received over 700 expressions of interest, demonstrating the demand and need for this type of funded Scholarship. A further 18 Scholars commenced in 2023, and 20 in 2024.
In 2023, we hosted the inaugural JMS annual conference. Building on this success, we are developing the JMS Network – a series of public events that invite accomplished Black scholars, artists, third sector representatives, and industry leaders to the University to share their success stories.
People make research
Research thrives when colleagues feel that they are part of a stimulating, fair, and inclusive environment in which people help each other to succeed. Our People Make Research campaign launched for the first time in May 2022 and encouraged our postgraduate researchers and research staff to recognise and thank the people who contribute positively to our thriving research environment.
During our 2022 and 2023 campaigns, we received 252 nominations, highlighting how keen our research community is to recognise the positive contribution colleagues have made to their professional life and the culture of research at Glasgow.
A postgraduate researcher doing quantum research in Imaging
Open research
Information Services has continued to strengthen and support the well-established and successful open research service. In 2023, the University implemented the Research Publications and Copyright Policy, further enhancing open access options that are equitable for all researchers.
As an initial measure to tackle financial barriers to publishing long-form outputs open access, we have invested in the not-for-profit Scottish Universities Press, and members of staff are on the Press’ management and editorial boards. The first book published by the Scottish Universities Press expected to come out in late 2024 and it is by a Glasgow author. Furthermore, the University is an active member of the United Kingdom Reproducibility Network Open Research Programme.