In our fortnightly Research Culture Uncovered conversations we are asking what is Research Culture and why does it matter? In our latest episode ‘Research Impact & Engagement: Liz Danner's PhD Exploration of UK University Culture’ we had the pleasure of catching up with Liz Danner to discuss the progress of her PhD research on the impact of the UK's research engagement and impact agenda.

If you cast your mind back to episode Season 5 Episode 1 ‘How has research impact affected research culture?’, our guest was Professor Richard (Rick) Holliman, from the Open University, who was advertising the PhD ‘What is the impact of the UK’s research impact agenda?’ (https://player.captivate.fm/episode/1aaeee8c-8275-49af-89d2-05ab737d99d3) . Liz was the successful candidate, so we are catching up with her to find out how it is going.

Liz delves into the motivations behind her project, the research questions she is exploring, and the methodology she is employing to gather diverse perspectives across the UK's university landscape.

🌟 Key Takeaways:

🔍 Cascading Impact Model: Liz’s aim is to co-develop actionable recommendations towards the end of the project, aiming to change how research culture supports individuals within universities. This could enable universities to provide more robust engagement and research impacts in the future.

🔍 Methodology: She is using a triangulated approach, analyzing documents and conducting interviews to gain a comprehensive understanding of how different universities prioritise engagement and impact processes and training.

🔍 Engaged PhD researchers: Liz and Rick, along with Dr Rebekah Smith-McGloin from Nottingham Trent University, discussed areas such as recruitment and selection, assessment and employability to truly create an engaged PhD research journey at the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement’s Engage 2023 Conference.

Liz will be presenting her latest research findings at the upcoming Engage 2024 Conference and the European Science Engagement Conference in Tbilisi, Georgia. If you are interested in staying connected with Liz and her research journey, you can find moreinformation on her Open University profile page. Feel free to reach out to her via email to join the conversation and stay updated on her progress.

All of our episodes can be accessed via the following playlists:

• Research Impact with Ged Hall (follow Ged on Twitter and LinkedIn)
• Open Research with Nick Sheppard (follow Nick on Twitter and LinkedIn)