Research Resources

Research for Development and Enhancement: The Research and Knowledge Exchange Strategy of the University of East London (2009 – 2014)

Our Vision 

• To achieve excellence in the quality of our Research and Knowledge Exchange activities and to increase further the proportion of our research judged by our peers to be of world leading or internationally excellent standing as assessed through formal audits such as the Research Excellence Framework (REF), and through other national and international indicators.
  
• Through Research and Knowledge Exchange activities, disseminated widely and effectively through excellent publications and other methods, to have a significant impact, benefiting the academic pursuit of knowledge and professional practice and the public more generally, furthering our University’s national and international aspirations.
  
• To provide a major Research and Knowledge Exchange resource for the development of East London (including the Olympic and Paralympic Legacy) and the Thames Gateway and enhance the economic and social wellbeing of its people.
  
• Through our Research and Knowledge Exchange activities to enhance the development opportunities of our staff and enrich the educational experience of our students 

Definitions of Research and Knowledge Exchange

• We see Research and Knowledge Exchange as elements within a continuum of activity; we acknowledge that the breadth of this spectrum varies considerably from one discipline to the next.
• We subscribe to the definition of research put forward by the UK funding councils in respect of the preparations for the Research Excellence Framework, that research is “a process of investigation leading to new insights effectively shared”.
• We define knowledge exchange as making our research findings available across the public, private and voluntary sectors: “moving knowledge into action” for the benefit of the wider public.

Strategic Initiatives to Achieve our Vision

1. External Funding

Within the period of this Strategy we will significantly increase our level of external funding (UK Research Councils, European Framework and other public sources, private sector, voluntary sector).  To this end we will invest in resources to support the generation of funding bids, the RKED Service Point, (see below), incentives for staff to submit external funding bids, and professional bid writing assistance.  We will improve the coordination of our activities to make best use of expertise in External and Strategic Development Services, the Graduate School and Knowledge Dock, in order to maximise our external funding.

The increase we expect to see in our level of external funding will be set separately as one of a number of performance indicators and subject to annual review

2. Research and Knowledge Exchange Environment

We are committed to maintaining and developing the Research and Knowledge Exchange environment for our staff and students which we believe underpins the vitality of excellent research and knowledge exchange activity and contributes to our learning and teaching.

We recognise the importance of supporting research and knowledge exchange by provision of an excellent infrastructure consisting of various resources not least our University’s Library and Learning Services and initiatives such as the development of our Institutional Repository, ROAR@UEL and other uses of technology and virtual technology to enable and impact on our Research and Knowledge Exchange activities.

We place great emphasis on the value of the RKED Service Point as a “one stop shop” to which staff can go in order to obtain guidance and support in obtaining external funding.

3. Research Institutes

Research Institutes provide the means of fostering inter-School, interdisciplinary and inter-institutional Research and Knowledge Exchange and are crucial players in our bid to increase our international profile.  We will review our existing Institutes, consider bids for new Institutes and develop arrangements for approved Institutes to be financially and managerially independent of Schools, should they wish to be so.

4. Research Centres

Research Centres within Schools are also key players in developing our international reputation.  We will engage in ongoing review of our existing Centres with a view both to safeguarding the reputation of our Centres in general and to identifying ways in which we can better support and enhance their activities.

5. Research and Knowledge Exchange Plans

To achieve our vision we will manage our Research and Knowledge Exchange activities proactively and comprehensively.  To this end Deans and Directors will include full and detailed Research and Knowledge Exchange plans within their annual School or Service plans.

Research and Knowledge Exchange planning will also take place at individual staff level. Whether working within a Research Institute or Centre, within a Research Grouping or individually, all academic staff will work to annually approved and monitored individual Research and Knowledge Exchange plans.  These will contain agreed performance indicators, clearly stated targets and milestones, relevant to their School’s Research and Knowledge Exchange Plan.

6. Postgraduate Research Students

Research students are important to our Research and Knowledge Exchange activities. We recognise the benefits of increasing numbers of successful FT research students through targeted recruitment and with appropriate support. We will adjust our committee system so that the Research Degrees Subcommittee now reports to the Quality and Standards Committee. We will ensure that the highest standards of quality assurance are applied throughout this area of activity and at all levels. Our Graduate School will work closely with Schools to address all regulatory, administrative and student experience issues. We will establish an independent panel of postgraduate research students to regularly advise us on their experience of studying at UEL and hold an annual Postgraduate Research Student conference to showcase students’ achievements and provide valuable experience of presenting papers. We will also continue to examine and address issues relating to resourcing and staff development to further improve our postgraduate research students’ experience, in response to feedback gathered through the Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) and similar surveys.

7. Research and Knowledge Exchange and Learning and Teaching

We recognise the natural synergies between research and knowledge exchange and teaching, learning and assessment, and learning and expect research and knowledge exchange activities to impact upon, inform and enhance our teaching practice and learning opportunities and vice versa, including but not limited to engagement with pedagogical research.

8. Research and Knowledge Exchange Culture

A vibrant Research and Knowledge Exchange culture both derives from and facilitates enhanced Research and Knowledge Exchange performance.  We will implement several measures to enhance our Research and Knowledge Exchange culture including organising an annual Research and Knowledge Exchange conference and, as mentioned above, an annual postgraduate research student conference, and issue regular UEL Research and Knowledge Exchange reports both to inform our community and also celebrate our successes. We will ensure that the views of postgraduate research students and early career researchers are taken into account as we seek to enhance the Research and Knowledge Exchange culture and we will organise twice yearly meetings of all Professors both to report progress and to gain their advice.

We also recognise that our Research and Knowledge Exchange culture is intrinsically connected to and benefits from interactions with the wider academic and non-academic communities outside our University. To this end we will coordinate and publicise professorial inaugural lectures, the many invited speakers’ programmes and public lectures organised our University, and publicise more widely the numerous visiting professor and visiting fellow invitations issued by our University, and continue to develop our University as an externally-facing organisation, developing new relationships and wider partnerships with stakeholders.

At the University of East London we are committed to working together to build a learning community founded on equality of opportunity - a learning community which celebrates the rich diversity of our student and staff populations. We expect that our Research and Knowledge Exchange environment will adhere to the highest standards in these respects. We recognise the importance of enhancing and supporting our “early career researchers”, whether employed in lecturing roles or research fellows, and in line with the national Concordat to support the Career Development of Researchers, while continuing to provide suitable development opportunities for our more established colleagues.

9. Leadership and Management

Delivery of our Vision will depend on active leadership, management and monitoring. The main elements of this part of our Strategy can be summarised in a statement of the key responsibilities for Research and Knowledge Exchange performance associated with the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and Knowledge Exchange), Directors of Research Institutes, Deans of Schools, Directors of Services, Research and Knowledge Exchange Leaders and Research Degrees Leaders.

However, all colleagues, whether in academic or administrative roles, will have a part to play in Research and Knowledge Exchange activities and their contribution should be encouraged, recognised and valued.

Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and Knowledge Exchange)

• Responsible for ensuring focus, coordination and transparency in delivering our strategic objectives in a flexible manner that responds to changing external and internal circumstances.
• Responsible for maintaining an appropriate profile for our Research and Knowledge Exchange activities both internally and externally.
• Responsible for active monitoring of other Higher Education Institutions and relevant public, private and voluntary sector developments and statements as they relate to our strategic objectives.

Directors of Research Institutes, Deans of Schools and Directors of Service

• Responsible for developing comprehensive, detailed and fully costed Research and Knowledge Exchange plans as part of the annual planning round.
• Responsible for introducing individual staff Research and Knowledge Exchange plans, incorporating discipline specific output targets for different categories of staff, as part of the Staff Development and Review process.
• Responsible for monitoring the implementation of both Institute/School/Service and individual Research and Knowledge Exchange plans, motivating staff performance in these areas of activity and managing underperformance effectively.
• Responsible for growing the volume of research active staff and ensuring that the appropriate support is provided to Early Career Researchers
• Responsible for ensuring appropriate allocation of resources to facilitate the implementation of agreed plans.

Research and Knowledge Exchange Leaders

• Responsible for assisting Deans in achieving agreed Research and Knowledge Exchange objectives of both the School and individual staff members.
• Responsible for representing School interests in the Academic Board Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee.
• Responsible, as members of our Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee, for working with the PVC (Research and Knowledge Exchange) and other Committee members on corporate initiatives to deliver our University’s Vision for Research and Knowledge Exchange.

Research Degrees Leaders

• Responsible for assisting Deans and Programme Leaders in increasing postgraduate research degree student numbers, increasing retention and completion rates and ensuring a high quality of student experience.
• Responsible for representing School interests in the Research Degrees Subcommittee
• Responsible, as members of the Research Degrees Subcommittee for working with the Director of the Graduate School to achieve our University’s objectives with regard to postgraduate research students.

Approved by Academic Board
18 November 2009.

Click here for the previous Research and Scholarship Strategy 2003-2008.

UEL HOMESEARCH