Happy birthday @drsarahwhalley.bsky.social! Looks like a good haul! Hope you’ve had a great day. 🥳

THAT’s exciting! Can’t wait to see/hear it!

A picture of the island of Lindisfarne in the distance, with green fields in the foreground and blue sky overhead.

Nothing like seeing Lindisfarne from the train on a sunny day! If only the train was moving… Hopefully we get skates on, and I’m not late for the @wellcometrust.bsky.social regional meeting bringing colleagues working on their funded #ResearchCulture projects together - looking forward to it!

Blue title slide with talk title on, Evaluating research culture - UK university perspective

Thanks to colleagues from @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social and @ucddublin.bsky.social for inviting me to talk about the work that the #ResearchCulture team at @newcastleuni.bsky.social have been doing to evaluate and track change in culture. Great talks and lots to reflect on! #REF2029PCE

Glassy tower blocks reflecting a grey Manchester sky.

Arrived in Manchester for our first People, Culture and Environment (PCE) assessment panel meeting tomorrow - looking forward to meeting colleagues from across the UK and our discussions about evaluating #ResearchCulture for #REF2029. #BackToWork #HolidayOver

Lots of pots with small tomato plants in.

A week of leave starts tomorrow with these little beauties…. Getting #AllotmentReady #GoodToGrow

A colourful and delicious looking salad lunchbox, with breaded chicken, avocado and edible flowers

Some lunches are just made better than others…. #HappyLunch #HungryAlready

Five ways to start leading research culture change If you’re concerned that research culture is valuing output over well-being, or prioritising prestige over passion, these tips could help you move towards more supportive and collaborative labs and de...

First article co-authored with @annettebramley.bsky.social published today in @timeshighered.bsky.social - Five Top Tips to help you lead change in research culture. Hopefully it’s helpful, or maybe you’ve got more tips to add…? #ResearchCulture

www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/five-...

Today, with @annettebramley.bsky.social, we publish our #FiveTopTips for building a more positive #ResearchCulture - take a look - maybe it could help you lead change where you are? #CultureChange #Inclusion #WorkingTogether @timeshighered.bsky.social

Cover of Professor Nicola Rollock’s book, The Racial Code

At @advancehe.bsky.social #EDIConf2025 listening to Prof Nicola Rollock, author of #TheRacialCode delivering a provocation about whether we view the current geopolitical challenges around #EDI as an oddity, or part of a continuation of injustice and oppression that continues to operate? #ThankYou

#EDIConf2025 - slowing getting back into the saddle with my social media…

Slide showing a mountain meadow landscape with the text-Any questions?

At the end of the first day of the @advancehe.bsky.social #EDI Conference, lots of thoughts and reflections and, of course, as always, lots of questions! Thanks to everyone who presented today-looking forward to tomorrow… #Equality #Diversity #Inclusion #StayCurious

How do we create environments where people can do their best thinking? In a distracted world, how can we make time to think? Professor Peter Hopkins reflects on work at Newcastle University to create space for deeper thinking.

Here is an interesting article by Newcastle University about the components that are needed to create a ‘thinking environment’ where the very best quality thinking happens - click here to watch the video!

from.ncl.ac.uk/how-do-we-cr...

Picture of a slide on ‘the dark side of diversity and inclusion, with the provocation: does the organisation make changes to fundamental assumptions and practices to better accommodate individuals from the margins, or use EDI to camouflage longstanding inequalities and/or implicitly encourage employees to conform to the dominant mould?

Slide asking, How do we move forward? Solutions highlight strengthening professional voice via networks, valuing constructively critical voices, reflexivity and learning, and allyship.

Great talk from Dulini Fernando @astonuniversity.bsky.social who has left us with an excellent provocation, especially for those of us in leadership positions. Lots to reflect on at @ukri.org #BBSRC Connecting #ResearchCulture Conference @earlhaminst.bsky.social

An image of a conference booklet for Connecting Research Culture Conference

Selfie of Liz Simmonds, Tim Newton and Candy Rowe at the conference

Connecting with #ResearchCulture colleagues and #EDI champions from across BBSRC Institutes (and beyond) at their first Research Culture Conference hosted at @earlhaminst.bsky.social. Learning lots, and feeling inspired to get going again on this platform and make more connections myself!

Not been to Sri Lanka but have done self-drive in Namibia and it was amazing-lots to see beyond desert. To be fair, both sound better than a week in the UK…

Image of slide with a coffee cup and logs of Newcastle University and Babraham institute.

Coffee break in our discipline-specific #ResearchIntegrity training to researchers in our Biosciences Institute by colleagues from @babrahaminst.bsky.social emerging from a @ukri.org BBSRC-funded CONNECT project. Great to be #WorkingTogether and #LearningTogether to build #ResearchCulture.

Morning sky with pink-tinged circular cloud formation.

Some clouds are just better than others. #AmazingSkies

Candle burning-it is a candle that counts down to Christmas, and has the numbers 23 and 24 still remaining.

Despite best efforts to get timing right, Christmas candle still burning down with 10 mins to go… Enjoy the festive holidays-back in the New Year! #HappyChristmas

‘Destigmatise efforts to uphold research integrity’ - Research Professional News Focus on systems and culture rather than individual wrongdoing, say Simon Kolstoe and Stephanie Neave

Opinion: ‘Destigmatise efforts to uphold research integrity’.

Focus on systems and culture rather than individual wrongdoing, say Simon Kolstoe and Stephanie Neave.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-v...

A desk by a window with a laptop and a coffee on, with a small chocolate bear on the windowsill.

Yay! In our #ResearchRetreat today and tomorrow. No meetings. Away from the office. A time to think, research and write with a group of great colleagues. And a chocolate bear if I reach my goal for the day… #ReleasingQualityTime

Does this mean you’ve had a last gasp of success for 2024?!?

👏👏👏

Join Rachel Kendal on Dec 18 to explore how how the CES Transformation Fund advances EDI in grant applications.

Key measures include:
📝 Anonymized reviews
📝 Two-stage application process
📝 Diversity scoring & review panels

Register here: researchonresearch.org/afire-funder...

A yellow post it with ‘slow down to speed up’ handwritten on it

Sometimes, you need to slow down in order to speed up. It can be difficult to know exactly when, but I’m learning that when something’s not feeling quite right, it’s better to stop and discuss with people, find a shared sense of purpose, and move on more energised. #MyLifeInPostIts #AlwaysLearning

Whoop whoop! Great winner!

Call for Proposals - Metascience The call for proposals for Metascience 2025 is open with a deadline of 7 February 2025.

Call for Proposals: Metascience 2025

Be part of the biggest Metascience meeting yet! We're inviting proposals for:
✅ Virtual symposia
✅ In-person panels
✅ Talks & posters

⏰ Submit by 7 Feb 2025
🔗 Full details: metascience.info/call-for-pro...

Front cover of a book-The Way We Talk Around Here

New book just out and looks like it’s going to be an interesting holiday read. Builds on Schein’s (and other’s) work on #OrganisationalCulture and already making me think about culture change from a different perspective…. #ResearchCulture

Still reflecting on conversations we had yesterday about #AcademicLeadership with colleagues from across @newcastleuni.bsky.social - one of our first meetings as a Participatory Action Research Group for our @wellcometrust.bsky.social funded project, #ReimaginingLeadership. Watch this space!

In case you don’t know about Chris Harrison’s amazing work @astro-obs-ncl.bsky.social on making data more accessible through sonification..”his work exemplifies how aiming for inclusivity and accessibility of science goes hand in hand with expanding our horizons, rather than confining them” #UKRIFLF