By Kay Guccione, Head of Research Culture and Researcher Development, Chris Pearce, Vice Principal for Research and Knowledge Exchange and Miles Padgett, Academic Champion for Culture. 

Our city slogan tells us that People Make Glasgow, and in Research Services we believe that People Make Research. 

UofG’s People Make Research project launched for the first time in 2022 and encouraged our Postgraduate Researchers and Research Staff to recognise and thank the people who contribute positively to our thriving research environment.  

We are delighted to see that 133 of our University of Glasgow staff have been recognised for their positive contribution! Research thrives when researchers feel that they are part of a stimulating, fair, and inclusive environment in which colleagues help each other to succeed. The people who lead research across the University of Glasgow, are critically important in creating these positive cultural conditions. 

Professor Miles Padgett, Academic Champion for Culture said: “At the University of Glasgow we recognise that research culture is not an alternative to excellence rather it is what will allow more of us to excel, and it is wonderful to read about the real-life examples of how our colleagues are supporting each other to do just this” 

As well as allowing us to recognise and thank those making a positive difference, People Make Research is an informal way to collect and share practical examples of good practice in research leadership. Read the nominations boards linked below, to find out what our staff do that makes such a positive difference. If you are interested in the simple process we followed to collect these narratives, please see here. 

Our three categories mirror the three priorities of our University of Glasgow Research Strategy: Collaboration, Creativity and Careers. 

Chris Pearce, Vice Principal for Research and Knowledge Exchange said: “Every day, colleagues across UofG are working hard to ensure we have the best environment for our research to thrive. This campaign provides a great showcase of some of these fantastic efforts, and I’d like to personally thank those that have been nominated, as well as those that made a nomination.” 

We know that so many our research leaders, and research professional staff work incredibly hard to provide collegial support and cultivate an environment that upholds the highest standards of fair and open research practice. We want to publicly recognise their extensive and essential good practice and say a sincere thank you! 

Read about the 59 UofG staff recognised for their impact on Collaboration 

Read about the 27 UofG staff recognised for their impact on Creativity

Read about the 57 UofG staff recognised for their impact on Careers

The reaction to being recognised by our researchers has been very positive, with colleagues responding with comments such as:

• “It’s so unexpected to be nominated for this and the comments made about me were genuinely touching.”
• “Wow, wow, wow!!! 😊 Thank you ever so much – lovely news indeed! 😊 I’ll keep the web page open, and take a look if ever I am feeling down – that’ll perk me right back up again!”
• “I feel very honoured to have made the list. Thank you for organising this campaign, I think it is great that we have an opportunity to honour people who have supported us and it is a great feeling to be mentioned.”

If you know someone who you feel should be recognised here, but missed this year’s opportunity, why not email your chosen colleagues directly, share the positive impact they have had on you, and say thank you in your own way? Or there’s always next year.