Collaboration, Creativity and Careers: Research Professionals co-create Solutions for Change

By Dr Emma Waters, Researcher Development Specialist for PGRs

Setting the scene

The visibility and recognition of the expertise and contribution our Research Professional Staff is of key importance to us at the University of Glasgow and this blog post gives an example of the multi-layered value Research Professionals add to the research environment. Research Professionals work across a broad spectrum of fields to support and enhance research and researchers. It is important to value this work as being centred within distinct areas of expertise and knowledge, led by specialists. Much like interdisciplinary research, working across professional teams brings different types of expertise together to develop projects that are ambitious, innovative and impactful.

Glasgow’s Research Culture and Researcher Development team runs a suite of initiatives that develop research leadership and researchers as leaders under the umbrella of Talent Lab. This is a key focal point of the work our team does and is part of the University’s commitment to focussing on Collaboration, Creativity and Careers, as the key priorities of our Research Strategy, across all levels of research career experience.

The ability to work in an interdisciplinary way is increasingly recognised as an important skill for researchers, including doctoral researchers. For example, the most recent Statement of Expectations for Doctoral Training from UKRI states one of the desired outcomes for doctoral training is to have “researchers prepared to operate across interdisciplinary, collaborative, and challenge-led environments”.

A new Talent Lab centred on interdisciplinary collaboration for PGRs

For the academic year 2023/24 I piloted a new Talent Lab programme for PGRs and new Research Staff which centred on interdisciplinary collaborations: Solutions for Change. The aim of Solutions for Change was to create an opportunity for researchers to work in interdisciplinary teams to solve social and environmental challenges faced by local third-sector, non-profit and community organisations.

The assembled teams comprised PGRs from a range of backgrounds, and were purposefully cross-discipline. Team Leaders were drawn from our Research Staff community, and were staff who were looking to develop their leadership experience. The teams were supported through a series of training sessions that equipped them to work on the projects and were given time to reflect on their experiences, putting training directly into practice during the project.

When I began this project, I had just made a cross-disciplinary career move myself, moving into Researcher Development from my previous role as a Learning, Teaching and Scholarship Lecturer in the sciences. My knowledge was in pedagogical design and increasingly in skills development for researchers. What I was not yet experienced in was engaging with communities and third sector organisations outside the University.

The task was fairly daunting to me with many unknowns. Particularly finding organisations to work with, ensuring that the programme was beneficial for them and developing training for researchers that focused on ‘co-creation’ and ‘working with community groups’. The ultimate success of the pilot was down to my own interdisciplinary collaboration with my Research Professional colleagues, showing that these interdisciplinary skills are important for those that support research, as well as for researchers.

Building the Solutions for Change Team

I started to discuss the project with colleagues and was honest about the concerns I had about the areas in which I was inexperienced. Thankfully I was pointed in the direction of Kenneth Skeldon, University Research Engagement Manager in the University of Glasgow Research Services Directorate and international superstar in this kind of work. After discussing the aims of the project with Ken it became clear that I had found someone who had the knowledge and experience I was missing, forming the start of the collaboration that would bring the pilot of Solutions for Change to life.

Ken had experience of managing the University of Glasgow Open Lab, which had similar aims to Solutions for Change. This had previously run as a small community sustainability grant scheme that funded projects that would make a difference in local communities. The Glasgow Open Lab is part of the European University Alliance CIVIS. CIVIS Open Labs run in 11 cities and create a forum for universities and local communities to come together to co-create solutions to the challenges facing their city and region.

It became clear that we had similar aims for our individual projects but different perspectives and expertise. Ken and CIVIS specialised in the engagement side whereas I and the Researcher Development Team, specialised in structuring and designing training and development activities. Thus, all three Researcher Development, CIVIS and Glasgow Open Labs teams formed a collaboration to design and pilot Solutions for Change, incorporating some of the ethos of Glasgow Open Lab, and ensuring alignment with key PGR development policies.

What the interdisciplinary team achieved

Next, we expanded our team to include other members of Research Professional Staff, namely Zara Gladman and Susan Grant, who had expertise and experience in community and public engagement, to develop training in ‘ethical community collaboration’ for our researchers.

Teams worked on four projects with community partners, the Scottish Tech Army, Partick Annex and the Friends of the People’s Palace, Winter Gardens and Glasgow Green. Each partner brought a real challenge they were facing to the teams, who worked to create solutions.

Co-created project outputs were presented at the end of the programme to internal and external audiences through a Showcase event, with presentations and an exhibition. Community partners were involved in development and delivery of the presentations and were able to invite their own guests to see the results of working with university researchers. The co-creted reports can all be read here:

• Prompt Engineering Guidebook for Charities (PDF)
• Save our sandwiches: tackling food waste at the University of Glasgow (PDF)
• Technology to support young carers (PDF)
• The Winter Gardens: a vision for the future (PDF)

The benefits of collaboration between research professionals

For Solutions for Change the answer for my own knowledge gap was to look to others for input and help. Rather than trying to rapidly upskill myself and tightly controlling the project, I opened the project to colleagues, allowing them to lead in areas where they had experience, knowledge and passion. The overall result was a programme that achieved far more than I could have hoped for. The success was due to the ability to form a team that cared about the project and valued the contribution of each discipline.

As I welcomed participants, community partners, UofG staff and senior figures from both the university and external organisations to the Solutions for Change Showcase, I was proud of what the pilot had managed to achieve and grateful for the colleagues who were essential for the success of the programme and pushing what I thought it was possible to achieve.

Where are we going next

As we look to Solutions for Change 2025, and scale up our small pilot, we plan to build on our newly established partnership between Researcher Development, Glasgow Open Labs, CIVIS and expert UofG Research Professionals to continue the success of the pilot. Taking feedback from participants and our own observations we are working together to raise awareness of the programme with UofG researchers and improve how we can reach out to a greater number of third sector, non-profit and community groups who may be interested in getting involved.

If that third sector, non-profit and community group could be you, please email researcher-development@glasgow.ac.uk