The UK is at the forefront of discussions on how to improve research culture, examples include the work of - Wellcome Trust, Royal Society, Russell Group, UKRI and most recently the UK Government’s People and Culture Strategy. An important element of research culture is promoting inclusion, so diversity in all its guises can flourish. In this panel session spurred on by the work that Elsevier has been doing though it’s Inclusion and Diversity Board we will explore why research culture needs to centre on inclusion and how that leads to better outcomes. We will explore this through a discussion with 4 champions who hold different roles and positions of influence in the research ecosystem and will identify positive actions we can all take to build a more inclusive research culture.

Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser’s keynote speech argues that for the research and innovation system to tackle twenty-first century challenges and make the most of the opportunities ahead, it should be and be seen as truly inclusive.

Professor Leyser proposes that we must build and invest in a research and innovation system through which people and ideas move more freely, with each part benefitting from and supporting the others. Our ambition should be for a system in which everybody can participate and from which everybody benefits.

Join Matt Cannon, Head of Open Research at Taylor & Francis, and Becky Hill, Strategic Partnership Manager at F1000, for an overview of how the scholarly publishing ecosystem is evolving to enable the shift to open research - a more transparent and collaborative way of sharing knowledge, with benefits for all the stakeholders in research.

We’ll introduce examples of the ways in which scholarly publishers are adapting their services to support researchers from across all career stages and working on all parts of the research journey. We will demonstrate the vital role that publishers can play in enabling the openness, transparency and the reproducibility of research outputs, as well as providing credit and visibility for researchers for all the contributions that they make to research. And we’ll explain how through new ways of working and strategic partnerships, publishers can support organisations to make research in all its forms and formats, as discoverable and usable as possible, maximising the potential for research to have value and real world impact.

Much more than open access, open research is rapidly becoming an approach that researchers, institutions and funders are embracing as a way to help deliver a more constructive and effective research culture, one that is aligned with initiatives such as DORA, and one that will bring benefits to the whole research system. Join us to find out how funders such as Wellcome, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the European Commission have partnered with a publisher to deliver customised solutions to support their aims to remove the barriers to knowledge exchange and accelerate the potential for the research they have supported to have impact.

The session will run as a virtual cook-along, where you will make lunch together with Mark from your kitchens at home! Mark will be making soda bread and an Irish onion soup (perfect for the autumn). A full list of ingredients and equipment needed has been provided for you to cook along, so please get these in advance. The session will run for 40 minutes and Mark will be happy to answer any questions and have a chat about things Bake-Off during that time.

Cheesy Soda Bread and Irish Onion Soup
Serves 2-3
Duration: 30-40 minutes

In advance, prepare and weigh out all your ingredients, and gather equipment needed.

Ingredients:

Soda bread:

• 200g plain flour
• 1tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1tsp salt
• 50g mature cheddar, grated
• 200ml buttermilk

Onion soup:

• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 3 large onions, peeled and sliced into ½ cm slices
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 2tbsp Irish whiskey (optional)
• 2 gloves garlic, peeled
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 300ml Guinness (or use additional beef stock)
• 500ml beef stock
• Few sprigs of thyme
• 1 tbsp cornflour dissolved in 1 tbsp water
• Chives for garnishing

Equipment:

• Weighing scales
• Large bowl x2
• Sieve
• Whisk
• Fish slice or tongs
• Grater (for grating cheese, if not already grated)
• Large skillet or non-stick frying pan
• Chopping board and knives
• Large saucepan and lid
• Measuring jug
• Bowls for serving

Ensuring relevant information is provided to those who need it, is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges for large, diverse organisations such as universities - add a global pandemic into the mix and the challenge becomes even greater.

Building upon previous work to enhance the visibility of research support, our cross-University working group decided to use the new working methods employed as a result of the pandemic to trial the ‘Research Support at NTU’ webinar. Aimed at anyone undertaking or supporting research, the webinar would provide a high-level overview of the people, processes and systems available to support them, alongside putting research support under the spotlight.

The webinars were very well received, with 215 attendees across two sessions, are now a regular feature in the University calendar and have led to improved knowledge and collegiality between professional services and academic staff. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with one respondent noting “an increased confidence and awareness” as a consequence of the webinar, and another welcoming having “all the information in one place.”

Delegates wishing to enhance the profile of research support and improve communication at their Universities will find the content of the poster and presentation useful.

A core value for University of Derby (UoD) is to encourage a culture that allows people to achieve beyond their expectations. Addressing this, UoD’s EDI Team have established successful initiatives and embedded an inclusive culture across the university, based on the EDI agenda, part of the University ‘People Strategy’.

The University Research and KE Office (URKEO) is a central university team of 41 staff and we are building on this foundation to incorporate EDI as a core aspect of everything we do, reforming our practices to ensure this. Our goal is to embed EDI into the research & KE environment, by delivering accessible training and resources and identifying & capturing key data on research & KE, to learn what we do well, and where we can do better.

We have run successful workshops to encourage a deeper understanding of EDI in the Research Environment and these recorded sessions form the basis of our planned training resource, feeding into a PI Development Framework. In addition, URKEO staff are developing new ways of working together, using research data to identify strengths and opportunities, helping to ensure equity in our research environment and next REF submission, specifically relating to gender and ethnicity.

Post REF/ Brexit/ Pandemic: how have cost cutting and heavy restructuring affected team working and productivity?

What does the future look like in terms of team working models/activity that promote diversity and inclusion?

Line management in the current climate presents us with an array of challenges, not only to keep people motivated but also to ensure productivity and meet stretching targets. It is a challenge to balance the demands of team members and academics in the face of cost cuts and lack of staff incentives and the need to ensure high quality support and a balanced, diverse workforce.

The increased admin load and time committed to personal support/cover for team members is being felt across the sector at a time when bureaucracy is at its highest, assurance mechanisms and external reporting demands are not proportional with HEI benefits and success rates have nosedived.

This webinar gives you the opportunity to discuss and share post REF/ Brexit/ lockdown challenges and approaches on: maintaining efficient team working; ensuring a sense of belonging for everyone and strategies that works to keep team culture and spirits high during WFH and organisational change.

Data published in 2019 by UKRI showed that only 25% of disabled researchers are applying for research funding. This emphasises the need for research organisations to do more to understand the needs of researchers with a disability and support them when to applying for research funding.

This webinar will cover some of the preliminary work we have been doing to make our support more accessible to researchers with disabilities. Activities have included running a workshop for colleagues in Research Services to get them to consider different types of disabilities and how they can adapt their own working practices to increase accessibility; the creation of an accessibility handbook to provide the team with guidance and useful resources; a working group to ensure best practice is embedded in our policies and procedures.

I will also present some hits and tips and useful resources on ways to improve accessibility for example in meetings, webpages and communications from my own experiences and those of colleagues with a disability. This session will challenge those working in RMA to start thinking about how they can adapt their own working practices.

The goal of the Journal of Research Administration's Author Fellowship Program is to increase the confidence, capacity, and willingness of research managers and administrators to serve the field and share their expertise as peer-reviewed or refereed journal authors, and engage in a less common form of leadership and professional development. Prospective authors (Fellows) are paired with published Peer Advisors for a six-to-nine month supportive fellowship.

The program was developed in 2016 by members of the JRA Editorial Board for SRAI members, four cohorts have completed the program (Cohort 1 – 2017; Cohort 2 – 2018; Cohort 3 – 2019; Cohort 4 - 2020), and Cohort 5 (2021) is underway. As part of an inter-association partnership, since Cohort 2, ARMA members can and have also participated.

This poster will present an overview of the program and the experiences of the participants, and provide information for those interested in applying for the 6th cohort later in the year.

The coronavirus pandemic has both disrupted research and acted as a catalyst for change. The shift to homeworking has altered the perennial patterns within higher education, with teaching offered either remotely or via hybrid models, labs closing, access to libraries and archives limited, conferences cancelled or transformed into online events, and the crisis accelerating conversations about new forms of scholarly dissemination.

This webinar will use the findings from our recent report Brave New World: Scholarly Communication after COVID, which contains data from over 10,000 researchers globally who responded to our survey as well as secondary analysis of over 100 sources, to examine how this period of profound disruption has both altered academic practices but also changed researcher perceptions about the wider research landscape.

Delegates viewing this webinar will receive insights into the ways in which the pandemic has influenced research practice and culture. It will offer recommendations for how to respond proactively to these changes, providing guidance for how research management and administration professionals can negotiate transforming researcher perceptions against the ongoing reality of research funding/policy. It will also propose ways forward in combating the inequalities within research ecosystems that have been exacerbated by the pandemic.

Every member of the University of Lincoln’s Research Development Team (RDT) has a unique story to tell about how they came to do the job they do. The mix of professional backgrounds is as varied as the personalities in the team. Before joining the RDT, Christian Blanchette was a Research Analyst specialising in the Central London Office Market; Kaitlin Kelly was Program Director for the New Americans Initiative at the Harlem YMCA in New York; Becky Crookes worked as a Research Assistant in forensic psychology at Coventry University; Ben Stoker was a freelance Heritage Consultant, specialising in churches and cathedrals; Mark Hurdley was a Project Manager and developed R&D capabilities in academia and industry. Lyndsey Kemsley, however, did every job in the RDT, en route to becoming its manager.

Through a round-table conversation, the RDT will explore how a diversity of skills and experiences can bring fresh perspectives and approaches to the business of research development. They’ll also discuss what they’ve learnt from each other and how different kinds of expertise can be used to build a creative, pragmatic and supportive team.

The University of Stirling (UoS) and Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Brazil, launched a joint 2-year International Mentoring Partnership Programme (IMPP) in June 2019. This pilot programme sought to create two-way capacity-building mentoring relationships for Established Researchers (ERs) and Early Career Researchers (ECRs), by developing mentor and mentee skills. To maximise cross-institutional learning, 5 ERs and 5 ECRs from UNESP participated alongside 5 ECRs and 5 ERs from UoS, as potential cross-institutional mentor-mentee pairs.

Development of research capability was an important focus of the programme, as was cultural exchange, social sharing and co-learning. The programme was open to researchers from any discipline, who were contributing to research in any of three areas of mutual interest to both Universities. These were: Bio-diversity and Climate Change; The Bio-Economy; and Sustainable Development. The Programme built upon the ILM-accredited mentoring scheme developed by the Organisational Development department of UoS. It comprised of a 1-week taught programme at UoS, which included Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessments and training in Cultural Awareness (CQ) augmented by virtual support meetings. At the end of the 24-month programme, we look back on the challenges and successes as well as at lessons learned.

This session raises awareness of the role of Research Development Support in embedding ED&I in internal quality assurance processes, promoting Heriot-Watt University’s four guiding values: inspire, collaborate, belong and celebrate.

It will cover the rationale and practice behind Heriot-Watt University’s Fellowship College, which is an internal quality assurance process for researchers wishing to apply for external Research Fellowships. Its purpose is to raise the quality of Fellowship applications and acts as a support framework for researchers in submitting a strong competitive research proposal. The College includes peer review, demand management and proposal development.

An ED&I monitoring form is to be completed by all potential Fellowship applicants, which asks for information on diversity characteristics such as age, disability, ethnicity and gender. The information is collected and reviewed to ensure that we continually develop and maintain a community that is diverse, representative and inclusive. The composition of internal reviewer panels is also taken into consideration to ensure fairness for all.

Benefits for delegates include: insights, sharing best practice, ideas to implement at their own institutions, as well challenges and barriers institutions face in ED&I especially in quality assurance processes.

As Research Development Managers for the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law (Hill), Faculty of Science (Leithall) and Faculty of Life Sciences (Spencer) at the University of Bristol, we currently work with colleagues across many different subject areas and academic schools. In this poster, we explore some of the challenges and obstacles we have encountered when working with colleagues from what we are terming 'interface (sub)disciplines', such as Human Geography, Legal Studies, Pharmacology and Psychology, which sometimes fall between the cracks due to external (e.g. funder) and internal (e.g. Faculty delineation) structures. Fostering an inclusive research ecosystem and developing strong relationships at these perceived interfaces is integral to facilitating truly interdisciplinary working.

Our poster will also explore potential opportunities and solutions to overcoming the obstacles and challenges we have identified, drawing on our experience of working with/for funders, as Research Development Managers and academics.

Senior leaders and researchers at United Kingdom Higher Education Institutions (UK HEIs) expressed an interest in understanding the effects of institutional overheads on their grant applications success rates. Research investigated the relationship of overhead and grant award rates by examining banded overhead rates across multiple UK HEIs and fiscal years with publicly available research funder award data to inform both senior leaders and academic decisions.

This poster presents the method and results of the data collected and analysed, which were briefed internally and to the partnering HEIs. While the results may validate our professional insights, the objective evidence provides the foundation for informed discussions to guide university policy and practices regarding overheads in general (i.e. Indirect and Estates Costs under fEC) and to accommodate specific applications. Project limitations and potential future research activity are also highlighted as an opportunity to discuss interest and need for further investigation.

The issue of the impact of overhead rates appears to resonate across our profession. My personal experience with sharing a systematic empirical investigation with university senior leaders was positively received. Particularly appreciated is the evidence to support professional practice and negate common researcher perceptions. Other research administrators may find the information equally useful.

In late 2020, Wellcome announced its new strategy. As well as targeting three major health challenges - mental health, infectious disease and climate - we will continue to fund research across a wide range of disciplines that have the potential to make important discoveries about life, health and wellbeing.

In our webinar we will focus on our new set of discovery research funding schemes.
We will cover:

• How these three schemes align with our strategy
• Who and what we're aiming to fund through these schemes
• Scheme design and rules (e.g. eligibility, application processes, progress reporting)
• Changes to rules on costs and award management arrangements
• How diversity and inclusion, and research culture, are embedded into these schemes.

We will present this webinar in a round-table Q&A format, with a host and respondents covering each theme above. Questions will be based on those most commonly submitted to our Information Helpdesk by Research Officers and potential applicants.

The pandemic forced everyone to rethink and reorganise how they worked, with significant impacts on research development and the teams delivering it. Research offices were challenged with maintaining research and service excellence whilst adapting to home working, furlough, juggling childcare and shifting deadlines. We were supporting researchers in similar situations who needed to maintain their momentums and to grow research programmes.

This session will explore how the Cranfield Research Excellence Team adapted, pulled together and expanded services, with a focus on wellbeing and inclusion. Using case studies of remote bid development (the successes, the challenges and the disasters), it will cover the tools, actions and activities utilised to facilitate collaboration and service development, detailing lessons learned and tips for success.

An associated jamboard will collect delegate suggestions for what has worked, or not, when operating collaboratively remotely. Delegates will be provided with a peer perspective of how a small team has adapted and built success, to enable them to consider what actions might be useful to adopt and how experience from this period can be adapted into post-pandemic ways of working. Post-conference, the jamboard and session learnings will be disseminated in a Protagonist article.

As research managers, you are likely to become engrained in the practices and policies of your own institution. This webinar is an opportunity to get a view across the Higher Education sector in England, Scotland and Wales from three freelance impact consultants who have worked with a wide range of UK HEIs as part of the preparation for REF2014 and REF2021.

Saskia Walcott, Stephen Kemp, and Saskia Gent, all former research managers themselves, come together in a virtual roundtable discussion to share their observations of research impact across the sector: the differences in levels of resource, different approaches and practices, what they felt has worked well at different institutions and not so well. Rest assured there will be no names mentioned, or confidentialities broken, but this will be a rare opportunity to get a wider perspective on the sector’s research impact infrastructure.

Do you support development of bids involving collections-based research? Have you ever wondered what an Independent Research Organisation (IRO) is or want to know more? IRO status is granted by UK research councils to organisations that demonstrate capacity to undertake and lead research projects and programmes. This webinar gives an inside perspective on working with one IRO - the British Library.

Library staff are experts in their fields, from curatorial knowledge about collections, to expertise in digital scholarship and infrastructure. The collections are international in scope and tell stories relevant to diverse communities in the UK and globally. The Library is keen to work in partnership to enrich understanding of the collections and to share new stories with a range of audiences.

Research collaborations with the Library therefore present exciting opportunities for impact and public engagement, but it’s not just exhibitions and conferences. From uncatalogued collections to online resources and enhancing catalogue records, embedding impact into research projects can achieve more through long-term benefits to the public and the wider research community.

We will introduce what developing a research collaboration with the Library can look like, and why you (or your academics) should contact us early when developing a proposal.

Creative residencies are a popular mode of knowledge exchange across academic disciplines, facilitating research translation between academics and people outside of higher education. In 2019, Durham University appointed an Entrepreneur in Residence to work within its Arts & Humanities Faculty. Modelled on the Royal Society’s existing residency scheme but reshaped for Durham’s arts disciplines, it aimed to bring entrepreneurial thinking and broader creative sector know-how into the Faculty to help realise the benefits of its research and high-quality facilities in the widest and most creative way possible.

Working with academics, students, and professional services staff, the inaugural A&H Entrepreneur in Residence aimed to deliver a novel programme of work, complicated by the Covid-19 pandemic. This session will explore the original residency plan, the challenges of delivery in unpredictable circumstances, and how lessons learned will shape the future of the residency programme.

UKRI integrates support for research impact and engagement across its portfolio of funding programmes. Provision of resources for impact have recently been assimilated into grant applications in an attempt to make impact a part of the research cycle. In addition, Impact Acceleration Accounts (IAAs) offer strategic block awards to research organisations to support knowledge exchange and impact arising from research, while the AHRC's Follow on Fund supports impact activities that arise serendipitously from an existing AHRC-funded project. However, there is little funding available to support early development of impact activities for arts and humanities disciplines, or for impact opportunities that arise outside of a grant application.

With that in mind, Durham University created the Arts & Humanities Impact Development Fund, designed to offer small-scale awards to academics at all career stages interested in piloting impact projects, or trialling experimental approaches to impact development. The fund operated for three years, leading to new partnerships, building knowledge exchange networks, and establishing a pipeline for future research assessment exercises. This poster presentation gives an overview of the fund, and suggests ways that early-stage support for arts and humanities impact could be developed for the future.

'Research impact' is one of the major buzzwords of the Higher Education Sector over the last decades within the UK. The impact agenda derives from impact case studies necessary for research evaluation and expectations of pathways to impact within funding calls. Likewise, aspiring academics receive training in impact generation and career progression is tied ever closer to impact generation, resulting in an entire impact infrastructure. This infrastructure within the universities aims to deliver, measure, evaluate and archive impacts.

This presentation challenges this sacrosanct agenda, not in terms of the desired goal but rather in terms of process. Specifically focusing on five domains where the institutionalised impact infrastructure can have unintended consequences on research itself. These are, firstly the training of early career researchers into short-term focused approaches to research. Secondly, additional workload requirements in terms of evidencing and accounting for impact. Thirdly, the general issues with causally attributing any change of society. Fourthly, the establishment of a new modality of scholarly distinction.

Finally, how the impact agenda completely reconfigures of what makes ‘good’ research in the first place. The presentation concludes with some brief reflections of how to ameliorate these unintended consequences, whilst still maintaining the beneficial influence of research.

Health and care research can demonstrate where inequalities exist, and their impact on health and wellbeing. It can identify the steps needed to reduce inequalities, so that policy and practice can improve outcomes for individuals and populations. However, they are often overlooked in the commissioning, funding, design, delivery and mobilisation of research activity.

COVID-19 has further revealed the devastating impact of inequality across the UK, where entrenched health inequalities have disproportionately impacted specific groups. As a community, we need to respond by ensuring diversity in the research we fund and the workforce undertaking it, its design and delivery, and how the findings are used and mobilised.

This session will share learning about how the Health Foundation’s Research Team have been developing their improving inclusion strategy, to make practices and processes more inclusive and encourage greater diversity in the research ecosystem. Including:

• Analysing baseline diversity data from previous applicants and a PPI audit of active grants
• Running an event series, with the King’s Fund, Nuffield Trust and Health Services Research UK, to explore challenges and opportunities for improving inclusion in health and care research
• Creating an inclusion panel to advise us on the research we plan, fund and commission.

In the context of new policy (e.g. Innovation Strategy, People & Culture Strategy), new reports addressing aspects of research culture, and in the light of post-REF learnings and the KEF dashboard and KE Concordat, Saskia and Ian address key questions about what research organisations should (and shouldn’t) do next to support strategic and operational approaches to research and impact.

The Business Secretary says that the new Innovation Strategy will be more focused than the Industrial Strategy and will provide detail on the spending of the public R&D budget. We will examine if this holds up and if it means more focus on the later stages of the R&D lifecycle, to encourage business to invest to help meet the 2.4% R&D spend target. What do research organisations need to do to respond? And how will an improved understanding of markets (demand side) as well as capabilities and capacity (supply side) help?

With more than 50 years of experience between them in, across and advising organisations on research and impact strategies Saskia and Ian will discuss practical steps, as well as preparing leaders for what might change in the research and impact environment in the next few years.

Research that matters is able to inform, shape, and alter the world that we live in. Significant shifts in the UK research landscape have been initiated to maximise the impact and effectiveness of our research, including the formation of UKRI, the focus on Place, and major funding schemes such as the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund and now ARIA.

In response to this, Strategic Themes & Foresight programme at the University of Birmingham identifies large-scale opportunities to deliver transformative change regionally, nationally and/or globally, leveraging academic leadership, institutional support, collaboration potential, a national challenge and market opportunity to create an environment in which transformational projects can accelerate.

Growth of these strategic themes creates a wake of opportunity for interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration across other research fields, industry, sector policy makers and public service providers such as the NHS to be part of the critical mass required to deliver real-world impact and change at scale, as well as leveraging the funding and policy changes required to deliver these “moonshot” programmes.

Although ambitious in nature, these themes can bring many benefits to an institution, bringing a diversity across leadership, powerfully informing strategy, building resilience, developing institutional identity, and guiding investment, activity, and support.

This webinar talks about policymaking in higher education. I aim to bring into the forefront the ‘ingredient’ (aka policies) that everyone uses but no one talks about. Every research manager and administrator uses policies to complete their work, but they do not discuss how to make them better, more efficient, and inclusive. Policies can be the vehicle that carries equality, diversity and inclusion at their core, but it is often seen as challenging to change or implement. Therefore, this session discusses the nuances of policymaking in higher education and how policies should be developed with the user in mind.

This webinar aims to debunk certain notions. For example, policies are stand-alone items, when in reality, they are living organisms that keep changing, hence needing regular maintenance and updating. Finally, the session will discuss the golden rule of policymaking (stakeholder consultation) and its crucial connection to robust process. This webinar has been inspired by my recent blog post, the ‘Secret Ingredient [https://arma.ac.uk/the-secret-ingredient-blog-post-by-mariah-loukou/]’ published at ARMA in February 2021.

Global North-South research networks are increasingly supported by funders to address shared complex global health challenges. Such networks can lead to contextually relevant, and innovative approaches, but also risk unequal power balances that exacerbate existing academic inequalities. A key aim of the Global Diet and Activity Research (GDAR) project, established in 2017, was to build and sustain an effective and equitable research network, involving 7 institutions in the UK, Africa and the Caribbean.

An independent, formative evaluation was commission in spring 2020 to provide a critical, in-depth review of experiences on what worked well, and what could have worked better in the newly formed network. The evaluation findings were discussed at a network workshop, and the learnings incorporated into a successfully funded, co-created model, for the next 4-year phase of the network.

We present reflections on current funding models for global health research. Further we discuss a range of management structures and practices, to prevent and address power imbalances, that can be adapted depending on the funding model. This will support the strategic learning and knowledge creation on how to build, and maintain, an equitable and inclusive network of diverse geographical and economic territories.

In March 2020, the world imploded and everyone in the UK was sent home, to work from home, a situation still in place today. Our session will be for anyone who has involvement in their institution's grant audit process, and will cover: remote working, how specific Funders are treating the pandemic, how to resolve issues and innovative solutions, and anecdotal fun.

The pandemic cannot (hopefully) last forever, and we will examine how working practices have fundamentally changed for the future, and how institutions can get their all important grant audits done and dusted, in order to get the much needed cash from the Funders. We will also touch on Horizon Europe, and the financial aspects of it that we know about thus far.

Grant auditing is often seen as a necessary evil, but do you know the actual life cycle of the audit, and the reasoning behind the auditors' questions? We will cover all pertinent points, including: what happens when we receive a quote/tender request, client take on procedures, planning an audit, audit fieldwork and auditor thought process (why are we asking questions such as who attended the dinner you're trying to claim), query iteration and resolution, completion and review, and signing of the audit report.

We will also cover "what happens next", to cover any Project Officer questions, and will include some fun anecdotes of what we have seen claimed, all in a funky infographic.

This class is a gentle and steady paced class suitable for absolute beginners, or anybody who wants to slow down and relax. We will focus on simple movement to encourage more body awareness and physical mobility, as well as look at the other fundamental aspects of yoga such as breath and meditation. This class offers an inclusive, laid-back and fun atmosphere that is perfect for complete newcomers to the practice, and will give students the tools to create and sustain a space for relaxation and serenity.

Research managers are accustomed to using digital technology to manage research information and outputs workflows. The systems employed include CRISs and repositories, as well as grants, contracts, ethics or impact services. Other important information (e.g., HR, finance or funder) is accessed from additional local or external systems.

It seems a long time ago that we first heard the mantra "enter once and use many times" in the context of research information management. But accessing information held across diverse systems to create integrated workflows is still a pipe dream for many. It’s vital that we continue to work together as a sector towards an integrated research management digital ecosystem. We need to consider not only the importance of interoperable software and services, but also sector policies, protocols, standards, identifiers and the role of key stakeholders.

Following their REF submissions, many universities are now reviewing their research systems and workflows. Drawing on case studies from three UK universities, plus the work that Jisc (the UK’s HE digital technology organisation) undertakes in this area, this poster will highlight work being done to promote an optimum research management digital ecosystem, both within institutions and across the sector as a whole.

Due diligence on overseas research has been a steep learning curve over the past 2 years for most UK HEIs as well as for our international partners. The University of Edinburgh, like most complex organisations, grew its due diligence operations reactively and with limited consistency between teams, in response to the gradual increase in research applications as academics became more aware of the availability of funds if they grew their overseas connections. Funder requirements became more complex, and HEIs recognised the need to better understand the requirements as well as coordinate support and services appropriately.

Our session aims to share with the audience our experience in responding to this new element in research support, what hurdles we face, and how best to support our teams in becoming the knowledgeable experts our academic community expects.

Have you ever come across the acronym API and wondered what it meant and what it had to do with your role as a research manager or administrator? In this webinar, I will explain what an API is, why there are so many behind-the-curtain IT processes that rely on APIs, and how you can harness the power of APIs together with automation that is native to the majority of Microsoft/Office 365 setups to help in your day-to-day job. The session will cover:

• What an API is and how it is currently used in Research Information Management Systems
• Examples of APIs that are free-to-use and that provide live information on a range of areas relevant to academic research
• A step-by-step demonstration on how to leverage free APIs with Power Automate, a component of Office 365. We will cover one simple task, from beginning to final product: we will use an API to fill in an Excel spreadsheet with Open Access information from the web, starting with just a list of publication titles and identifiers (DOI).

You will leave this session understanding a little bit more about this technology that powers a lot of the data-driven world of academic research.

This talk will provide an overview of Librarian Futures, a report produced by Lean Library on the future of the library. The report uses a large-scale survey and series of interviews to explore librarian-patron interactions in the networked digital age. It provides evidence-based insights into the challenges and trends facing librarians and their patrons.

With more learning and research taking place off-campus than ever before (a long-term trend accelerated by the pandemic), it is a timely moment to consider how libraries connect with their users. Many librarians have talked of the need to put the library ‘in the life of the user’, by designing library services that ‘surface content in the places where users actually are rather than where libraries would like them to be’ (Pinfield et al., 2017, 28). This is more relevant than ever before as we see a continued shift away from the library as a destination (either its physical building or digital platforms) and towards user-preferred workflows, where the library must embed itself to maintain mission relevance. Delegates will be able to get an overview of these issues - with wide-reaching relevance.

The survey has received over 3,000 responses so far, and can be found here: https://www.leanlibrary.com/community/librarian-futures-survey/

The objective of this poster presentation is to share learning from the delivery of a strategic change using scrum agile approaches.
We will:

• Outline a strategic organisational change to the way in which research management and administration was delivered at Brunel
• Describe background to the change as one of uncertainty and competing priorities, which meant that the Provost and Director of Research Support and Development Office were looking for a management approach that encouraged collaborative working and effective communication
• Outline main elements of agile, which ensure the inclusion of different views and a cooperative method of working
• Identify the key outcomes of the project, including improved working relationships, a shared vision for the change, and initial use of agile approaches in research management and administration
• Describe how we are using agile approaches to delivery in the management and administration of research projects.

Benefit to delegates:

• Understanding of the principles of scrum agile
• Insight as to the uses of scrum agile in organisational change
• Value of scrum agile in management and administration of research.

Eleanor Glenton (Durham University) and Christie Walker (Royal College of Art) are the Arts & Humanities Special Interest Group Co-Champions. This session gives a short introduction to the A&H SIG and invites ARMA Conference participants to provide feedback on what they would like to see from the A&H SIG Drop-In session to be held on Wednesday 6 October at 8:15am. For those interested in attending the A&H SIG Drop-In session or who are interested in being involved in future A&H SIG activities, please add your thoughts to the A&H SIG padlet: https://rca.padlet.org/christiewalker/2obwq5uqpqqeg343

This is a discussion around the financial aspects and grant auditing over various funding streams over the last 18 months, covering Horizion:2020, InnovateUK, and US federal funds. There is particular emphasis on the effect of Covid, and also what we know thus far about Horizon Europe, the follow-on European Research Framework Programme from Horizon:2020. Additionally, we cover the changeover on InnovateUK from _Connect, to the new Portal system.

A brief talk introducing the SIG champions, discussing the remit of the group, what we have been up to and what we have planned. We are also seeking your contributions, so watch the talk to get all the info and give us your ideas for things we can do to support you and events we can run: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CWmzBZS0Njiz4npZEbSAzwDjGsyJwya-rZtJaZdRWEI/edit?usp=sharing

How will we need to adapt in a post-Covid world? Why do RD professionals need to engage with other research support functions? How can we create an equitable and inclusive environment for RD professionals to upskill? In this pre-recorded conversational style video, we discuss various issues and questions that relate to the changing nature and direction of the research development profession.

We start with examining the extent to which our roles will change in a post-Covid world; how we will need to adapt; and to what exactly? Without relying on any evidence, one could argue that the funding policy and impact agendas (among others) have led institutions to create specialist roles, e.g. those focusing just on GCRF, impact case studies, and research development with a focus on specific funder types. However, we see a possible trend currently growing in expanding the breadth of skills, knowledge and competencies for research development professionals.

Our role descriptions might have spill-overs, overlaps, or result from merging of functions. For instance, Jess’s role being connected both to research development and KE, and Aygen’s role being linked to innovation; and other roles that might be connected to strategy development; converging of pre-and post-award expertise especially when it comes to leading large research support teams; and contracts specialism rising in research development etc. Why do we think this is happening?

Our discussion moves to focusing on knowledge exchange, and we ask how significant it is to know about KE for a research development professional? We then share our views and examples from our teams about how institutions and teams can create an inclusive and equitable environment for skills development in the profession. Because, if we see increasingly convergence of roles in the sector, we believe we need to consider our and our institutions’ roles in creating an equitable and inclusive profession in research development: e.g. upskilling, side-skilling, training, professional and personal development, exchange and mobility programmes (perhaps we need to have UK-version of a staff exchange programme among RMA community). How do we ensure we capture all the talent and not exclude those that have been encouraged to specialise but now expected to expand their knowledge?

If you want to engage with these questions, we will be happy to hear your feedback and read your comments. Feel free to reach out to us or the ARMA conference office.

The Future Research Assessment Programme (or FRAP) has been initiated at the request of UK and devolved government ministers and funding bodies. The work is led by the four UK higher education funding bodies (Research England, Scottish Funding Council, Higher Education Funding Council for Wales and Department for the Economy, NI) and aims to explore possible approaches to the assessment of UK higher education research performance.

The programme seeks to understand what a healthy, thriving research system looks like and how an assessment model can best form its foundation. The International Advisory Group (IAG) has been set up to provide the funding bodies with external perspectives and insight into global experience and expertise in research assessment. The Group will provide a ‘sounding board’ against which the thinking of the funders can be tested and providing constructive challenge.

Sir Peter, who chairs the International Advisory Group was interviewed by Dr Ian Carter, on behalf of the Research Evaluation SIG, on the role of the IAG and the future of research assessment.

This short on-demand session explains what the role of the REF SIG within ARMA, what it does and how it supports its members. As an example, it highlights some of the issues that get discussed on the email list, goes through the areas that are covered as part of the Planning for REF training session that it runs and explains how it works with the REF Team via consultations and joint events. Finally, it suggests ways to get more involved with the group. This session is a short introduction to the weird and wonderful world that is REF Management.

This webinar will seek to answer the question: ‘what is research into research management and administration (RMA)’? It will explore how research into RMA can be seen in multiple ways: as a practice focused pursuit which looks to build a body of evidence about what works within RMA communities; as a pool of knowledge that can inform policymaking or funder strategies; or as a meta-research area which asks questions about the ways in which research infrastructures contribute to knowledge production. The webinar will also provide practical advice on how you can participate in research into RMA, supply an update about ongoing projects in the area, and also explore futures ideas and activities for the SIG.

At this drop-in session, we will be discussing the possible future of the REF in the UK, partly informed by topics from the interview with Professor Sir Peter Gluckman (Chair of the Research England International Advisory Group for the Future of Research Evaluation Programme) for the Research Evaluation SIG on-demand webinar which can be viewed at the conference.

Just drop-in to say hello, meet your peers, and share your views on a few of the most pressing issues impacting us in the sector: recent developments in the funding landscape (e.g. how did you respond to the ODA funding cuts in your institution?, what are your future plans regarding international funding?, etc); challenges and opportunities of working styles in the new normal (will you be adopting hybrid/blended working practises; how has change in your working style affected your relations with your academics, etc); and more…In addition, we will have a chance to discuss the kinds of SIG activities we would like to see in the new academic year.

The Arts & Humanities SIG drop-in session will provide the opportunity for research managers and administrators who support arts & humanities research to discuss topics that affect them. Most of our SIG members will also be members of other SIGs, but this session will cover topics such as REF, open research, research development and impact specifically in the context of arts & humanities. Please add your thoughts on topics for the A&H drop-in session as well as what you would like to see from the SIG in the coming year in our Padlet: https://rca.padlet.org/christiewalker/2obwq5uqpqqeg343

The Impact Special Interest Group (SIG) represents colleagues with an interest in research impact. This year the SIG is convening digitally at the ARMA conference, providing an opportunity for colleagues to take a collective post REF breath…. To network, discuss topical issues in impact post-REF and share learning about delivering the impact agenda.

The session will include collaborative breakout rooms where small groups can discuss and share best practices, including how different institutions work with knowledge brokers and business development professionals.

This will be a Chatham house rules opportunity for our SIG community to share good, bad, and emerging practices. It will support delegates to strengthen their own and their institution’s delivery of knowledge exchange and research impact and build stronger communities of practice.

This is a discussion around the financial aspects and grant auditing over various funding streams over the last 18 months, covering Horizion:2020, InnovateUK, and US federal funds. There is particular emphasis on the effect of Covid, and also what we know thus far about Horizon Europe, the follow-on European Research Framework Programme from Horizon:2020. Additionally, we cover the changeover on InnovateUK from _Connect, to the new Portal system.

We are really looking forward to seeing you all, albeit virtually, at the ARMA conference 2021 drop in session. The session will run for 45 minutes, and during this time, we would really like to have a conversation about topics which have or are currently key to our community. We would also be interested to hear from you about areas of interest for SIG events. In addition, if time allows, we will discuss what we have been doing on behalf of the SIG.

If you don’t have any topics you specifically want to discuss, please just pop in and say hello!

Please join us to discuss all things Research into RMA! If you have time, please do watch our SIG On-Demand Webinar before the session as we would like to use the drop-in as an opportunity for you to suggest ideas for the SIG. We also want to hear from anyone who has an idea for an RMA themed research project. Hope you can join us for an informal and friendly discussion.

This session will start with a short update on key developments in open research. This will include news on open research support at research organisations, funder and research organisation open access policies, data management, and more. Attendees will be able to ask questions, and peers will be able to share best practice. The session will inform planning and augment the list of planned topic specific meetings for the forthcoming year. We will finish up with a reminder of these topics and how to get involved in the SIG.

This session will be an opportunity to drop in and ask any questions you have about the post-award management of Research and Knowledge Exchange projects. I would also like to use this session to find out from you about what aspects of the SIG you find beneficial, what could be improved and what activities, training sessions, events etc you would like the Post-Award SIG to organise over the next year.