Diversity in Research Podcast Diversiunity & Cloud Chamber

Global collaborations in research, teaching and student recruitment remain at the heart of the work of higher education institutions across Europe. The European Universities Association (EUA) recently released a report which explores possible futures of transnational cooperation for universities. Taking an exploratory foresight approach, the report provides the tools for universities to think through how they can prepare for future collaborations.

Not surprisingly, some of the proposed outcomes don't look great for minority groups working in or with institutions. We talked with Anna-Lena from the EUA about the report, how it came about and what it means for the future of university collaborations. 

Alongside the foresight report, key policy messages were released. You can see links to both reports below. This was a fascinating conversation and provides food for thought about how universities can navigate international research collaborations in the future and what this might mean for equality, diversity and inclusion in research.
The EUA foresight report: "What if? - Exploring possible futures of transnational cooperation for Europe’s universities":https://bit.ly/UNIFE-reportThe policy messages: “"A renewed social contract for Europe and its universities":https://bit.ly/UNIFE-policy-inputThis episode was produced by Peter Xiong.
Thanks for listening. Please share, rate, review and follow us on Twitter @Divrespod .

If you're interested in our work with diversity and internationalisation in research, please visit www.diversiunity.com.

Research management has grown globally over recent years, with universities, funders, and policymakers recognising the profession's importance in ensuring effective research delivery, particularly as research becomes increasingly international in focus.

A new book, The Emerald Handbook of Research Management and Administration Around the World, reflects this growth by taking a global approach to understanding the growth, differences, similarities and challenges in research management. For this episode, we speak to two of the book's editors (Simon Kerridge and Melinda Fisher) about the book, its idea, and what they hope people will get from it. We also interviewed two of the chapter authors from Columbia (Andrea Navas Calixo) and Malaysia (Shaliza Ibrahim and Tan Hsiao Wei), where we explored research management in their respective countries.

The book is available as an Open Access publication and can be found here: https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/doi/10.1108/9781803827018 

If you want to check out the specific chapters that were discussed in this episode, these can be found here:
- Malaysia: https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80382-701-820231047
- Columbia: https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80382-701-820231042 

We were also lucky to have the opportunity to write a chapter about diversity and internationalisation and how we believe it is now a core competency in global research management. You can find our chapter here: https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80382-701-820231033 
Thanks for listening. Please share, rate, review and follow us on Twitter @Divrespod .

If you're interested in our work with diversity and internationalisation in research, please visit www.diversiunity.com.

Along with much of the European research community, we're slowly warming up for what FP10 - the next European research framework programme - will look like. Our primary concern, not surprisingly, is what role diversity and internationalisation play.

A main consideration, of course, is what is politically feasible, and without naming names - well, we are - some European countries have more conservative views on diversity than we do.

So, we decided to look at history and invited historian Kamil Karczweski on the podcast. He has researched LGBTQ+ rights in Poland in the interwar period, and his research showed us that the story is more complicated than you might think. He explains that at the time, Poland was in some ways very progressive by decriminalising homosexuality, one of the first countries in Europe to do so.  We talk about homonationalism, what it means and what it might suggest for diversity and internationalisation as FP10 is developed. We also discuss some of the political differences within LGTBQ+ movements - and then we speculate what all of this means when shaping, negotiating and voting on the next European research framework programme.

Kamil's research beautifully links personal stories to tell a political story of the past and today. We had him tell us a few details of his work on the podcast. Links to the articles can be found below.
 
You can find Kamil here:
University profile
Twitter

The three articles mentioned in the episode can be found here:
“Call Me by My Name:” A “Strange and Incomprehensible” Passion in the Polish Kresy of the 1920s
Transnational Flows of Knowledge and the Legalisation of Homosexuality in Interwar Poland“For a Pole, It all was a Great Abomination”: Grassroots Homonationalism and State Homophobia à la Polonaise—A History Lesson from a Place Between East and WestThanks for listening. Please share, rate, review and follow us on Twitter @Divrespod .

If you're interested in our work with diversity and internationalisation in research, please visit www.diversiunity.com.

UK politics are never boring - not even when it comes to research policy (which - let’s face it - can appear quite sedate for non-research-geeks).
In this episode, we explore the recent spat after UKRI announced that in the next REF - Research Culture would count for 25% of an institution's score which was closely followed by a tender to develop indicators to help them measure culture.
That didn’t go down well with a lot of universities, and on top of all that, UKRI dissolved their EDI committee based on governmental critique. That didn’t go down well with the research community.
But we liked the idea - so we decided to do an episode on why indicators in research culture are a good idea - and particularly why we should have indicators on EDI topics - and what they could look like. Unsurprisingly, we think universities should be held accountable in this field.
We also go into some of the concerns about indicators - and address the questions and comments we had on LinkedIn for this episode.
Finally, we argue that this is not just a UK thing. The term “research culture” is travelling to other countries, so we should all be aware of the possibilities and challenges - and have indicators on the topic.

In our conversation, we reference:
Two blogposts by Lizzie Gadd, Stephen Curry and James Wilsdon:
https://www.researchprofessional.com/0/rr/news/political-science-blog/2023/6/A-clap-for-the-Frap.html
https://www.researchprofessional.com/0/rr/news/political-science-blog/2023/10/Plans-for-REF-2028-should-be-debated--not-throttled.html

Articles by Research Professional (Paywall):
https://www.researchprofessional.com/0/rr/news/uk/research-councils/2023/6/REF-2028-changes-send--strong-message--on-equality.html
https://www.researchprofessional.com/0/rr/news/uk/research-councils/2023/10/Concerns-grow-in-universities-over-REF-research-culture-metrics.html

Article by Erin Cech:
https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.abo1558

The INORMS More Than Our Ranks initiative:
https://figshare.com/articles/poster/_b_NWB2023_More_Than_Our_Rank_a_preliminary_analysis_of_signatories_narratives_b_/24278587



Thanks for listening. Please share, rate, review and follow us on Twitter @Divrespod .

If you're interested in our work with diversity and internationalisation in research, please visit www.diversiunity.com.

Eva Kagiri-Kalanzi from Scientia Scripta joins us this week to talk about Science Communication and public engagement, working across higher education research institutions and her experiences as a black woman in research management who migrated first to Finland and then the UK. 

Scientia Scripta is an ethical consultancy, we discuss what that means along with how to engage universities in gender analysis within research, supporting them to talk about these issues and the concept of diversity literacy. We also branch into a fascinating conversation about a new Creative Policy Development project using mosaics they are undertaking funded by the Wellcome Trust.

To find out more about Eva and Scientia Scripta's work you can find them on:
Twitter:  @ScientiaScripta
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/scientia-scripta/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/evakagiri-kalanzi/ 
Thanks for listening. Please share, rate, review and follow us on Twitter @Divrespod .

If you're interested in our work with diversity and internationalisation in research, please visit www.diversiunity.com.

Societal impact is increasingly important, and as such, impact is a term that is now widely used across academia and research. Luckily, Julie Bayley, impact guru (and "Murder She Wrote" aficionado), has written a book about what research impact is, how you can achieve it and how we document it.
We loved reading her book - "Creating Meaningful Impact" - but we, of course, had some questions about diversity and internationalisation.  So we invited her on the podcast. 
We talked about how international collaborations can challenge how we decide what impact is and how it is measured, how to work with Global North/Global South dynamics and how diversity in impact is more than just "who".  And yes, a little bit about "Murder she wrote".

To find Julie and the book: 
 Twitter: @JulieEBayley
Lincoln Impact Literacy Institute website: lili (lincoln.ac.uk)
Buy the book:  Title Detail: Creating Meaningful Impact by Julie Bayley (emeraldinsight.com)
Thanks for listening. Please share, rate, review and follow us on Twitter @Divrespod .

If you're interested in our work with diversity and internationalisation in research, please visit www.diversiunity.com.