ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø

The University of ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø is committed to delivering transformative research and innovation rooted in integrity, inclusion, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Our goal is to promote discovery across our disciplinary and interdisciplinary strengths, nurture our research culture and address societal challenges locally, nationally and globally. This commitment is embedded in our institutional strategy, which places research excellence, diversity, entrepreneurship and sustainability at its core.

Alongside our overarching institutional strategy, the University is developing an institution-wide Research and Innovation (R&I) strategy. Following extensive consultation with stakeholders in our research community, the strategy leverages our interdisciplinary excellence and provides an ambitious pathway to take our research into the future, ensuring sustainability and excellence of our research and researchers. The R&I Strategy includes a specific focus on ‘Supporting People and Building Culture’, to enable collaboration and diversity across our research community. The strategy is nearing the end of a multi-stage consultation process and has a target publication date of Spring 2026. Our HR Excellence in Research Forward Action Plan complements and builds on our R&I strategy and existing People Strategy by adding depth to these institutional commitments and demonstrating how we will improve the environment and support available for researchers in practice.

Our evaluation, gap analysis and development of our forward action plan were conducted in alignment with existing institutional frameworks and commitments, including but not limited to, the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, Athena Swan commitments, Race Equality charter commitments, Technician's Commitment and preparation for REF2029.

The Head of Research Policy, Integrity and Governance initiated a comprehensive review of governance processes across research-focused committees and staff networks in 2023. The review was conducted to improve stability and diversity of staff-led committees and working groups. This review resulted in a new framework in October 2023 for “the creation, operation, review and disbanding of research-related committees, sub-committees, boards and working groups in relation to the Research Impact and Innovation Committee (RIIC)”. Key benefits of this framework include the adoption of dual chairs to avoid single points of failure and formalised term limits to ensure continuity and renewal.

In 2025, a new RIIC Subcommittee: Researcher Career Development (RCD Subcommittee) was established with responsibility for monitoring and approving HREiR progress reports and submission documentation. Establishing this group significantly strengthens and formalises researcher input into planning, with targeted recruitment campaigns ensuring that research-focused staff across diverse disciplines and career stages were appointed as three-year members. The successful recruitment for research-only contracts was achieved by engaging directly with line managers or Primary Investigators.

The RCD Subcommittee will receive updates on the delivery of the HREiR action plan three times a year. Regular and robust reporting will help ensure that each element of the plan has clear ownership, supports the sharing of good practice, and highlights any challenges or barriers. It will also allow us to adjust the delivery plan in response to internal or external changes.

Closer alignment with RIIC, enables sub-committee members to escalate HREiR-related concerns and questions directly to senior research stakeholders, including the VP (Research, Collections and Innovation) and the Directors of Research of our academic schools, so that issues can be resolved more efficiently, policies can be shaped with greater insight, and actions can be taken that strengthen our research culture and improve the experience of researchers across the institution. It also ensures that the action plan remains responsive to future strategic shifts, with subcommittee members contributing to future iterations of the R&I Strategy and receiving regular progress reports on R&I to inform decision making. This two-way communication channel allows for progress to be shared regularly, and for researchers to see the influence they have had on decision making based on their feedback.

As of 1 December 2025, the University employs 393 staff on research-only contracts (of which 36 are research assistants) alongside 716 staff on Education and Research contracts.

There are also 39 research-focussed operational and facilities staff. There are 1,016 postgraduate researcher students (PGRs) within the University.

While we recognise our achievements within the last reporting period, it is important to acknowledge the current difficult operating environment within the Higher Education sector, including reduced funding and rising costs. At ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, this has had an impact on the resources we had available to progress our ambitions under the previous action plan, and we have carefully considered this in the creation of our forward-facing action plan.

HREIR backwards action plan 2023-2025 (Excel)

Milestone developments achieved in the previous reporting period which serve as a foundation for delivering strong, impactful actions and benefits for our research community moving forward include:

InFrame

In 2024, the Wellcome Trust funded InFrame Project was launched in partnership with the Universities of St Andrews, Edinburgh, and Glasgow to improve understanding of how institutions can support and reward inclusive, collegiate research cultures.

At St Andrews, the project introduced the Together, Research Excels nomination scheme which recognises and rewards the range of contributions made by our community. This was well received by colleagues across the University and will move into our ‘business as usual’ offer to recognise different forms of contribution to research. Pilot “Developing as a Research Culture leader” programmes were also developed, combining in-person cohort training and online modules for staff across twelve schools, including researchers, administrators, and technical managers.

Additionally, the Culture Catalyst Fund supports 26 cross-institutional projects on themes such as postgraduate research culture, sustainability in technician networks, resource sharing, discrimination, and governance. Project leads and collaborators join a tailored leadership programme promoting collaborative, values-based behaviours and the project outputs will be used as a basis to create cultural change and better working environment for all staff including researchers. This work will culminate in development of a Collegial Research Leadership Framework, to be published in 2026, which will inform future institutional working practices and enable our research community to advocate for and deliver change.

Complete evaluation of the impact of the InFrame project will take place when it concludes in August 2026.

Investment in Research Support and Cultural Development Services

The University has recruited an Executive Director of Research Services to integrate and expand our research-enabling support services.  This includes the creation of a Head of Research Culture role in September 2025, who will build transformative capacity in establishing advanced research culture services and support for researchers.  The post-holder is already working with our research community to develop a multi-year strategic delivery plan for research culture which complements our new HREiR forward-action plan.

Internal feedback provided from key stakeholders over the past three years, including through committee meeting minutes, results from St Andrews Staff Survey 2025 and themes arising from the Research Staff Forum, was analysed against each HREiR obligation to identify and understand related barriers for research staff. External sources including Vitae’s CEDARS 2025 Benchmarking Report and HREiR submissions from institutions of a similar geographic and demographic context which were utilised to further understand the sector landscape and situate the experiences of St Andrews.

From the initial analysis, four HREiR obligations were prioritised in our forward action plan. All four themes align with priorities within our People Strategy.

• We selected the obligation on awareness and engagement (obligation 1) because our staff survey showed that research staff in particular felt the senior leadership team or senior leaders in Schools did not make an effort to listen to staff (19% and 8% negative), did not communicate a clear vision of the University’s overall direction (18% negative), or how the work they do helps the University to achieve its key objectives (15% negative). Access to information relevant to researchers in an accessible location was also a core theme in qualitative feedback. This supports our People Strategy goal to build a stronger culture of engagement.
• We selected the obligation on recognition, reward and promotion (obligation 8) as reward and benefits was the staff survey theme with the most negative response rate; overall 18% of research-focused staff in our survey disagreed with the three questions asked in this section (on feeling valued and recognised for the work they do, satisfaction with employee benefits, and reasonable pay). These issues were also raised through our researcher development subcommittee. As above, these align with the people Strategy theme of valuing our people.
• We selected the people management obligation (obligation 10) as, in comparison to the wider University response rate in the staff survey, research managers reported feeling less equipped with the skills and training needed to manage performance effectively. Free text comments also highlighted concerns around the lack of support and training provided.  This supports our People Strategy themes of developing, and leading and planning for our people.
• We selected the job security obligation (obligation 11) as this theme has been highlighted consistently in consultations with research staff, particularly in relation to precarity of temporary contracts. This supports our People Strategy action to review use of fixed term and flexible contracts.

Following the initial identification of these four priority areas, a small group of staff, including the Interim Manager of the Organisational and Staff Development Service (OSDS), Organisational Development Specialist (Research), Director of HR, HR Business Partner (Researchers) and Head of Research Culture met to discuss feedback and data relating to the other twelve obligations.

Several obligations were omitted where institutional commitments or action plans already exist. Although researchers identified some concerns in these areas, they were in line with experiences of staff across the University, and therefore an institutional response was seen as most efficient, effective and impactful. This included Wellbeing and Mental Health, Bullying and Harassment, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, and Policy Development (obligations 2, 3, 4 and 6).

Of the other obligations, the group considered where realistic action could be taken within current resource capacity, with the greatest potential for positive impact on research staff. The group confirmed three further priority obligations, developing these with the help of researcher feedback.

• We selected the obligation on recruitment and induction (obligation 7) as qualitative feedback from research staff highlighted inconsistencies and areas in need of improvement within the onboarding and induction process. We also identified improvements which could be made to recruitment to strengthen the talent pipeline. This supports our People Strategy theme of attracting our people.
• We selected the obligation on championing professional development (obligation 12) as researchers identified a need for easy-to-navigate development opportunities tailored to specific career stages. This supports our commitment in the People Strategy to provide opportunities for all staff to develop their skills and careers.
• We selected the obligation on research identity and leadership (obligation 15) as mentoring and a need to develop reflective practice were two of the areas research staff identified as priorities to enhance identity and leadership skills. This supports our People Strategy themes of developing, and leading and planning for our people.

Colleagues from OSDS, HR, Research and Innovation Services and research staff worked together to create our forward-facing action plan. The Researcher Development Subcommittee and Research Staff Forum were consulted before final submission. The final submission document was approved by the Vice Principals for People and Governance, and Research, Collections and Innovation.

When conducting our gap analysis, we also considered the lessons we could learn from our backwards-facing action plan, and how we would reflect on these in our 2026 HREiR submission.

Although our backwards-facing action plan featured a large number of red, not started or not achieved actions this was because the same output or activity was assigned to many separate actions, therefore non-completion of a specific area of work (for example, launch of the web hub, development of a competency framework) due to lack of resource had significant impact across the full plan. Facilitated by the new reporting framework, our new action plan ensures clearer SMART actions and activities.

Our last action plan also demonstrated a need to strengthen our ability to measure impact and better understand the limitations of our current datasets and areas for improvement. Through the creation of new data sources in the last 18 months and committing to improving our data infrastructure over the period of the next action plan, we aim to enhance our ability to measure the impact of interventions including on areas such as confidence, trust and cultural change. Improvements will consider new engagement mechanisms (for example, research-specific pulse surveys) and how we monitor and track changes over the lifecycle of the action plan (for example, introducing post-course attendance surveys to measure changes in behaviours and work practice as a result of training).

The University has continuously engaged with the research community since our submission in 2023. The 2023 CEDARS provided a baseline for several actions in the backwards action plan, however the low 6% participation from research staff highlighted that work was required to increase engagement from this group in future surveys. In 2024, the University recruited a dedicated Employment Engagement Specialist achieving research staff engagement of 46% for our 2025 all staff survey (59% when joint education and research staff are included).

Progress against the HREiR Action plan and related activities is shared regularly with the Research Staff Forum, an open forum in which research staff, stakeholders and representatives from across the University are welcome. Members of the RCD Subcommittee reviewed draft versions of this submission and were consulted on priority obligations and associated actions, with a particular focus on the Professional and Career Development pillar. The forward action plan includes a new Researcher web hub and annual Research Staff Forum workshop, which will contribute to our commitment to provide our wider research community with mechanisms to engage with and feedback on action plan progress. Our forward action plan is a live document that will continue to develop through consultation and collaboration with stakeholders across our research community.

Achieving our ambition for research excellence, innovation, and global impact depends not only on what we aspire to do but enabling our research community to achieve these aspirations. The culture we build and nurture will underpin our successes. The priorities in our forward action plan reflect our ambition to develop an environment of trust, honesty, collegiality and collaboration.

HREIR forward-facing action plan 2026-2028 (Excel)

Our activities under the Environment and Culture pillar focus on increasing awareness of the concordat and its benefits. We will strengthen our research community’s confidence that their feedback is valued and will lead to meaningful change through their ongoing engagement.

Actions related to the Employment pillar centre around Managers of Researchers, ensuring that they have the skills and support structures in place to recruit, onboard and support the career development of high-performing research teams.

Our commitment to championing Professional and Career Development will lead to more tailored content based on the diverse needs of researchers at different career stages and supporting researchers to develop their identity and leadership capability.