If you like insightful takes on the Hidden REF from others and immense vocal fry from me, why not listen to Sarah's most recent episode of the Hidden REF podcast?

Break from work posts to mention that I've just completed Stride for Gaza, walking 98km for MAP. Pre-arthritis, I'd have run it. But my sore knees are nothing compared to ongoing suffering and atrocities in Palestine. 🇵🇸You can still donate here: medicalaidforpalestinians.enthuse.com/pf/emily-ennis

A Storyville documentary that explores how librarians across the US are risking their safety to defend free speech as book bans and censorship threaten democracy from within www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

📢 Register your interest in our Building Impact Momentum programme, helping you to develop concrete ideas for impact which can be applied to research projects or in grant applications. ⏰ Deadline: 2 November 2025 🗓️ Runs December 2025 to March 2026 ➡️ Find out more: bit.ly/4apHwC4

“Positive action funds like REDI matter… but they are not substitutes for structural reform.” 💡 Soo has written a bold and timely reflection on our REDI Fund at Leeds, not just what we did, but why it matters now more than ever ‼️🔥 📰 Read the full piece here and join the conversation:

🎉 Happy International Research Software Engineers Day! 🎉 Today we celebrate the incredible work of Research Software Engineers (RSEs) who empower researchers through expert coding support, collaboration, and training.

🔩 Are you a member of research staff or academic staff at the University of Leeds? Join the ‘Navigating your role and responsibilities as a Principal Investigator’ (PI) workshop to reflect on the real-world issues of a PI. ✅ Register now uolr3.leeds.ac.uk/temcatsearch... @unileedsodpl.bsky.social

I found this an excellent way to end #HiddenREF2025 yesterday. While it's important we get diverse roles and outputs the recognition they deserve - i.e. through the REF - often the REF itself can feel anti-research culture. For me, REF is a competition, but research culture is about community.

Food justice: equitable access to healthy, sustainable & affordable food. Our researchers work with community-based partners to explore how research can have real terms impact on place-based, community-led food initiatives. We interviewed 2 researchers & a community-based partner to hear more 👇

Check out a lovely article about improvements to hygiene in the polar regions! Something EDICa's research also found is still an issue. Read here for their practical changes as well as challenges - like finding niche clothing for females, & waste management. www.bas.ac.uk/media-post/b...

You're invited to the launch of a new animation inspired by activism in the archives 🎥 [CW: mentions of sexual violence] Join SASHA (Students Against Sexual Harassment & Assault) for the premiere of ‘Missed Call’ Friday 10 Oct 17:00 - 21:00 Free and open to all library.leeds.ac.uk/events/event...

🎉Happy #InternationalPodcastDay! We asked the #ResearchCultureUncovered team: What’s the last podcast you listened to? 🕛Ged: Midnight at the Casablanca 🧪Heledd: Zoe Science & Nutrition 🏃‍♀️Katie: Running Commentary ⏳Taryn: This is History 🎧Share yours, we’d love to hear what you’re tuning into!

Reposting a day late. Mostly because the rejection sensitive dysphoria played me hard yesterday and I wanted to see how people felt about the piece first. Thank you to so many of the wonderful comments and emails so far! ☺️

🛋️ We’ve refurbished & redecorated… and our blog’s back! A new home for big ideas in Research Culture 🎉 First through the door is our very own @emilyennis.bsky.social . Her first post for Celebrate Bisexuality Day 🩷💜💙 explores what research culture can learn from living in the in-between…

Want to be able to start micro-editing on Wikipedia in a few minutes – and know why you could be very glad you did? Then my new post @plos.org is just what you need! absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2025/09/21/w... #Wikipedia

The relationship between the researcher and the researched is part of the data.

I had a great time at the International Research Culture Conference at Warwick yesterday seeing the great work happening across the sector. But there were two things I did for the first time that I wanted to chat about in the context of research culture: I skipped a session and I took a nap.

Soo! Soo! Soo!

The Leeds research culture crew spotted at #IRCC25 👀 we’re friendly, we just look like we’re buffering sometimes… come say hi and rescue us from standing in a weird circle 🙃 #ResearchCulture @emilyennis.bsky.social @tomflint.bsky.social @soofougere.bsky.social

🔗With news of the REF 'pause' we want to remind you that we're here to support + strengthen research cultures. This matters because: 1. Positive research cultures enable research excellence and impact. 2. “Excellence” is too often defined in narrow, traditional terms, and can be deeply exclusionary.

It will be of no surprise that I have some FEELINGS about the REF "pause". Important to remember: 1. positive research cultures *enable* research excellence and impact; 2. the idea of "excellence" often takes a traditional view on knowledge production/exchange, which can be inherently exclusionary.

Mary Hamilton and her networks: Gender, sociability, manuscript. Important (we would think so, wouldn't we?) special issue of JECS, now in copy-editing. Intro + 4 research papers by the team (see www.maryhamiltonpapers.alc.manchester.ac.uk/further-read...) + 5 outside contributions. #18thC #langsky

How can universities go beyond symbolic gestures to truly embed Indigenous perspectives in teaching? Discover the steps institutions can take to move from compliance to transformation: www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/how-p...

Our fab colleagues in the Research & Innovation service have launched a new home for Leeds research stories 📚 researchatleeds.leeds.ac.uk Follow for more: 🔹 LinkedIn – www.linkedin.com/showcase/res... 🔹 Bluesky – @researchleeds.bsky.social #ResearchCulture #ResearchAtLeeds #LeedsUni #OpenResearch

YORKSHIRE! YORKSHIRE! Know your tykes from your tas? Prove it! Take our #YorkshireDay quiz on a reyt old accent 👇 [1/6]

🎉 Final call! Today’s your last chance to register for the 2025 Research Culture Community of Practice event! 📅 Mon 14 July | 📍 Nexus, Leeds 📝 Register by the end of TODAY – 4 July! Expect keynotes, films, lightning talks, and workshops, focused on building a better, inclusive research culture.

❗Today is the last day to sign up for our Research Culture Community of Practice event on 14th July!!! The event is open to anyone working or studying at Leeds, or anyone who works closely with Leeds. Spaces are vanishing rapidly so don't miss out.

This Pride Month, we’ve been spotlighting projects we’ve funded and initiatives we’ve taken to improve research culture for LGBTQ+ colleagues. From fieldwork guidance to postgraduate belonging programmes and equity-driven funding, we’re proud of the steps we’ve taken ...

This Pride Month, we’re spotlighting projects we’ve funded to strengthen the research culture and working environment for LGBTQ+ colleagues.

As part of our Pride Month reflections, we’re spotlighting projects and initiatives we've funded and supported that work to build a positive and inclusive Research Culture - especially for our LGBTQ+ staff and students. 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

This Pride Month, we’re spotlighting the REDI Fund - an initiative that advances equity in research careers through an intersectional lens.

👏👏👏

You can't do good research without having good research culture. Lovely to see our work being shared as some industry best practice 😍

Something I never considered in my presentations until I lost my hearing. Just a reminder that being disabled is a protected characteristic that anyone could become at any moment, so you may as well build a world suitable for us.

Hear from Mareike Wehner and Dr. Natalie Wallis of #LivUni's Outputs Development team, who are looking to support more diverse research outputs and foster a research culture that drives innovation. Find out about NTOs and their impact. 👉 www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-v...

Fieldwork is not always safe, inclusive or equitable for LGBTQ+ people – but they are not alone. Researchers in the Faculty of Environment have created a toolkit to support fieldworkers to make sure they plan with and for LGBTQ+ colleagues. environment.leeds.ac.uk/news/article...

This is so exciting!

Great research needs great facilitation! 🌍🔬 Discover why strong facilitation skills are key to research excellence in @liverpooluni.bsky.social's latest #THRIVE blog. Read more 👉 tinyurl.com/c6vm4nju

Here I am! Looking forward to talking about obstacles facing HE researchers with protected characteristics and how research culture work is beginning to tackle inequities in the system.

People often ask me why I moved into research culture and/or why I left academia completely 7 years ago. The answer is this: “Paying workers by the hour means treating their labour like a commodity, and having no regard to people’s need for income security and fair treatment.”

Last day of January vibes 😅 (Wish we could make a print-making joke about it being a relief... but this is an intaglio etching, so quite literally the opposite) 🖼️ 'Labor, after Millet', n.d., Felix Henri Bracquemond. LEEUA 1942.014 📷 Image credit: University of Leeds

Research Profile Bootcamp 2025 library.leeds.ac.uk/news/article... Improve your research visibility and online presence with a week of workshops from 10–14 March.

In our Research Culture team here at Leeds, we've also trialled partially-randomised allocation of funding for research culture initiatives. You can read a report on our approach on our Sharing Practice page: researchculture.leeds.ac.uk/sharing-prac...

📢 The Research Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (REDI) Fund 2025-26 is now open for applications! 🎉 This fund supports academic researchers from minoritised groups. 🔹 Open to internal candidates only at the University of Leeds. 🔹 Deadline: 24th Feb 2025. We look forward to hearing from you! #REDIFund

Hi, I’m Troy McClure, you may remember me from such classics as 'Surveys Made Sexy' & 'Higher Ed vs. Good Fashion Sense'. But tonight, I’m here to talk to all Leeds Uni staff about shaping the research culture of tomorrow! Click below to find out how. leeds365.sharepoint.com/:u:/r/sites/...

Open Science: Climate Change & the Global Commons Tue 25th March 📅 1pm 🕐 us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi... With Monica Granados, Director of #OpenScience, @creativecommons.bsky.social & Tatjana Baleta @wikimediauk.bsky.social Visiting Fellow for Climate, Global Systems Institute, @exeter.ac.uk

The keen beans 👀 among you will have seen that last week the REF confirmed their panellists for the People, Culture and Environment pilot: 2029.ref.ac.uk/people-cultu... Some very familiar names on the list, including our own @catdavies.bsky.social. We're excited to see what happens next!

Our #N8ResearchCulture brochure and online repository are now live! Head to the below link to find out more: www.n8research.org.uk/n8researchcu...

The MRS Awards were last night and, while the team I was a part of didn't win, we were highly commended for the work. Plus we lost out to a team at Sheffield exploring "Sex lives of the over 50s: Ending the Stigma", which sounds incredibly badass. See here for info: www.mrs.org.uk/awards/mrs-a...