Sussex Researcher School

RLI Strand Guidance Notes

Guidance and useful resources on each of the four strands for the 2024-25 Researcher-Led Initiative (RLI) Fund

The RLI Fund has four focus strands, each targeting a key area relevant to researchers at the University of Sussex and aligning with the institutional strategy. Read through the guidance to aid you in developing your application.

We've also pulled together some useful resources on each strand. These are not exhaustive, but are here to serve as a helpful starting point when conceptualising your initiative.

Use the buttons below to quickly navigate to the RLI strand you are interested in. If you have any questions, contact us at researcher-development@sussex.ac.uk. We're happy to have informal discussions in the development of your application.

 

Research culture

Fostering a healthy and vibrant culture among researchers, where individuals feel supported and valued, is of paramount importance to the University and is a current focus of the wider higher education sector.

Issues such as uncertain career pathways, barriers to diversity and inclusivity, a lack of collegiality and community, and an unhealthy competition culture pose a risk to delivering high-quality outputs, attracting and retaining talent, and protecting individual wellbeing.

The Royal Society defines research culture as ‘encompassing the behaviours, values, expectations, attitudes and norms of our research communities’. This is a broad definition; take a look at the Research and Innovation Research Culture webpages to discover where Sussex’s current priorities lie.

Consider the following when choosing the Research Culture strand:

  1. What do you hope to achieve with your initiative?


    Once you settle on your target area, think about the impact or change you want to achieve. For example, if your initiative focuses on mental health, you may aim to foster connections through a peer-to-peer support group, or help researchers destress and take a breather through a recurrent activity. If you’re targeting open research, your goal might be to raise awareness in your department or School with a demo day or seminar series.

    Keep in mind that this goal needs to be successful within the six- to nine-month timeframe, and be realistic about what you can do. For example, changing unhealthy work/life practices across the University would be unachievable, but holding space for these conversations within your School could set change in motion.

  2. What, and who, are the focus of your initiative?


    Because the term ‘research culture’ is broad, it is important that your project is specific and tangible. You might target equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), widening participation in research, mental health and wellbeing, or something that encourages belonging for underrepresented groups within the PGR or ECR community. Maybe you’re more interested in open access or research integrity. 

    This extends to your target audience – whether you’re organising a PGR parents/carers journal club, an ECR careers network, a BAME role models seminar series, wellbeing nature walks for international researchers or something completely different, being specific about the demographic you aim to support and addressing how you will engage them will make the intervention more effective.

  3. How will your initiative promote research culture at Sussex?


    The aim of this strand is to positively impact the culture of research at our institution. You are encouraged to refer to Sussex’s Research Culture Action Plan priority areas when outlining your project, and to take note of any existing initiatives such as mental health and wellbeing support, EDI networks and the Library’s open research practices, to avoid duplication. Applications will be assessed on the extent to which they are likely to enhance the University’s culture and have the potential to be rolled out more broadly. 

Useful resources on Research Culture 

 

Interdisciplinarity and internal collaboration

As one of the first universities to adopt a multidisciplinary approach to study, Sussex prides itself on facilitating interdisciplinary research and encouraging internal collaboration between researchers in different fields.

Collaboration leads to good internal relationships that foster a healthier work environment and provide opportunities for mutual development. Similarly, interdisciplinarity can lead to many opportunities and novel discoveries, tackling a subject from various expert points of view. 

Stepping out of your silo and discussing your work with researchers in different branches of academia can inspire, lead to a richer understanding of the challenges, and spark multifaceted real-world solutions.

Consider the following when choosing the Interdisciplinarity and Internal Collaboration strand: 

  1. How does your initiative facilitate interdisciplinarity or internal collaboration?


    Initiatives under this strand should focus on connecting researchers across departments or Schools, or linking up researchers at different career stages. If it’s a networking event, will you connect people based on predetermined criteria? If you’re facilitating a discussion, will you encourage participants to evaluate and compare views based on their professional background? If it’s a conference or symposium, what outputs are you hoping for? Whatever your activity, it’s important to clearly define your approach and how it will aid collaboration.

  2. What is the main goal of your project?


    Identify what you are hoping to achieve from interdisciplinarity and/or internal collaboration. Will you be facilitating better communication between researchers in different Schools? Are you aiming to encourage knowledge exchange between related disciplines? Do you want to support or inspire undergraduates to undertake research, or bring PGRs, ECRs and senior colleagues together to tackle problems? Your project must have a specific aim in mind.

  3. Who are your target audiences?


    Interdisciplinarity is a concept we hear a lot about, but it’s not enough to open an initiative to everyone. You need to get the right people in the room to make meaningful change possible. Which Faculties/Schools/departments and which career stages are you targeting? Who will benefit most from your project? Consider Sussex’s Centres of Excellence, such as the Sustainability Research Programme, Sussex Neuroscience and the Digital Humanities Lab, and how they approach interdisciplinary work.

Useful resources on Interdisciplinarity and Internal Collaboration 

 

Public engagement and external collaboration

There is a growing demand to keep the public engaged in ongoing research, making information transparent and readily available, sharing knowledge and involving community stakeholders in projects to facilitate continuous collaboration.

Likewise, working with cross-institutional partners or external organisations is growing in popularity as a way to increase outreach, access infrastructure, connect to a network or enact change. Entrepreneurship and commercialisation offer exciting opportunities to build bridges between research and industry, and solve practical problems.

Here at Sussex, we want to support our researchers in these endeavours as successful collaborations lead to a flourishing research environment.

Please note: This fund supports researchers to develop their own skills – outsourcing of public engagement activity will not be supported. Neither are we able to support projects which form a core requirement of your qualification e.g. the practice component of a practice-based doctorate. This fund will not support investment in commercialisation of research.

Consider the following when choosing the Public Engagement and External Collaboration strand: 

  1. What is the purpose of your activity?


    Understanding your reasons for engaging with the public or external stakeholders, and what you hope to achieve from engaging, will help you formulate your activity and identify the right target audience.

    • Share knowledge, inform and inspire: These projects will have a dissemination function – knowledge exchange, educating communities or making your research more accessible. Possible activities include collaborating with researchers at other institutions, participating in festivals, delivering interactive talks and shows, or creating films, animations or exhibitions.
    • Consult and listen to public views: These projects will involve listening to the public’s concerns or opinions about your research, providing an opportunity to gain fresh perspectives and insights into your work. Possible activities include public debates, online consultations, panels or user groups.
    • Collaborate with stakeholder communities or the public: Here researchers and the public work together on projects, or participant communities engage as co-researchers. Your collaborators help to define your future research directions, policy or the implementation of your research outcomes. Possible activities include citizen science projects, co-production of knowledge and user groups.
    • Combine forces with researchers at another institution: These projects will involve working with PGRs or ECRs elsewhere on an initiative that benefits researchers at both sites. You might engage with a researcher-led initiative at another University in order to replicate it for researchers at Sussex, or work together with external partners to co-deliver an initiative to a combined audience at Sussex and elsewhere.


    Whatever your purpose, you need to have a goal in mind before you can open the conversation with stakeholders.

  2. What are the risks involved and how will you mitigate them?


    Any projects involving the public or external collaborators come with a level of risk. Ensure you consider the potential dangers – financial, mental, physical or otherwise – and devise a plan to mitigate them. Consider how your potential collaborators may be impacted by your initiative, and discuss any risks with them. A project cannot go forward unless required safety procedures and ethical considerations are in place. 

    RLI projects should not require ethical approval, as they are small-scale initiatives rather than research. However, it is good practice to consider the ethical implications of any form of public engagement. The Sussex Research Governance and Integrity pages may provide a useful guide. If reviewers have any ethical concerns, you may be asked to adjust your application before it is approved.

  3. How will your activity benefit the community or collaborators you are engaging with, and how will you evaluate this?


    It is important that you define what all parties are expected to gain from your initiative. Mutual benefit is important when you’re trying to disseminate information or collaborate with others. It’s also important to consider how you will evaluate your activity as the project progresses (formative evaluation), as well as assessing how well the project meets its aims overall (summative evaluation). Some tools to help you are available on the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE) evaluation webpage.

Useful resources on Public Engagement and External Collaboration

Note: If your project involves engaging the public you are encouraged to refer to the NCCPE and draw upon their resources in developing your application. The University is signed up to the NCCPE’s Manifesto for Public Engagement.

 

Researcher training and career development

Professional development not only helps you to conduct your current research but can lead to opportunities later down the line. There are many workshops, events and resources available to support researcher development at Sussex, including Library Research Support, CareerHub and Organisational Development, Sussex Researcher School’s (SRS's) Researcher Development training and events for PGRs and ECRs, and School activities.

The RLI Fund enables you to address the more specific needs of your immediate community, and to take control over your own development. Peer-to-peer learning is an effective way to share knowledge and support, and there are essential skills that can be learned by organising your own activities.

Please note: The RLI Fund is not suitable for conference or course attendance. The budget can be used to pay external facilitators but applicants cannot reimburse themselves for their time. Applications of this nature will be automatically rejected.  

Consider the following when choosing the Researcher Training and Career Development strand: 

  1. What training and career development goal are you targeting?


    This strand is for activities that expand, complement or build on current training provision. Have a look at what training is offered at Sussex and what events are scheduled. The key is to be specific and focus on something that isn’t readily available. For example, there might be many writing workshops on offer but nothing on writing small-scale research grant applications.

    You might identify a skill that many researchers in your School struggle with, or that could be cascaded to more junior colleagues (the Researcher Development Framework can help here). Consider alternative models that would add value to something covered by an existing workshop – a weekly coding club to put skills into practice, or a symposium to facilitate knowledge sharing and discussion among researchers in a similar field.

  2. Why does the gap you have identified need to be addressed?


    After identifying a training need, it is important to articulate how it will benefit researchers at Sussex. Consider why it’s important, whoever the target audience – what opportunities it may open, or how it will lessen the burden on their daily activities.  

  3. Be creative and think outside the box


    We encourage the development of new initiatives which are innovative, creative and use non-standard approaches to skills development. Some of the most successful RLI projects have tackled development from a novel angle, which attracts attention and engagement. Networking events, a journal or film club, a panel discussion or TEDx-style talks - the choice is yours.

Useful resources on Researcher Training and Career Development

Sussex Researcher School

E: researcher-school@sussex.ac.uk