{"id":6,"date":"2013-07-17T09:26:47","date_gmt":"2013-07-17T09:26:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/per\/?p=6"},"modified":"2013-07-17T09:26:47","modified_gmt":"2013-07-17T09:26:47","slug":"an-open-research-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/weblab.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/per\/archives\/6","title":{"rendered":"An open research university"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dr
Dr Richard Holliman, The Open University\u2019s Champion for Public Engagement with Research<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n

Research with people at the centre<\/strong><\/p>\n

Champion\u2019s blog; star date 2013.07.17.\u00a0 This is the blog of the OU's RCUK-funded Catalyst, 'An open research university<\/a>'.\u00a0 But our mission isn\u2019t to boldly go.\u00a0 Rather, our three-year mission is to embed the principles, values and reflective practices of public engagement within the research culture of Open University researchers.\u00a0 This requires all OU researchers to think more strategically about how we plan our research.<\/p>\n

This requires us to think (yet again, I know) about culture change... <\/p>\n

\n
  • \"If you're the University's Champion for Public Engagement with Research can you tell me how many people it takes to change a university's research culture?\"<\/li>\n
  • I guess the obvious answer is, \"I don\u2019t know at the moment, but I do know that those involved really have to want to change.\"<\/li>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Okay, it's an old joke, and somewhat adapted for this purpose.\u00a0 More seriously, I\u2019ve been trying to think of a more challenging time that we could have started this project.\u00a0 We\u2019re working in a period of unprecedented change at the OU.\u00a0 And we\u2019re already responding to significant changes in the ways we teach.\u00a0 Then we have the REF, and REF impact.\u00a0 You get the picture.<\/p>\n

    For me the issue isn\u2019t straightforward culture change. \u00a0Rather, we want to encourage the principle that, wherever possible, the people who value our research are at the heart of what we do.\u00a0 We do this in our teaching as a matter of routine, and look at the value OU students<\/a> place on this approach.\u00a0 Now we need to consider how we adapt our mission<\/a> of being \"open to people, places, methods and ideas\" so that these guiding principles apply to our research.<\/p>\n

    So perhaps more realistically, our job is to start a process of change where it\u2019s necessary, and in other places it\u2019s about adapting the principles we already value.\u00a0 This will take time.\u00a0 One of our project aims is sustainability, to continue to develop and shape this agenda beyond the RCUK funding period (which ends in March 2015). Again, this will require buy-in from researchers working at all levels and across different disciplinary domains.<\/p>\n

    Research-informed collaboration<\/strong><\/p>\n

    We've adopted an action research approach for the project, working collaboratively with a team of researchers and academic support staff, drawn from across the university. \u00a0This includes a core OU team funded by RCUK and a wider group of stakeholders, involving researchers working at all levels, academic support staff and partner organisations.<\/p>\n

    \"The<\/a>
    The OU's RCUK-funded Catalyst project team, 'An open research university'. Back-row, from left to right Trevor Collins, Richard Holliman, Fiona McKerlie, Ann Grand, Eileen Scanlon, Richard Holti, Hilde Stephansen and Nick Mahony; front row, from left to right, Tim Blackman and Anne Adams.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Crucially, we want to do some cutting edge research along the way?\u00a0 For example, we\u2019re interested in different disciplinary perspectives of public engagement with research.\u00a0 Who are the publics you seek and value as partners, what are the methods you cherish, and what are your experiences of taking on board the lessons you have learned from these activities? Providing some provisional answers to these sorts of questions should help us to think and act progressively, and to drive this agenda forwards in ways that are complementary to our core mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Research with people at the centre<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Champion\u2019s blog; star date 2013.07.17.\u00a0 This is the blog of the OU's RCUK-funded Catalyst, 'An open research university<\/a>'.\u00a0 But our mission isn\u2019t to boldly go.\u00a0 Rather, our three-year mission is to embed the principles, values and reflective practices of public engagement within the research culture of Open University researchers.\u00a0 This requires all OU researchers to think more strategically about how we plan our research.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[10,14,17,29,33],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weblab.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/per\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weblab.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/per\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weblab.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/per\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weblab.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/per\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weblab.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/per\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/weblab.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/per\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weblab.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/per\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weblab.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/per\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weblab.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/per\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}