Research culture and environment – open, impactful research
05 Feb 2025
A culture of open and impactful research seeks to ensure that our researchers’ findings and data are accessible to, and reusable by, others, and that the research has meaningful benefits outside of academia. Find out how we support you to produce work that is open, reproducible, robust and has a positive impact on our communities and beyond.
When we think about research and its impact, we often focus on outputs and outcomes. However, research excellence isn’t just about the destination; the way we get there, who we travel with, and what happens along the way matter too.
Open and impactful research are integral to our research culture. They play an essential role in helping us to achieve the University of Manchester’s core purpose ‘to advance education, knowledge and wisdom for the good of society.’ The University’s position statement on Open Research highlights how Open Research practices align with this mission, by increasing access, transparency, and rigour, ultimately producing better research and helping sustain a vibrant research community. Moreover, the commitment to accelerating research impact is embedded in our ways of working and one of the five core themes at the centre of the Manchester 2035 strategy development.
The Office for Open Research provides an umbrella for open research activity at The University of Manchester, fostering a healthier research culture through a support programme that covers everything from the responsible use of metrics and open access publishing requirements to development opportunities, empowering colleagues with the skills required to make their research more open. Support includes a peer-to-peer skills and training model that enables researchers to share their knowledge and experience, a fellowship programme that aims to cultivate a new generation of open research leaders at the University (for all staff), and a project to bring together a growing community of data stewards.
Open and engaged practices are also central to the University’s approach to research impact. Knowledge exchange and impact are embedded in the Statement of research expectations and celebrated and rewarded through academic probation and promotion criteria and initiatives such as our annual Making a Difference Awards. We are one of only two institutions in the country to be awarded the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE) Platinum Engage Watermark, in recognition of our ‘sustained and deep-rooted commitment to public engagement.’ Additionally, we achieved the highest possible score for our support for public and community engagement, intellectual property and commercialisation and research partnerships in the latest Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF – 2024).
These acknowledgments reflect our concerted efforts to create a fertile culture for research impact. We recognise that impact is rarely serendipitous and so we provide support across the research lifecycle, from embedding impact in research design and the development of ‘pathways to impact’ to extending its reach and significance. Research impact is woven through our ethos, strategies and support structures, from specialist Research Impact teams to the work of our colleagues in Social Responsibility, Business Engagement and Knowledge Exchange and our cultural institutions.
At their best, the practices through which we generate research impact include careful consideration of the potential benefits of the research we undertake, the most appropriate and ethical routes to achieve them, and attention to who needs to be involved, when, and how. They are grounded in mutually beneficial relationships with those we research with, and they impact on our research, our people and processes just as our research, people and processes impact on the wider world.
Our results in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF) exercise, where 96% of our research impact was assessed to be 4* or 3* (outstanding or very considerable in terms of reach and significance) and our continued success in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, are testament to the quality of our work in this area. However, these external markers of esteem are outcomes of our commitment to impactful research, rather than the driver for it. Impact isn’t ‘just for REF’ nor all about the headlines – it’s at the heart of who we are and what we do.
We have brought together information about our support for open and impactful research on our Office for Open research website and Research Impact web pages. Highlights include:
- The Library’s My Research Essentials programme, which includes training and resources to help you to develop the skills and knowledge to make your research more open.
- The Open Research skills and training offer, including the Open Research Skills Framework, provides support on embedding key principles into your research.
- Support and guidance to enable researchers to manage their research data effectively, from planning to publishing and preservation.
- The monthly Open Research Digest, providing the latest news, insights and events.
- Access to our Open Research Systems, including an interactive guide to sharing outputs throughout the research process .
- Research impact training and resources, including our five research impact training modules.
- Contact details for our research impact teams, who support all aspects of research impact.
- Details of the services offered by wider teams across the University who support research impact.
- Our Engaged Research Hub, which offers resources, case studies and details of our ongoing work to enhance our support for participatory research.
Case studies
Take a look at our case studies to learn more about how researchers from across the University have engaged with the support on offer for open research and research impact, from fellowships and training to advice and guidance.
Forthcoming opportunities
Open Research Conference
The Office for Open Research is busy preparing for the University’s second Open Research Conference, which will take place over two days on Monday, 9 and Tuesday, 10 June 2025.
The Call for Contributions is open until Monday, 31 March. The team welcomes submissions for presentations and posters from anyone interested in, researching, or working in Open Research. You can also register to attend, by visiting the Open Research Conference sign up page.
Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) funding
Round 9 of our Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) funding is open to applications until Wednesday, 9 April. Find out more on the available schemes and how to apply on the IAA website.
Visit our new Research Culture and Environment Hub for more current and upcoming opportunities.
Research Communications Conference
The University is holding its annual Research Communications Conference 2025 on Wednesday, 5 March. Visit the Research Communications Conference Eventbrite page for more details and to sign up.
Our theme’s image
The image for this theme is ‘Water Champions in the Third Pole’ by Mengyao Li. The images used to illustrate our Research culture and environment themes were submitted by UoM Postgraduate Researchers as part of the ‘Images of Research’ competition, part of our annual PGR Showcase. The images authentically demonstrate the real-world outcomes of our University’s research culture.
You can find out more at: