Embedding excellent research, learning and teaching and knowledge exchange

Our three key strategies – Learning and Teaching, Research Excellence and Knowledge Exchange – combine to underpin our vision and our institutional strategy for transformation.

This strategy for research excellence is based on 4 OVERLAPPING DRIVERS (table of four drivers and three sections):

1. An inclusive research culture will ensure the majority of our staff are engaged in excellent, highly impactful research and producing outputs of 3* (internationally excellent) and 4 * (world leading)

2. Working collaboratively with a wide variety of external stakeholders to plan for and evidence our research impact

3. Invest in our priority research areas to have a strong future REF submission in at least 6 Units of Assessment (UoAs)

4. Achieving RDAPs and increasing and diversifying our global PGR community 1. Our inclusive research culture will ensure the majority of our staff are engaged in excellent research, we will:

„ Evidence our growing critical mass of research active staff, our viable sustainable research community and how our research culture and environment which supports researchers and excellent research. By 2030 our approach to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) will be consistently recognised and rewarded through retaining our HR Excellence in Research Award and by gaining Silver in the Athena Swan award. „ Embed research alongside our learning and teaching strategy will act as a catalyst in driving forward our approach to developing high-quality, research-informed learning and teaching. Our students will learn in a dynamic, thriving research culture that underpins every subject area, and which adopts an evidence-based pedagogical approach to learning and improving the student experience.

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„ Ensure that our submission to the Teaching

Excellence Framework (TEF) emphasises the importance of our research culture, enriching our learning environment with highly qualified, research-informed staff who are leading the field in their relevant discipline. Our approach values, not just discipline-based research, but also research on pedagogic practice to inform and evaluate effective learning, teaching and assessment.

2. Working collaboratively with stakeholders to plan for and evidence our research impact – we will:

„ Increase our established research relevant links and raise our research reputation through effective public engagement, knowledge exchange and dissemination underpinned by the principles outlined in the Concordat for Engaging the Public with Research. „ Strengthen our position in the external research drivers through collaborations and frameworks for effective partnership working and our rigorous, ethical and applied research will generate impacts that will underpin and information sharing public engagement, co-creation and collaboration. „ Identify priority local, regional and sector areas for research which reflect the

Plan for Growth, the expectations of the

New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and statutory and non-statutory service providers developing a long-term, sustainable collaborative research profile. „ Further develop our international reputation for excellent research in distinct arenas to become a connected, research-driven impactful university which endeavours to solve the pressing problems of our region but also in preventing problems on targeted issues relevant to national and international agendas in line with the UN

Sustainable Development Goals.

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3. Invest in our priority research areas to have a strong future REF submission in at least 6

UoAs through:

„ Supporting our priority areas for research which address national and regional societal challenges working with statutory and non-statutory service providers in developing our long-term, sustainable collaborative research profile. „ Building on our success from REF2021, to further develop our distinctive research profile which draws on our strengths in an increasing competitive and challenging funding landscape to drive forward our research agenda. „ Ensuring our compliance with the

Concordat to Support Research Integrity, our research will be impactful and innovative reflecting the highest standards of ethical rigour and integrity. High quality publications based on robust ethical research are essential for developing our academic reputation and will be evident in our submission to the next REF.

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4. Achieving RDAPs and increasing our global

PGR community

„ We will successfully achieve research degree awarding powers (RDAPs) by 2026.

We will ensure that a significant proportion of our staff meet the criteria required for an application for RDAPs and enhance physical, digital and virtual learning spaces to provide our students with access to state-of-the art facilities and a strong research foundation based on a dynamic, supportive learning environment. „ Through our interdisciplinary Suffolk

Doctoral College, we will support our widening participation agenda and grow our vibrant postgraduate community through international recruitment to increase our global postgraduate research provision and become the destination

University for specialist subjects within our areas of distinctiveness. „ We will ensure that supervision of our research students, and the teaching and development activities we undertake at doctoral level, are underpinned by academic staff with high levels of knowledge, understanding and experience of current research and advanced scholarship in their subjects of study.

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