COMET

'Better use of evidence by institutions, to improve research culture, rigour and
transparency'

Project Overview

High-quality research is more likely to flourish within an environment and culture that is fair, inclusive and supportive. Such a culture is shaped, in part, by the decisions and actions taken within research organisations.

The COMET project will improve decision-making within institutions, by promoting and facilitating evidence-informed practice, to promote research excellence.

This will be achieved by producing a body of evidence demonstrating how decisions are currently made, after undertaking a rigorous study with a sample of UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), and by co-designing practical outputs with stakeholders to support institutions improve their decision-making by basing those decisions on better evidence.

The project has ethics approval from the University of Bristol (22506).

Objectives

Explore and compare the use of meta-research evidence in decision-making processes within HEIs around research culture.
Understand the similarities, differences and relationships between the meso- and micro-level of evidence use and decision making in research culture within HEIs

 

Improve the use of evidence in institutional decision-making processes affecting research cultures.

 

Our Plan

The project will undertake focused interviews with individuals from six organisation across three categories of research intensity, ensuring the diversity of UK institutions is represented across the sampled institutions and reflected in the findings.

Through the interviews, the project will explore decision making at different levels within institutions: both at an institution-wide level (meso-level) and within a school or department (micro-level) to understand the similarities, differences and relationships of decision-making between the two levels. It will also explore the identify and role of change agents.

The study will examine effective practices as well as provide insight into the challenges and barriers around embedding evidence-informed practice within institutions.

Coming soon the protocol for COMET

Outcomes

The findings of this work will be used to co-create practical outputs with stakeholders, which will support individuals and institutions to more easily draw on high-quality evidence to inform their decision-making.

Ultimately, this work will contribute toward enabling individual institutions to foster healthier, more sustainable and appropriate research environments that will attract and retain diverse talent as well as driving research excellence.

Get Involved

Are you a decision-maker for a university? Are you meta-researcher involved in producing evidence?

If you are interested in our project, and would like to learn more, please introduce yourself to the study team to get involved.

Contact Us

Funders

This project has been funded by the Wellcome Trust.

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