University of East Anglia Case Study Profile

Section 2: Open and Responsible Research Assessment – Current Strategic Activity

Please outline any current initiatives that address recognition and reward for open research within the context of research assessment practices, e.g., recruitment, promotion, probation and annual performance development review (max 250 words).

Making our research open in every way is the key to UEA fulfilling our potential and raising our research reputation. UEA aims to ensure our research culture enables every member of our community to embrace an open research future in a sustainable way.   

 A survey circulated nationally and at UEA in 2022 investigating initiatives that would help staff implement open research practises (participants N=1274) revealed that the number one initiative is incentives and recognition of open research in promotion and recruitment.  This data informed our approach to reward and recognition for open research and, as a result, open and reproducible research practises now feature as desirable criteria in our academic progressions handbook. 

Section 3: Open and Responsible Research Assessment – Planned Activity

Please outline any planned activity to address recognition and reward for open research within the context of research assessment reform (max 250 words).

Embedding the uptake of open research across disciplines at UEA will contribute to research environment development of people and skills. We are currently reviewing our open research action plan and will seek to add initiatives to further increase recognition and reward for open research practices in recruitment, probation, and annual performance review. We may also consider making the above open research criteria mandatory for certain levels of promotion.  

 We will also seek to review our research assessment procedures including to recognise open research as best practice and deliver training to appraisers, REF internal teams and managers as required.  

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