Hostile or Collegial research culture? Resources for data scientists
Lead Research Organisation:
UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
Abstract
Biomedical science is changing rapidly, fuelled by technological advances such as Artificial Intelligence. The skills needed to take full advantage of these developments are also rapidly evolving, with research teams often now needing to include scientists who have crossed into biomedicine from other disciplines. These interdisciplinary researchers, however, often report not being welcomed saying, for example "If you are in-between disciplines, people on both sides consider you an outsider with little knowledge." A substantial minority of researchers experience hostility when working in interdisciplinary research environments.
The vision for our "Hostile or Collegial research culture? Resources for data scientists" project is to: (1) Give voice to interdisciplinary scientists from all backgrounds who feel let down; (2) Draw from insights of researchers, industry, patient and public representatives to challenge longstanding issues in interdisciplinary research culture; (3) Develop evidence-based guidelines to improve this culture; (4) Test these draft guidelines in teams from partner institutions of Health Data Research UK and UK Dementia Research Institute; and (5) Integrate good research culture practices to maximise the future impact of UK biomedical data research.
The interdisciplinary research culture guidelines will adhere to core principles of inclusivity, diversity, receptivity, respect, trust and a person-centred approach to science. They will cover authorship and contributorship to outputs, job description criteria, mentoring, privilege, and training. Research cultural change from these guidelines will be tested in 8 interdisciplinary project teams at two points, 1 year apart. Half of these teams will be randomly selected for 3 sets of interventions: (i) implementation of these guidelines, (ii) group and individual training to improve interdisciplinary research culture, and (iii) semi-structured interviews. Team members will be drawn from across diverse institutional settings, disciplines, career stages and professional roles, and will be partners in cross-institutional thematic teams.
Four composite outcome measures will be compared between the two groups: Understanding the project's goals; Understanding team roles; Good communication channels; Clarity on authorship credit and intellectual property. Social learning will have occurred if interventions led to a change in individuals' understanding through interactions among team members.
Our intent is to catalyse enduring change by integrating good practices into ongoing operations of research teams and organisations. The project will have lasting impact due to the skills and resources gained that sustain, advocate for, and extend improvements to interdisciplinary research culture. A final report will be produced with a media launch and prepared for journal publication.
Our project team has experience in fostering inclusive and diverse research environments that value different perspectives, skillsets and experiences, and our institutions are committed to improve research culture. The project is designed to deliver and disseminate positive change using the experience of diverse stakeholders from 4 Universities, 3 Institutes (HDR UK, UK DRI and Turing), the public, patients, industry, early career researchers, data scientists, research software engineers and experimental biomedical scientists.
By challenging the status quo, this project risks provoking antagonism. Disputes will be resolved using collaborations between researchers who hold different positions (i.e., adversarial collaboration). Personal data will be safeguarded in line with legal standards. The key Project Manager/Researcher role will understand the diverse perspectives of interdisciplinary researchers and will be well briefed in each participating institution's policies with respect to bullying, harassment and grievance, and relevant support mechanisms.
The vision for our "Hostile or Collegial research culture? Resources for data scientists" project is to: (1) Give voice to interdisciplinary scientists from all backgrounds who feel let down; (2) Draw from insights of researchers, industry, patient and public representatives to challenge longstanding issues in interdisciplinary research culture; (3) Develop evidence-based guidelines to improve this culture; (4) Test these draft guidelines in teams from partner institutions of Health Data Research UK and UK Dementia Research Institute; and (5) Integrate good research culture practices to maximise the future impact of UK biomedical data research.
The interdisciplinary research culture guidelines will adhere to core principles of inclusivity, diversity, receptivity, respect, trust and a person-centred approach to science. They will cover authorship and contributorship to outputs, job description criteria, mentoring, privilege, and training. Research cultural change from these guidelines will be tested in 8 interdisciplinary project teams at two points, 1 year apart. Half of these teams will be randomly selected for 3 sets of interventions: (i) implementation of these guidelines, (ii) group and individual training to improve interdisciplinary research culture, and (iii) semi-structured interviews. Team members will be drawn from across diverse institutional settings, disciplines, career stages and professional roles, and will be partners in cross-institutional thematic teams.
Four composite outcome measures will be compared between the two groups: Understanding the project's goals; Understanding team roles; Good communication channels; Clarity on authorship credit and intellectual property. Social learning will have occurred if interventions led to a change in individuals' understanding through interactions among team members.
Our intent is to catalyse enduring change by integrating good practices into ongoing operations of research teams and organisations. The project will have lasting impact due to the skills and resources gained that sustain, advocate for, and extend improvements to interdisciplinary research culture. A final report will be produced with a media launch and prepared for journal publication.
Our project team has experience in fostering inclusive and diverse research environments that value different perspectives, skillsets and experiences, and our institutions are committed to improve research culture. The project is designed to deliver and disseminate positive change using the experience of diverse stakeholders from 4 Universities, 3 Institutes (HDR UK, UK DRI and Turing), the public, patients, industry, early career researchers, data scientists, research software engineers and experimental biomedical scientists.
By challenging the status quo, this project risks provoking antagonism. Disputes will be resolved using collaborations between researchers who hold different positions (i.e., adversarial collaboration). Personal data will be safeguarded in line with legal standards. The key Project Manager/Researcher role will understand the diverse perspectives of interdisciplinary researchers and will be well briefed in each participating institution's policies with respect to bullying, harassment and grievance, and relevant support mechanisms.
