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Research excellence

Deep dives into university research practices around the world, including supervision, community engagement, funding and publication.

International group of people meeting

The dos and don’ts of successfully developing an international network in higher education

International collaborations sound impressive on paper – but most fail to move beyond initial enthusiasm and a signed memorandum of understanding. Jeremy Howick shares lessons from building a global network focused on empathy in healthcare

Jeremy Howick

University of Leicester

Librarians work together in a team

From library-focused project to campus-wide collaboration

A heritage trail to mark an anniversary event began life in the library, but how to extend its reach to the rest of the university? Here’s what one library team learned when they collaborated across their institution

Rachael Jones, Neal Buchanan, Carol Stewart

University of Strathclyde

Funding bid for research illustration concept

How research technical professionals can enhance research infrastructure funding bids

When technicians are empowered and supported, they don’t just contribute to best practice and equipment sustainability, they can boost bids for investment in infrastructure

Alex Laude

Newcastle University

ophthalmologist examining a child's eye

A clear vision for university-community partnerships

Mutual respect, actively listening to each other’s perspectives and clear mechanisms to evidence impact should be the foundation of a university-community collaboration. Here’s how a project to improve local children’s eye health grew into an ongoing partnership

Leon Davies, Rachel Shaw, Guy Rippon

Aston University, Aston Villa Football Club

podcast graphic

Campus talks: the future of doctoral research funding for arts and humanities

An award-winning historian shares insights on changes to the PhD funding landscape in the UK and how early career scholars can maximise their chances of securing support

Alice Taylor

King’s College London

Illustration of research funding concept

Finding the funding: how to support research projects of any size

How do central research offices operate, and why are they often key to securing research funding? Eleanor Nelsen explains what help is available for researchers, including training and on-demand resources

Eleanor Nelsen

Virginia Tech

Someone reads the news on their phone

Critical thinking v fake news: a case study

In this age of disinformation, how can universities embed critical thinking skills in their local communities? A face-to-face workshop could be the answer

Laura Bradnam

Birkbeck, University of London

A graduate wearing a mortarboard

Why employability gaps widen as academic identity deepens

The more tightly researchers’ identities bind to the university, the less ready they often feel for life beyond it. Naming two modes of working, depth and outbound, can help universities close the employability gap

Alys Kay

University of Liverpool

Networks of university technicians

Connecting and empowering technical staff: lessons for universities

Technicians themselves will have many of the answers to the challenges they face and can bridge staff groups, but their roles are often siloed or isolated. These suggestions build networks and communication

John Nicolson

University of Cambridge

Advice for finding and securing research funding

Advice for finding and securing research funding

Tips for writing grant proposals, identifying the right route to funding and keeping a clear head on the journey

Kiera O’Brien, Campus contributors

Campus

Law court in Ukraine

Building legal resilience in Ukraine: lessons from a twinning partnership

Insights from a UK-Ukrainian university partnership that overcame the challenges presented by war and working across borders to produce a new legal dictionary and strong trusting academic relationships

Erica Arthur

University of Birmingham

Leaves on railway tracks

Mind the gap: how an industry-university partnership brought theory into practice

Regular communication, flexibility in timelines, a willingness to look beyond academic disciplines and a shared commitment to the bigger picture kept this university-industry research collaboration on track

Xiaojun Zhai, Michael Hayes

University of Essex, Railscape

Liquid with dollar sign dropping into test tube, research funding

Who cares about this problem as much as you do?

Securing funding requires researchers to think like strategists, storytellers and coalition-builders. Nicole Akers offers advice for navigating the demanding process to win grants and turn ideas into impact

Nicole Akers

Virginia Tech

Demonstrating research excellence Campus spotlight guide image

From the lab to life: how to demonstrate research excellence

Advice on innovative and traditional methods of communicating your research and impact to different audiences

Campus contributors

Campus

Academics sit round a table, analysing documents

Write a grant proposal to win government funding

Hone your grant proposal for government funding to perfection with these tips. Yanwei Wang, Baktiyar Soltabayev and Zhumabay Bakenov draw on their experience from Kazakhstan’s funding landscape

Yanwei Wang, Baktiyar Soltabayev , Zhumabay Bakenov

Nazarbayev University

An illustration of scientists working to fund their research

Five tips to help you find non-federal research funding

Non-profit groups and industry partners can be great sources for funding opportunities. Here’s how to find the right ones and build a relationship with them

Kalene Johnson

University of Florida

Motivation spotlight image

How to motivate students and staff in higher education

Advice for faculty to find and maintain the motivation that they, and their students, need to progress in their work and learning

Campus contributors, Eliza Compton

Campus

Young female medical researcher with elderly female patient

How to conduct research involving people who may not have capacity to consent for themselves

Studies involving people who may not be able to provide their own consent to take part in research can be daunting. These practical tips offer a guide to ethical and inclusive research with this population

Victoria Shepherd, Anna Anderson, Amy M. Russell

Cardiff University, University of Leeds

Female scientific researcher in wheelchair in lab

‘Think of inclusivity as the rule rather than the exception’

Cultivating an inclusivity mindset can help university researchers demystify and embrace reasonable adjustments as part of everyday practice

Jamie Wilde

University of Southampton

Young man working on document with laptop

Why researchers should consider a narrative CV

The narrative CV moves away from the usual academic metrics of publications and grants and allows university researchers to tell the story of their journey and impact. This guide offers practical tips for writing one

Jemina Napier, Multiple authors

Heriot-Watt University

Copyright concept

AI, copyright and the classroom: what higher education needs to know

As artificial intelligence reshapes teaching and research, one legal principle remains at the heart of our work: copyright. Understanding its implications isn’t just about compliance – it’s about protecting academic integrity, intellectual property and the future of knowledge creation. Cayce Myers explains

Cayce Myers

Virginia Tech

How to work well with industry spotlight graphic

How academia can work well with industry

Advice on how universities and their staff can maximise the benefits of academic-industry partnerships for researchers, students and society

Campus contributors

Campus

A research team discussing their findings

Why universities must lead on honest AI disclosure and how a new tool can help

Universities must bridge the gap between calls for GenAI transparency and workable standards. A new taxonomy offers a practical system to declare AI’s role in research openly and responsibly

Multiple authors

Borys Grinchenko Kyiv Metropolitan University, Berdyansk State Pedagogical University

Swimmers jumping in the air

An academics’ guide to policy impact

How to plan and share academic research so policymakers take notice and apply your findings to real-world issues

Laura Duckett, Campus contributors

Campus

A man sits in darkness, illuminated by a smartphone that blocks his face from view

Four questions to ask to detect false news online

Even those working in higher education can fall for misinformation. Ask these four questions to get better at zeroing in on false news

Peter Cunliffe-Jones

University of Westminster

Stairway of books leading to open door

When open data meets publish-or-perish

At every stage of the research process, critical thinking acts as a compass – it urges caution against overconfident claims and reminds us that the goal is understanding, not mere output, writes Timo Lorenz

Timo Lorenz

MSB Medical School Berlin

Critical thinking spotlight graphic

Critical thinking in teaching and research

Practical strategies and advice for university educators and researchers to develop and teach the skills to analyse, evaluate, understand and communicate knowledge in an information-saturated world

Eliza Compton, Campus contributors

Campus

Pixelated hands shaking

Making global academic connections from your desk

Early-career academics don’t need senior titles or travel budgets to make a global impact. Here’s how to use what you have to build international partnerships from the ground up – starting with your inbox

Lilit Ghazaryan

National Polytechnic University of Armenia

A locked safe

How ‘memory institutions’ can preserve our digital future

In an era of disappearing textbooks and locked-down digital archives, here’s what universities must do to protect access to knowledge

Beatrice Murch

Internet Archive Europe

Students working together in library

Redesigning the university library for creating and collaborating

University libraries are no longer just places of study, they are places of discovery, innovation and community. Patrick Tomlin discusses redesigning academic libraries to meet the ways that students and faculty learn and research

Patrick Tomlin

Virginia Tech

Spotlight guide: Advice for surviving your PhD dissertation

Advice for surviving your PhD dissertation

Tips for each step of researching, writing and refining a PhD dissertation

Eliza Compton, Campus contributors

Campus

podcast graphic

Campus talks: university libraries – and librarians – that are leading the change

Learn about the efforts of US librarians to protect valuable public data from sudden erasure by the Trump administration and a pioneering project which saw a UK university partner with a local council to create a joint library that is open to anyone

David Green, Lynda Kellam

University of Worcester, University of Pennsylvania

Woman in wheelchair and young black man looking at tablet

How to meaningfully include disabled people in patient and public involvement activities

Meaningful inclusion of disabled people in research activities helps ensure the resulting findings are useful for informing healthcare delivery in the real world. These practical tips explain how to do it

Anna Anderson, Amy M. Russell

University of Leeds

Redefining the university library for 2025 and beyond

Redefining the university library for 2025 and beyond

University libraries must keep pace with the many changes sweeping across global higher education in order to serve students, researchers and the wider public. In this guide, library teams and academics offer advice on how to do so

Kiera O’Brien, Campus contributors

Campus

Two scholars discussing over laptop

Glad you asked: how feedback turns a library into a community of scholarship

Through active and passive efforts to obtain and respond to feedback, academic library professionals can optimise their services while maintaining a lean team

Leslie Sharp, Jason Wright

Georgia Tech’s Center for 21st Century Universities

News cycle concept

Keeping your research relevant in an accelerating news cycle

When publishing is slow but world events move quickly, how can scholars ensure their work will be read and cited and contribute to academic discussion?

Yasmin Y. Ortiga, Jenny Gavacs

Singapore Management University, Whetstone Editing

podcast graphic

Campus talks: what does it take to successfully commercialise research?

A technology transfer expert and biotech spin-out founder explain the steps involved in moving discoveries from the lab to the market

Mairi Gibbs, Andrew Hammond

University of Oxford, Imperial College London

Illustration of man doing hurdles

‘An academic career is not a heptathlon’

The secret to establishing a career in academia is focus and deliberate choices, whether the path is into research, teaching or impact. Here, Robert MacIntosh explains why persistence and planning are more important than ever

Robert MacIntosh

University of the West of Scotland

Illustration of female scientist in a lab

When a scientist becomes an inventor

A novel scientific discovery can catapult a researcher from the bench to being an entrepreneur. Here, Greta Faccio shares considerations for next steps in commercialising an invention

Greta Faccio

Independent consultant

Three young multiracial female scholars in library

Why university libraries should not overlook research staff

Research assistants and postdocs offer specialised skills and an agile approach to new methodologies, so libraries have much to gain from recognising them as strategic partners

Bella Ratmelia

Singapore Management University

An illustration of various employees tapping into AI

A four-part framework to categorise AI tools for research

How to use AI tools to assist in research, for each phase of the process

Eric Tsui

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Scientists work in a lab

Bridge the gap between knowledge and solutions with industry partnerships

Academic and industry partnerships can help both sides achieve more than they could alone. Here’s how to build a relationship for long-lasting collaboration

David Parker

Hong Kong Baptist University

UK innovation concept

What does the UK’s spin-out ecosystem need to thrive nationwide?

Despite their abundance of research and expertise, UK academic institutions lack mechanisms to encourage and incentivise movement between academia and industry, particularly within the spin-out community, writes Richard Hague

Richard Hague

University of Nottingham

Industry-academia partnerships concept

The alchemy of promoting partnerships between higher education and industry

With the promise of technological innovation and demand for talent, universities and industry have much to gain by working together. Brandy Salmon shares advice for developing sustainable, impactful industry collaboration

Brandy Salmon

Virginia Tech

Forget climate anxiety – let’s foster climate confidence

Combine research and administrative duties to tap into how students are feeling about climate change – and use your findings to help them gain the skills, and confidence, to tackle it head-on

Léa Chambaudet

Université Paris-Est Créteil

Trademark on a stamp

When should scientists think about trademarks?

If your discovery has commercial potential, you will need to think about what to call it when it reaches the market. Here are three considerations about trademarks and protecting your intellectual property

Greta Faccio, Marion-Sima Wössner

Independent consultant

Captian Knowledge comic image

Using comic format to make research more accessible

Comic literature can make research more inclusive and engaging for those outside academic circles. Learn how to plan and create your own

Chris Johnson

University of Chester

Artificial intelligence in the university library

AI skills for tomorrow’s university librarians

University librarians need to understand how to guide students and faculty in using AI tools ethically and effectively. In the future, they will be not only information experts but also AI facilitators. Yinlin Chen offers advice on laying the groundwork

Yinlin Chen

Virginia Tech

Podlocked book

Strategic silencing: how censorship is reshaping scholarly discourse

Restrictions to US databases and scholarly work mean that researchers need new approaches to navigate research absences and silences rather than the more typical information overload, writes Alison Hicks

Alison Hicks

UCL

Young scholar working in library

University libraries’ modern role in supporting faculty and graduate research

When research is increasingly computational, interdisciplinary and comprised of multi-institutional teams who frequently collaborate virtually, university libraries must keep pace to support faculty and graduate students, as Tyler Walters explains

Tyler Walters

Virginia Tech