Enabling collaboration
We champion interdisciplinary and collaborative research, and opportunities to share and learn from and with others to strengthen our research culture.
Engaging with the wider research sector
Cross-institutional networks, such as the Early Career Development Network, enable our early career researchers our postdoctoral communities to shape and direct their own development.
We engage with the wider sector on research culture and environment through existing networks, such as the Research Culture Enablers Network, the Midlands Research Culture Network and the Wellcome-funded Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Science and Health (EDIS).
We also work closely with Russell Group peers and UKRI’s research and innovation culture team to develop shared expectations of inclusive research and grant cultures.
Our partnerships with other higher education institutions and a varied range of organisations create new opportunities to advance understanding and solve some of the biggest challenges we face.
Collective action for inclusive demand management
The University of Birmingham co-leads a working group, in collaboration with the Universities of Nottingham and York, focused on improving the conditions for demand management - an area of the research funding process that is at risk of bias and unaddressed inequalities.
Together, we have produced a set of sector guidelines and resources that will be shared and discussed at the ARMA Conference 2025:
- Parameters for equitable demand management (Word)
- Considerations for funders (Word)
- Principles and best practice (Word)
The working group emerged from a funding forum bringing together 30+ universities and 11 funders following the publication of the University of Oxford's report on Equity and Inclusivity in Research Funding and a shared action plan for a more equitable, diverse and inclusive funding ecosystem, focussing on areas where joint action was necessary.
A pioneering approach to research strategy, engagement and impact
Our internal teams reflect our commitment to collaboration, with the University’s Research Strategy and Services Division bringing together several teams to facilitate high quality strategic research development and services across the entire research life cycle. In a Russell Group first, our business engagement and research impact functions sit within one team.
How we engage with our partners
Explore the ways we are enabling collaboration
Through Research England's Quality-related Research (QR) funding, we are enabling collaboration within and across the University, and with external partners. Check out our case studies for a snapshot of researchers and research-related staff's work.
Our case studies