Empowering a global community through co-production of a connected university research culture

Heriot-Watt University (HWU) is a global university with five academic Schools connected across five campuses. To foster a vibrant and inclusive research culture across the global research community, HWU has invested time and resource to strategically improve research culture, building on current strengths, while addressing cultural challenges faced by the research community. We have engaged all members of the community through a lengthy consultation and co-design process to co-produce a global action plan. The global community has a forward looking, unconstrained and ambitious future vision of what an ideal research culture at HWU should look like, and there are gaps between that vision and the diagnostic of perceptions of the ‘as-is’ culture. The action plan will drive forward an active strategy for supporting the research community. This paper gives an overview of the action plan development process using Lippitt and Knoster’s Model of Complex Change as a framework, sharing the key themes that emerged from consultations, plans for moving ahead, reflections on the successes and challenges, with a focus on how to foster research culture and connect a global university.