Strategic Priority 1:
Research Quality
Purpose
Research excellence is our touchstone. We foster and invest in research of the highest quality, creating the conditions for our research community to excel and for Exeter’s research to lead nationally and internationally.
Priority Activities
Delivering research of the highest quality is central to our ambition. We will focus our support and investment on research that demonstrates genuine excellence and impact, while creating the culture and environment that enable our community to thrive and achieve at the highest level.
Investing in Our Researchers:
We will recruit and retain world-class talent by providing an outstanding research environment with the opportunities and support needed to thrive and produce their best work.
Fostering Collaboration:
We will harness our institutes, networks, and research communities to drive world-class interdisciplinary and open research. Strengthened by internal collaboration alongside global and corporate partnerships, we will enhance research quality, performance, and impact.
Communicating Success:
We will actively celebrate and promote our researchers' achievements to stakeholders, the public, and students. This will help to inspire others, attract talent, and demonstrate the real-world impact of our work.
Empowering Through Infrastructure:
Strategic investment in world-class infrastructure and digital capability will fuel the next generation of discovery. United as one research team, we will turn excellence into impact by growing our research power and shaping positive change worldwide.
1. Investing in Our Researchers:
An outstanding research environment underpins our ability to attract, develop, and retain world-class talent, enabling individuals and teams to deliver their best work.
2. Fostering Collaboration:
Research quality is advanced through our institutes, networks, and research communities, which enable world-class interdisciplinary and open research, strengthened by internal collaboration, global and corporate partnerships, and co-production with stakeholders.
3. Communicating Success:
The active external recognition of researchers’ achievements strengthens research culture, attracts talent, and demonstrates the real-world impact of Exeter’s research.
4. Empowering Through Infrastructure:
Strategic investment in world-class infrastructure and digital capability fuels the next generation of discovery.
5. Celebrating Excellence:
Through the Research Excellence Framework (REF), we recognise and promote excellence across our research community, valuing the diversity of outputs that reflect different disciplinary practices.
Priority Activities
Delivering research of the highest quality is central to our ambition. We will focus our support and investment on research that demonstrates genuine excellence and impact, while creating the culture and environment that enable our community to thrive and achieve at the highest level.
People & Research Culture
Our researchers are the driving force behind our success and our most valuable assets. We aim to recruit and retain the world’s best and most promising researchers, offering them the opportunities, infrastructure and support to enable them to thrive, progress and to do their very best work. Together we will continue to grow our research portfolio. Importantly, we are committed to fostering a vibrant and inclusive research culture that values and supports all research endeavours, recognising the contributions of everyone involved in research and supporting well rounded research leadership.
Partnership & Collaboration
We will harness the excellence of our research institutes, networks, and communities to promote open, diverse, cutting-edge, and interdisciplinary research. We will identify ways in which our interdisciplinary research infrastructure can offer greater peer support to enhance quality and performance. Collaborations will be supported across and between our departments and faculties, and opportunities for external collaboration and staff exchange will be encouraged through our formal associations with key international and corporate partners. Through our external partnerships we will enable sustainable growth of our research portfolio.
Influence & Reputation
To foster a culture of recognition and engagement, we will actively celebrate our researchers’ achievements and enhance the communication of these successes to key stakeholders. We will explore dynamic media approaches to communicate the range and breadth of our research excellence, balancing support for individuals to disseminate their research and demonstrate its alignment with our research strategy, alongside flagship campaigns to promote our key strengths. Sharing our new discoveries and highlighting how our work has created positive change in the world will engage the public, inspire new and existing students, and attract researchers to Exeter, leading to further research and impact opportunities.
Research Infrastructure
To remain at the forefront of research excellence, we will make targeted investments in research infrastructure that empowers our researchers to conduct innovative, high-impact work. These investments will ensure our facilities, digital environments, equipment, and support systems not only meet the evolving needs of world-leading research but also enable individuals to identify and access the appropriate resources effectively. By embracing a unified ‟one research team” approach and leveraging advanced digital innovation, we will empower both academic and professional services colleagues to focus fully on advancing and delivering impactful research.
