Growing_the_Best_and_Brightest._The_Drivers_of_Research_Excellence

Growing the best and brightest March 2014
how the time and effort associated with
recruiting individuals from outside of the
European Union may have recruitment
decisions. Attaining visas is often seen as
causing friction in the recruitment process and
further research could investigate where the
issues lie. For example, the extent to which
perceptions of the system limit individuals
considering a UK post.
Middle-career researchers. This study
suggests that UK research productivity could
increase if HEIs could help middle-career
researchers progress faster. Further research
could help define and scale this challenge better
and, perhaps, indicate the type of help that
works – in other HEIs or in research-driven
industries.
Impact of mentoring and appraisal. This
study suggests that good informal and formal
mentoring and appraisal arrangements
enhance research productivity. Further
research could seek to validate this finding. For
example, by correlating the results of PIRLS and
CROS with the results of the REF exercise or
other bibliometric data. A similar exercise
might be undertaken to understand how staff
turnover is correlated with mentoring and
appraisal performance.
between funding are, why they exist and the
effects they have on research “on-the-ground”.
Salary benchmarking. This study suggests
that researcher salaries in the UK are lower
than in the US and other countries. Further
research could be undertaken to understand
the scale of the differential today and the
potential risk of it widening. For example, one
could undertake a choice exercise with
researchers to understand the extent to which
salary is “traded-off” against other factors (such
as institution reputation).
Opportunities to forge early-career
relationships. This study suggests that
opportunities to forge early-career
relationships creates collaboration
opportunities later. Further research could be
undertaken to understand whether more could
be done by Government or HEIs to facilitate
early-career relationships.
Measures of success. This study suggests that
research strategies can influence research
productivity. Further research could be
undertaken to understand how HEIs (and
potentially firms) measure whether different
aspects of their strategy have been successful
and consider whether this should influence the
information that is gathered to benchmark the
HEIs in the UK against other countries.
Terms attached to funding sources. This
study suggests that the terms attached to
different funding sources has a bearing on
research excellence. Further research could
seek to better understand: what the differences