About the Project

Reimagining Governance for a Flourishing Research Culture asked new questions about how our research governance processes and decision-making enable all to flourish. By governance we mean the structures, rules, norms and actions that are put in place by the University to ensure accountability and to support successful research. This project centred on the effectiveness of processes: on the sense of involvement in decision-making, on the training of our staff to make good decisions, and the attention to language and behaviours that engender a positive research culture.

The project deployed novel approaches to research governance at department, faculty and institutional levels, to explore and co-design innovative pilot projects aimed at improving research governance in our departments and research institutes, and to share best practice across the sector. 

This exciting initiative was part of a wider programme of activities to transform research culture at Durham. Click the following link for more information on our other research work: Flourish@Durham.

Strand 1 - Ethnographic Exploration of Research Governance in Departments and University Research Institutes 

Strand one involved a nine-month ethnographic exploration of research governance and its relationship to research culture across four departments and two Research Institutes, beginning in September 2024. Our aim was to examine communication, practice and behaviours, and used an action research approach to co-design pilot projects to address challenges identified within structures of research governance.  

By the end of strand one, we gained a deeper understanding of governance across the University, identifying new, creative ways to improve decision-making, enhancing a sense of belonging and agency, and generating greater trust in how decisions are made. 

Strand 2 - Shadow Committees  

In strand two, we employed shadow committees as a research exercise to determine what is and is not effective in formal governance settings. We aimed to see if the process of implementing shadow committees for key research committees improved inclusivity in research governance, enabled greater autonomy in effective decision-making, and enhanced connectedness between staff and leadership. 

Evaluation 

Alongside this, we ran a concurrent evaluation strand which both evaluated the impact of our interventions, and also, crucially, how we ran the project.  

Legacy

We hope our findings will help to shape best practice across the University, strengthening and improving our existing approach to research governance, thereby ensuring the work has a positive legacy.  

We similarly hope that our findings will have broader application in the HE sector, and we are committed to sharing our learnings so others can benefit from this work. Whilst all institutions will have their own specific, unique institutional cultures, we hope that some of our findings will be able to support others addressing shared challenges.  

Our final report which sets out our findings will be published in Autumn 2026. 

Shadow Committee Toolkit 

Together with our partner Formation Consultancy, we have created a toolkit bringing together practical guidance, resources and insights from our experience of designing and delivering Shadow Committees to support more inclusive and effective research governance.  

Developed through our commitment to sharing learning and advancing research culture across the sector, it includes practical tools, examples and lessons learned that can be adapted to different institutional contexts.  

The toolkit offers a set of short webinars which you can explore in full or in part, but we recommend you start with the Toolkit Introduction for a detailed overview of how to use it.  Click here to access the toolkit.  

For more information or any questions, please email research.culture@durham.ac.uk.