A new team-led model for research leadership is not聽intending to 鈥渞einvent the wheel鈥� but aims to 鈥渟hift the dial鈥� towards a more inclusive approach, according to its backers.

Thrive,聽led by the University of Liverpool, is seeking to provide an alternative option to running research projects alongside the聽traditional principal investigator (PI)-led approach聽鈥� one that聽aims to spread leadership responsibilities across more of the colleagues involved.

The initiative, being run in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and Advance HE, aims to create a 鈥渕ore inclusive, positive and respectful culture in research鈥�.

Georgina Endfield, co-lead on the project and professor of environmental history at Liverpool, told聽探花视频聽that the PI model 鈥渨orks for a lot of people, but not all鈥�.

探花视频

鈥淚t prioritises a traditional lead who is ultimately the person that gains the reputation and credibility. All of those kinds of things flow through the PI, but when you think about a typical large research project, there are many other people involved.

鈥淲hat we were trying to do was find a new way of working鈥hereby we bring聽in a different kind of leadership voice聽and think about teams more effectively.鈥�

探花视频

Thrive鈥檚 different approach could give a 鈥渧oice鈥� to technical and professional services workers, early and mid-career academics and聽under-represented groups聽by letting them co-lead projects, said Professor Endfield, Liverpool鈥檚 associate pro vice-chancellor for the research environment and postgraduate research.

She added that there was a 鈥渓ot of appetite鈥�, given聽studies had shown聽the benefits of team-based research and that it leads to an improvement in results.

Thrive, launched in September 2023 with a two-year funding commitment, has developed a set of 鈥渢eam convening principles鈥� including identifying appropriate expertise, establishing collective leadership, designing inclusive governance, identifying ways to embed development for all, and engaging in reflexive practice.

鈥淚t brings different voices to the fore,鈥� said Professor Endfield. 鈥淚t leads to a positive research culture in teams, and that鈥檚 a great thing. There鈥檚 lots of things that we鈥檙e testing and piloting, so it is experimental.鈥�

探花视频

The team principles are also designed to avoid one person leading the project in a more informal way 鈥� which the team see as one of the big challenges to its adoption in practice.

鈥淪ome of the things that we learned through Covid [are] that resilience can come through being based in teams, and people can work best when they鈥檙e bouncing ideas off each other,鈥� said Professor Endfield.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not reinventing the wheel. We鈥檙e shifting the dial as opposed to changing the world with what we鈥檙e trying to do here.鈥�

Projects looking to pilot the new model are being invited to respond to a live funding call with the AHRC, which is open until the end of January.

探花视频

Jaideep Gupte, director of research, strategy and innovation at the AHRC, said the project has the potential to 鈥渞adically reconfigure how projects are led across the whole research and innovation sector鈥澛燼nd can lead the way聽鈥渢owards more open, inclusive and diverse research leadership鈥�.

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com