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The University of Southampton
Research

Researcher support

At Southampton, we provide support for our research community to thrive, enabling world-leading research and creating an environment where everyone feels welcomed, supported and valued.

Our dedicated support services help our research community navigate the complete research life-cycle and develop the skills they need to join the next generation of research leaders.

Find out more about our research culture Research culture internal site

Interdisciplinary Research Programme

The Associate Vice President of Interdisciplinary Research leads a programme that fosters and supports developing ideas from our academic community. These include:

Sandpits

A sandpit is an interactive workshop that helps form new research teams and encourages risk-accepting projects to address big research challenges.

Our sandpits provide a creative platform for new interdisciplinary teams to devise a pilot project during the workshop and submit a bid for pump-priming funds shortly afterwards. They help us create interdisciplinary research communities in targeted areas to tackle major societal issues.

We host two sandpits each year, on topics from ‘Narrative and Storytelling’ to ‘Resilient Society’.

Interdisciplinary Pump-priming

Each year, we announce a call for pump-priming funds to encourage new interdisciplinary research at the University.

Research and Innovation Services (RIS)

Doctoral College

Our Research and Innovation Services team help and support our researchers across a number of areas:

RIS Contact RIS RIS Internal Site

Centre for Higher Education Practice (CHEP)

CHEP promotes academic professional learning for every member of University staff, in all areas of academic activity and at every stage of their career. Our Research & KEE team works in partnership with faculties and specialist teams from professional services to design and deliver professional development programme for staff engaged in research, knowledge exchange, and enterprise across the University.

Our Researcher Development Hub​​​​​ provides an overview of central learning resources, training, and support programmes available across the University. ​It highlights key information, contacts and training opportunities, and provides insight into the wider scope of the knowledge and skills required to build your career in research, knowledge exchange and enterprise.

The CHEP KEE Development Hub offers introductory information, case studies, signposting and resources helping clarify the field of Knowledge Exchange and Enterprise.

CHEP Website CHEP SharePoint Researcher Development Hub
KEE Development Hub

Mentoring

The University is committed to continuing professional development (CPD) and supports mentoring as part of this. There are a number of central resources available around the topic of mentoring.

Our Professional Development Mentoring site includes a range of resources around mentoring, including an overview of the process, the different responsibilities within the relationship and some pointers on how to get started. Email the Leadership and Management Development team for more information.

Professional Development Mentoring Mentoring (internal site) Leadership Circles (internal site)
Coaching register (internal site)

Develop with our Doctoral College

Our Doctoral College is the hub of the University's vibrant and inspiring doctoral research community. It is the focal point for doctoral training and researcher development, supporting our postgraduate researchers through:

Find out more about the Doctoral College

Library

The Library provides support for all researchers in the following areas:

Find out more about the Library research services

Pure

Pure is the leading research information system used by the University of Southampton to disseminate our research activity. Pure performs strategic decision-making, supports the management of the University’s research performance and enables the expertise of researchers and departments to be more easily discovered.

The reporting capabilities in Pure will help to ensure Open Access compliance and the eligibility of outputs for the next Research Excellence Framework (REF).

Pure is intuitive to use but a range of support is already available, including Library and Faculty-based experts and online user-guides which can be accessed via the Pure web pages.

Pure Support

Public Engagement with Research unit (PERu)

The Public Engagement with Research unit (PERu) exists to inspire and support high quality public engagement with research across all disciplines at the University of Southampton.

Find out more about PERu Contact PERu

Public Policy|Southampton (PPS)

Public Policy|Southampton (PPS) is the University of Southampton's dedicated unit to help researchers connect with policymakers on a local, sub-national, national and international level. The three main pillars of PPS activities include:

Capacity-building
We organise training on key policy-related skills, such as embedding impact into research, engaging with Parliament and Government, writing policy briefs and using DataViz tools to influence policy. Find out more about our events .

Planning for Policy Impact
We advise academics on their impact strategy and support them to develop evidence-to-policy activities. Find out more about Research Project Support .

Building external relationships
We have a network of contacts across Westminster, Whitehall and local Government and use these contacts to build new relationships between researchers and policymakers. Find out about ways to engage .

Find out more about PPS Contact PPS Join our Membership

Impact Acceleration Accounts (IAA's)

The University of Southampton is proud to be working with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) on a number of Research Council Impact Acceleration Accounts (IAA's).

IAA funding provides a platform to discover, stimulate and grow our impact and Knowledge Exchange opportunities. It helps to ensure effective translation of our research and enables greater collaboration with users and stakeholders to inform the direction of our research, innovation and education. By deploying IAA funding in a variety of activities, we aim to foster and support innovation, build skills and capacity, and drive impactful change.

Please visit the individual funder pages for further information on opportunities that are currently available at the University of Southampton.

Impact Acceleration Accounts (IAA's)
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