Our collective role in research culture is to ensure that our research and impact conduct is informed by LSE’s values of excellence and rigour, openness, ethics and integrity, and collaboration and interdisciplinarity. These values influence the behaviours, attitudes and norms within our community.
Furthermore, research culture is a reflexive practice, which explores and enhances how our community experiences the research and impact environment at LSE through the lens of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI), recognition and support, wellbeing, and the interactions with each other and people outside LSE.
LSE’s research culture is underpinned by our social sciences specialism and motto "rerum cognoscere causas", meaning "to know the causes of things". The motto supports the School's founding purpose, "for the betterment of society". As a leader for SHAPE (Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts for People and the Economy), our research and impact helps us understand the human world – the complexities of being human, our cultures, behaviours, how we organise our societies, economics and communities – to solve global challenges.
Why is research culture important to LSE?
Research culture is embedded in LSE’s Research for the World Strategy, which demonstrates our commitment to developing an inspiring, intellectually challenging, supportive and inclusive research environment for colleagues at all career stages, and recognises diversity and interdisciplinarity as key to research excellence.
Defining a positive research culture
At LSE, a positive research culture centres around three priority areas:
- Responsible Practice: Ensuring our research and research community uphold the highest professional standards of rigour, integrity, ethical behaviour, transparency and collegiality to fully recognise and value the contributions that all roles play in generating high quality research.
- Supportive Environment: Ensuring the environment in which our research community works allows them to flourish, maximising the potential of colleagues at all career stages, and equitably supporting them to achieve their aspirations to attract and retain diverse talent.
- Stimulating Ecosystem: Ensuring the research ecosystem at LSE encourages and facilitates interdisciplinary collaboration, citizenship, community-building, and innovative and creative thought leadership to deliver meaningful research, impact and influence.
Initiatives and activities
These initiatives have been supported by Research England's Enhancing Research Culture Fund.
The LSE Mid-Career Academic Coaching Programme seeks to address the specific opportunities and challenges that mid-career researchers (MCRs) face in developing their careers in the current UK higher education landscape. It offers a targeted programme, which enables MCRs to holistically evaluate their career, identify barriers and enablers to their progression, and strategize next steps to achieve their aspired career pathway. Ultimately, it aims to facilitate a productive, inclusive, stimulating and positive research culture at LSE and to nurture our talented researchers to produce world-class research with real-world impact and become leaders of the social sciences.
In 2024-25, this Programme supports a cohort of 21 MCRs at LSE across 15 academic units in areas including productivity and performance, publication strategies, career progression and advancement, wellbeing, and leadership and management.
The Summer of Research Culture Pilot Projects provided funds of up to £5,000 to Departments, Institutes and Centres to support initiatives that contribute to the enrichment of the School’s research culture and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Summer of Research Culture Pilot Projects
| Project |
Academic Unit |
| Cultures of Justice Inside and Outside the Law Summer Workshop |
Anthropology |
| Population and Healthy Ageing (PHAG) Workshop and Networking |
International Development |
| Writing Retreat |
Sociology |
| Symposium: The Americas in Global History |
International History |
| Research Showcase: Women in the Dept of Philosophy |
Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method |
| Knowledge Exchange Workshops |
International Inequalities Institute |
| Mathematics Summer Research Festival |
Mathematics |
| Centre for Women, Peace and Security - Expanding and Gender Justice and Security Hub exchange workshops |
Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa |
The Changemakers Programme seeks to understand how the LSE ECR Network can meaningfully contribute to enhancing the ECR experience at the School.
In 2023, the Changemakers Programme funded four projects.
In 2024, the Changemakers Programme funded two projects.
These peer-led projects contribute to the priority areas of the Network via research, engagement and impact, training, and network-building.
Contact us
Our entire LSE research community all have a role to play in building a positive research culture and collaborating to enact change.
The Senior Research Culture Manager is keen to support with any initiatives or activities to enhance research culture in your academic unit and to signpost you to colleagues across the School who contribute to our shared vision.
To get involved or discuss any opportunities or challenges, please contact Nathalie Van der Elst, Senior Research Culture Manager.