THE podcast: how to achieve research excellence – and protect it

Listen to this podcast on Spotify or Apple podcasts.

The delivery of quality research is central to the mission of most universities. But there is more to research excellence than headline-grabbing “groundbreaking” discoveries.

This podcast episode explores what good research looks like, how it can be supported at an institutional level, and what feeds into a healthy research ecosystem that enables robust studies of all types, and at all stages, to be carried out and knowledge advanced.

We also delve into research security, to find out how scholarly work can be protected from misuse or being weaponised amid ever-changing geopolitical power struggles.

You will hear from:

Marcus Munafò is currently associate pro vice-chancellor for research culture and professor of biological psychology at the University of Bristol. In May, he will take up the post of deputy vice-chancellor and provost at the University of Bath. He is co-founder of the UK Reproducibility Network and leads a major project funded by Research England to accelerate the uptake of open research practices across the UK higher education sector. 

Jacqueline Littlewood is director of research security at the University of Alberta in Canada. She took up this role leading the university’s safeguarding research office in 2023, after a 20-year career in government as a policy analyst and adviser, including working with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

For more advice on this topic, check out our resources offering insight on delivering top quality research, including a spotlight guide on how to demonstrate research excellence.

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