Enabling an Inclusive Research Culture for Higher Education Professional Services Researchers

UK higher education institutions employ staff on professional services contracts to fulfil a range of functions, separate to staff employed on academic contracts. There is a sector-wide movement to enhance research culture within higher education institutions, and within this, a growing recognition of the ways that professional services support the sector’s core missions of research and teaching. However, there remains little visibility of professional services staff who are actively researching – we call these individuals professional services researchers. This article reports on an exploratory project at a UK University that sought to enable a more inclusive research culture and environment for professional services researchers. It draws on data from semi-structured interviews with key informants within the University to understand the support and resources available to researchers, and an online questionnaire distributed to professional services staff.

We found that the concept of a professional services researcher was not well understood and propose a new conceptual framework to help define professional services researchers and support future research and practice in this space. The lack of conceptual awareness of professional services researchers was creating a research culture where professional services did not feel that their research was valued or recognised, and research support services were difficult to navigate. We make recommendations for how institutions can take practical steps to remove barriers for professional services researchers to make their own research culture more inclusive.