FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND LAW

Research strategy

2008-12

  1. We will seek to appoint lecturing staff on pathway 1 with a strong research record or the potential to develop one, providing mentoring and support to allow potential to be achieved.
  2. We will seek to support and encourage pathway 2 staff in their research careers, including grant applications and publication of their work.
  3. We will work towards ensuring that all pathway 1 academic staff benefit from a study leave policy which offers regular blocks of time in which research may be conducted free from other commitments and offer departmental and faculty financial support for research activity, including conference attendance.
  4. We will encourage and support capacity building in methodologies and other research skills.
  5. We believe that research and teaching should be strongly linked. This might be in respect of: content, methodology, currency of literature or facilitating of student research-based investigations.  Pathway 2 staff should be encouraged to undertake small amounts of teaching.  All students but particularly postgraduate research students, should be strongly embedded into our research cultures.
  6. We will support and encourage interdisciplinary and collaborative research in the Faculty and outside it.
  7. We will seek to significantly strengthen our record in relation to large interdisciplinary, externally-funded, research centres.
  8. We will take steps to strengthen our advance intelligence about research funding opportunities and actively work at developing relationships with potential funders.
  9. We will ensure that the outcomes of research are effectively disseminated to a variety of appropriate audiences, including both academic and non-academic audiences, that we fully exploit the policy relevance of research with research users and that, where appropriate, we engage in knowledge transfer and exchange activities which are consistent with our values and beliefs.
  10. We will seek to strengthen and develop the activities of the Bristol Institute for Public Affairs through external funding, internal support and extension and strengthening of the faculty and university research themes included within its remit.
  11. We will play an active part in the Worldwide University Network, fostering alliances with other strong social science departments in WUN institutions (through workshops, joint funding bids and the production of research outputs), benchmarking our research internationally and encouraging video-seminars and staff/student exchanges.