Embedding Inclusive Cultural Change Through Community Voice
UCL’s Research Culture Community Steering Group
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31273/eirj.v13i3.2225Keywords:
research culture, community-led change, change management, lived experience, higher education governance, inclusionAbstract
This Critical Reflection explores how University College London’s (UCL’s) Research Culture Community Steering Group (CSG) integrates the individual voices and lived experiences of the research community and encourages researchers’ direct participation in governance as a way to foster a sense of belonging and promote inclusion within institutional research culture change. Launched in January 2024, the CSG works in partnership with the UCL Research Culture Programme (RCP). This article considers the CSG’s first two years, examining how member feedback in 2024 and 2025 shaped strategic priorities and plans, contributed to projects, and revealed systemic barriers relating to equity, wellbeing and research environments. Using change-management frameworks, it reviews the challenges of implementation, including the complexity of governance and balancing competing priorities within a large, decentralised institution. The analysis shows how early engagement, inclusivity and structured feedback loops build trust and support sustainable, people-centred organisational cultural change. Finally, the article considers how the CSG model informs UCL’s next phase of the RCP through strengthening alignment with governance structures, clarifying member roles, and sharing learning and best practice. It offers transferable insights for research-intensive universities embedding inclusive community voices within decision-making and strategies.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Mary Assad, Natalie Marchant
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