Research Practice Group
A partnership of academics and professional services
The Research Practice Group (RPG) has been established to provide university-level leadership to ensure that the highest standards of practice are followed in how research is designed, planned, executed, and reported, to drive innovation and to participate in sector initiatives and debates.
Good practice in research is promoted and supported by a range of University teams and groups that provide specialist support for open research, open access, research data management, research integrity and ethics, reproducible and transparent research, responsible research and innovation and research impact. These specialisms are represented in the membership of the group.
Meeting dates
| Date | Time |
| Thursday 23 May 2024 | 09:30-11:00 |
Working in partnership with Academic Divisions, professional services, University research-related committees and groups and external organisations, the role of the Research Practice Group (RPG) will be to:
- Contribute to the programme of work to strengthen research culture across the collegiate University as this relates to research practice
- Contribute to the development and ongoing review of new policies and guidance relating to research practice
- Align resources to ensure that Oxford researchers have access to high quality training and tools in research practice
- Identify and champion innovations in ways of working that serve to improve research practice, considering how priorities and practice vary across disciplines.
- Support the integration of relevant activities across the University at the interface with career development, EDI, and the evaluation of research
- Have responsibility for the management and expenditure of Research England’s Enhancing Research Culture funding allocation to the University, as this relates to support for research practice
- Show sector leadership by working collaboratively with relevant national and international organisations, and contribute to sector innovations, debates and resources.
These terms of reference will be reviewed on a yearly basis.
Research Practice Group Members 2022-23 – Coordination Group*
Name | Role(s) and Affiliation | Affiliations to key relevant groups (internal, external) |
Susanna-Assunta Sansone (Co-Chair) * | Academic Lead for Research Culture – Research Practice. Director, Oxford e-Research Centre, Dep of Engineering | Research Data Alliance (WG lead) EOSC (Advisory Task Force on FAIR Metrics &Data Quality) Centre of Open Science (Board of Directors) ELIXIR (Interoperability Platform Lead) |
Laura Fortunato (Co-Chair) * | Lead for Research Culture (UKRN) and Institutional Lead for the UK Reproducibility Network School of Anthropology & Museum Ethnography | UKRN, Reproducible Research Oxford (RROx) |
Kathryn Dally * | Research Integrity and Policy Lead Research Services | |
Sarah Callaghan * | Research Practice Manager Research Services | |
Tanita Casci * | Director, Research Strategy and Policy Unit Research Services | Co-chair, Research Staff Working Group Co-Chair, Open Access Steering Group |
Mónica Palmero Fernández * | Research Practice Coordinator Research Services | |
Rachel Bray | Researcher Hub Lead, People and Organisational Development | Co-chair, Research Staff Working Group |
Manuel Berdoy | Department of Biomedical Services Medical Sciences Division | |
| Alwyn Collinson | IT Services | |
David De Roure | Department of Engineering Science, Digital Humanities programme (The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities) | Chair, Research Data Steering Group Sustainable Digital Scholarship (SDS) Programme Board, Chair, Steering Committee for the Digital Scholarship (DiSC) SRF |
Sarah Frodsham | Director of the Graduate School, Department for Continuing Education | |
David Gavaghan | University Advocate for Research Staff Development Department of Computer Science | Chair, Research Staff Steering Committee |
Megan Gooch | Head of the Centre for Sustainable Digital Scholarship and Digital Humanities Support | Sustainable Digital Scholarship (SDS) Programme Board Digital Humanities Sustainability Steering Committee Humanities IT Forum RDM Steering Committee RDM Delivery Group |
| Ruth Mallalieu | Head of Open Scholarship Support Bodleian Library | LIBER Open Access Working Group LERU Info Policy Group Chair, RLUK Open Strategy Network |
Alis Oancea | Professor of Philosophy of Education and Research Policy Department of Education | |
Charles Rahal | UKRN Local Network Lead Coordinator Senior Departmental Research Lecturer in Computational Social Science, Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science | |
Afsie Sabokbar | Medical Sciences Divisional Director of Skills Training and Researcher Development, Nuffield Dept of Orthopaedics Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences | Director of Graduate Studies |
Carolyn Ten Holter | Department of Computer Science, Researcher, Responsible Technology Institute | |
Rowan Wilson | Head of Research Computing and Support Services IT Services |
Associate members
(People who will receive the papers and are on the [email protected] mailing list, but who won’t be attending the meetings)
Name | Role(s) and Affiliation | Affiliations to key relevant groups (internal, external) |
| Jennifer Blaikie | Research Ethics Manager, Research Services | |
| Rachel Lloyd | Operations & Training Lead, Research Services | |
| Mary Muers | Research Culture Facilitator, Medical Sciences Division | |
| Natia Sopromadze | Research Culture Facilitator, Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division | |
| Lindsey Spriggs | Research Culture Facilitator, Social Sciences Division | |
| Michelle Wilson | Research Culture Project Officer, Medical Sciences Division | |
| Jenny Winsland | Research Culture Facilitator, Humanities Division |
The Research Practice Group exists in the context of the wider University working groups and committees, and reports to the Research and Innovation Committee.
The Research Practice Group shares membership with several consultation and working groups within the University, who have connected or similar interests. The Research Practice Group members are encouraged to share knowledge and experience across the various groups, in order to learn from each other and develop good practice.
The Research Practice Group shares membership with the following Oxford groups:
- Research Data Steering Group
- Research Data Delivery Group
- Research Staff Steering Committee
- Research Staff Working Group
These groups bring together research leadership from Divisions, Departments, Faculties, and professional services units (the Researcher Hub, Research IT, and Bodleian Libraries). We also have regular consultation and communication with Divisional Skills Training representatives.