Research culture at the Kennedy
At the heart of the Kennedy Institute's research is a diverse group of basic and clinical scientists who are working together in a creative, inclusive, and dynamic environment to investigate the biological pathways that underpin disease.
Research culture is of critical importance, enabling staff and students to conduct high-quality science, while valuing their contributions and supporting diverse career aspirations. In early 2025, we appointed Jelena Bezbradica Mirkovic and Audrey Gérard as Research Culture Leads to drive research culture initiatives.
Reflecting the research culture programme of the University of Oxford, research culture at the Kennedy Institute is structured around the following three priorities outlined below.
Research practice: Enabling researchers to conduct rigorous, reliable, and transparent research and innovation.
Major investment in our platform technologies has underpinned our interdisciplinary science, enabling Principal Investigators, Postdoctoral Researchers and Students to work together across research groups to solve research challenges. Weekly internal seminars provide a space for postdocs and students to gain valuable feedback and ideas. Weekly external seminars with world-leading scientists provide access to collaboration and new insights. Researchers can access training to ensure that they are following best practice with regard to research rigor and reliability.
Valuing contributions: Recognising the broad range of talents, skills, outputs and contributions needed for research and innovation to flourish.
The Kennedy Institute integrates the representatives of Kennedy Graduate Studies Committee and the Postdoc Committee into the institutional Management and Operations Committees so they are active participants of transparent decision making. Research Culture leads join student and postdoc committees to raise ideas and collect feedback. We recognise that the contributions of staff and students extend far beyond laboratory research, with many of our researchers involved in DPhil mentorship teams, organisation of annual Kennedy or Oxford BSI symposia, environmental sustainability, public and patient involvement and engagement, and entrepreneurship.
Careers: Assessing research fairly and inclusively, in an equitable working environment, and supporting the community in their career aspirations.
Annual Personal and Career Development Reviews (PCDRs) for staff provide a space to discuss career aspirations in any sector and any role. Postdoctoral researchers are encouraged to include a career mentor in their PCDR. Our training guidance for postdoctoral researchers creatures a framework for development and for diverse career conversations. We support academic-track focused postdocs who wish to apply for EMBO Lab Leadership training, and are exploring opportunities for shadowing/internships to provide experience to all other career-tracks (industry, publishing etc). Departmental career days for students and postdocs enable exposure to a range of career options. Our underpinning departmental Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) infrastructure helps to ensure that access to research is fair and equitable, and provides a structure for accountability.
Further research culture support for staff on fixed-term contracts can be found in the Researcher Hub.