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Reposted by Dr Emily Ennis (she/they)

Research Culture Leeds @researchcultureuol.bsky.social · 2d

🎉 Happy International Research Software Engineers Day! 🎉

Today we celebrate the incredible work of Research Software Engineers (RSEs) who empower researchers through expert coding support, collaboration, and training.

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Reposted by Dr Emily Ennis (she/they)

Researcher Development @ Leeds @researcherdevleeds.bsky.social · 2d

🔩 Are you a member of research staff or academic staff at the University of Leeds? Join the ‘Navigating your role and responsibilities as a Principal Investigator’ (PI) workshop to reflect on the real-world issues of a PI.

✅ Register now uolr3.leeds.ac.uk/temcatsearch...

@unileedsodpl.bsky.social

Photograph of shiny silver nuts and bolts

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Dr Emily Ennis (she/they) @emilyennis.bsky.social · 2d

I found this an excellent way to end #HiddenREF2025 yesterday. While it's important we get diverse roles and outputs the recognition they deserve - i.e. through the REF - often the REF itself can feel anti-research culture. For me, REF is a competition, but research culture is about community.

Research Culture Leeds @researchcultureuol.bsky.social · 3d

In the final session of the day, Tim Newton, Dean of Research Culture at King's College London, reflects on the connection between research culture change and PCE:
"It's important to do what's right and good, and not necessarily what's pragmatic for REF."

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Reposted by Dr Emily Ennis (she/they)

Global Food and Environment Institute @globalfoodleeds.bsky.social · 9d

Food justice: equitable access to healthy, sustainable & affordable food.

Our researchers work with community-based partners to explore how research can have real terms impact on place-based, community-led food initiatives.

We interviewed 2 researchers & a community-based partner to hear more 👇

Market stall selling fresh fruit at Leeds outdoor market

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Reposted by Dr Emily Ennis (she/they)

EDI Caucus @edicaucus.bsky.social · 9d

Check out a lovely article about improvements to hygiene in the polar regions! Something EDICa's research also found is still an issue.
Read here for their practical changes as well as challenges - like finding niche clothing for females, & waste management.
www.bas.ac.uk/media-post/b...

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Reposted by Dr Emily Ennis (she/they)

Leeds University Library Galleries @lulgalleries.bsky.social · 8d

You're invited to the launch of a new animation inspired by activism in the archives 🎥 [CW: mentions of sexual violence]

Join SASHA (Students Against Sexual Harassment & Assault) for the premiere of ‘Missed Call’

Friday 10 Oct
17:00 - 21:00
Free and open to all
library.leeds.ac.uk/events/event...

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Reposted by Dr Emily Ennis (she/they)

Researcher Development @ Leeds @researcherdevleeds.bsky.social · 11d

🎉Happy #InternationalPodcastDay!
We asked the #ResearchCultureUncovered team: What’s the last podcast you listened to?
🕛Ged: Midnight at the Casablanca
🧪Heledd: Zoe Science & Nutrition
🏃‍♀️Katie: Running Commentary
⏳Taryn: This is History
🎧Share yours, we’d love to hear what you’re tuning into!

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Dr Emily Ennis (she/they) @emilyennis.bsky.social · 16d

Reposting a day late. Mostly because the rejection sensitive dysphoria played me hard yesterday and I wanted to see how people felt about the piece first. Thank you to so many of the wonderful comments and emails so far! ☺️

Research Culture Leeds @researchcultureuol.bsky.social · 18d

🛋️ We’ve refurbished & redecorated… and our blog’s back! A new home for big ideas in Research Culture 🎉

First through the door is our very own @emilyennis.bsky.social . Her first post for Celebrate Bisexuality Day 🩷💜💙 explores what research culture can learn from living in the in-between…

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Reposted by Dr Emily Ennis (she/they)

Research Culture Leeds @researchcultureuol.bsky.social · 18d

🛋️ We’ve refurbished & redecorated… and our blog’s back! A new home for big ideas in Research Culture 🎉

First through the door is our very own @emilyennis.bsky.social . Her first post for Celebrate Bisexuality Day 🩷💜💙 explores what research culture can learn from living in the in-between…

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Reposted by Dr Emily Ennis (she/they)

Hilda Bastian @hildabast.bsky.social · 20d

Want to be able to start micro-editing on Wikipedia in a few minutes – and know why you could be very glad you did? Then my new post @plos.org is just what you need!

absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2025/09/21/w...

#Wikipedia

Wikipedia Is Vital: Channeling Energy Into Micro-Edits Is a Win-Win-Win - Absolutely Maybe

Wikipedia is, “without exaggeration, the digital world’s factual foundation,” wrote Josh Dzieza recently. It’s a target because of that, squarely in the…

absolutelymaybe.plos.org

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Reposted by Dr Emily Ennis (she/they)

Fiona Tribe @fionatribe.bsky.social · 22d

The relationship between the researcher and the researched is part of the data.

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Dr Emily Ennis (she/they) @emilyennis.bsky.social · 23d

And of course, these are my views and not the views of my institution. Which I guess is sort of the point.

Dr Emily Ennis (she/they) @emilyennis.bsky.social · 23d

And this isn't a specific dig at any one conference: we all have so much to learn, including as a conference organiser myself. But acknowledging our distances left to travel, as well as when we perform radical acts of self-care, are what makes us better at this work.

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Dr Emily Ennis (she/they) @emilyennis.bsky.social · 23d

Ultimately, I feel pleased and proud to have listened to my body and taken a breather. I am even more pleased and proud to have a team who immediately offered to care for me when I signalled I needed a breather. This is the culture of care we should bring to research culture and to the HE sector.

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Dr Emily Ennis (she/they) @emilyennis.bsky.social · 23d

4) Meet our needs. This is like the absolute basic minimum, but having gone to multiple conferences in the last few years where my accessibility requirements (fairly standard ones!) haven't been met, I feel like this needs reiterating.

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Dr Emily Ennis (she/they) @emilyennis.bsky.social · 23d

3) Don't build in additional conference content: e.g. events in the evenings that are "optional", but which disabled people will typically need to opt out of.

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Dr Emily Ennis (she/they) @emilyennis.bsky.social · 23d

And if you can't whittle down your content? 2) Split your conference over more days, either more days face-to-face or a mixture of online and in-person. This gives us the chance to rest in the evenings and to properly pace ourselves.

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Dr Emily Ennis (she/they) @emilyennis.bsky.social · 23d

1) Have less content in your conferences. We get it, we want to say yes to everyone. But this would allow you to run shorter sessions (10-4 also great for caregivers and for those who need to travel!) or build in more breaks.

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Dr Emily Ennis (she/they) @emilyennis.bsky.social · 23d

So, instead of forcing disabled people out of conference spaces in order to meet their own physical and psychological needs, what can we do?

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Dr Emily Ennis (she/they) @emilyennis.bsky.social · 23d

And that's before you get into the fact that even "down time", like lunch or coffee breaks, have the in-built expectation that you'll use that time for networking, rather than resting. Rest is a radical act in late stage capitalism, and should be incorporated into research culture work.

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Dr Emily Ennis (she/they) @emilyennis.bsky.social · 23d

So, by not going to all the sessions, you are inherently "missing out". Given that conferences and the HE sector more broadly are built on connections and networks, this makes them unfit for purpose for disabled people.

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Dr Emily Ennis (she/they) @emilyennis.bsky.social · 23d

While there has been an increase in conference spaces making use of quiet or wellbeing rooms, conferences are still fundamentally ableist spaces. It is always possible to skip sessions, but often conference organisers have so much good content to include, they pack it all in.

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Dr Emily Ennis (she/they) @emilyennis.bsky.social · 23d

I am chronically ill, disabled, and autistic. One of the main reasons I left academia was because the research culture at the time didn't make space for me. Conferences were, and still are, remnants of that culture.

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Dr Emily Ennis (she/they) @emilyennis.bsky.social · 23d

I had a great time at the International Research Culture Conference at Warwick yesterday seeing the great work happening across the sector. But there were two things I did for the first time that I wanted to chat about in the context of research culture: I skipped a session and I took a nap.

Research Culture Leeds @researchcultureuol.bsky.social · 24d

A huge thank you to #IRCC25, everyone who organised, supported & worked behind the scenes, and to all the brilliant speakers & poster presenters who made it such a rich, inspiring conference. 🙌

Grateful to be part of this community - and looking forward to seeing you all again next year! 🌟

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Dr Emily Ennis (she/they) @emilyennis.bsky.social · 24d

Soo! Soo! Soo!

Research Culture Leeds @researchcultureuol.bsky.social · 24d

The wonderful @soofougere.bsky.social presenting some findings from our research funding call + how to better build an equitable research culture. Well done Soo! #IRCC25

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