(Episode 97) Navigating Failure in Academia

Research Culture Uncovered

In our Research Culture Uncovered conversations we are asking what is Research Culture and why does it matter? In this week’s #ResearchCultureUncovered episode, Dr Taryn Bell takes on the tricky subject of failure. How do we talk about failure in academia? Who is given the space to fail? And what can we do to support our research communities in navigating failure?

Taryn is joined on this episode by Dr Anna Pilz, Dr Johanna Stadlbauer, Dr Darcey Gillie and Professor Leila Jancovich. They share their thoughts and their experiences of developing tools, resources and frameworks to help researchers think more deeply about failure.

🔍 Key Takeaways:

• The inequities involved in failure, and who we allow to fail
• The power of talking about failure openly and honestly
• The need to deal with the emotional, as well as the practical, elements of failure
• The need to lean away from the instinctive desire to ‘fix’ things

🔍 Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Failure Repository - add your own examples to the list!
• Darcey Gillie - Failure: We're doing it wrong
• FailSpace Project - including resources and printable versions of the framework

All of our episodes can be accessed via the following playlists:

• Research Impact with Ged Hall (follow Ged on LinkedIn)
• Open Research with Nick Sheppard (follow Nick on LinkedIn)
• Research Careers with Ruth Winden (follow Ruth on LinkedIn)
• Research talent management with Tony Bromley (follow Tony on LinkedIn)
• Meet the Research Culturositists with Emma Spary (follow Emma on LinkedIn)
• Research co-production
• Research Leadership
• Research Evaluation

Connect to us or leave us a review on LinkedIn: @ResearchUncoveredPodcast (new episodes are announced here)

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Leeds Research Culture links:

• Researcher Development and Culture Website
• Our Concordat Implementation plans and progress
• University of Leeds Research Culture Statement
• University of Leeds Responsible Metrics Statement
• University of Leeds Open Research Statement
• University of Leeds Research Culture Strategy - launched September 2023