Research Culture and Environment
We aim to provide an inclusive, supportive environment that enables all staff to flourish. We try to make Politics and International Studies a warm and welcoming place to work.
New colleagues are made to feel valued through inclusion in our very-active social life. We take advantage of the many cafés of Glasgow’s West End to run a programme of social events that includes peer-mentoring lunches and regular Friday afternoon drinks (tea as well as beer for those who do not drink alcohol).
Democratic institutions and transparent processes are central to our inclusive culture and pursuit of equality and diversity. Our decision-making body is therefore the full staff meeting. Its ethos is that everyone has a right to speak and be listened to.
In order to support equality and diversity, all staff are strongly encouraged to take the University’s training on ‘Equality and Diversity Basics’ and ‘Unconscious Bias’. We hold meetings and events in core working hours and discourage the use of email in the evenings and at weekends.
We support flexible and remote working for staff and PGRs as suits their circumstances, and have also helped colleagues returning from maternity leave to secure support from the University’s Academic Returners’ Research Support Scheme. One beneficiary noted that the scheme is, “amazing ... [it] tackles the problem of trying to catch up post-maternity leave in a timely and very flexible way.”
Our inclusive approach and range of targeted activities have led to a diverse unit in comparison to the UK political science average, as reported by the Political Studies Association.
Find out more about our research culture and environment.