A COLLEGIAL APPROACH TO LEADERSHIP
The way we interact, communicate, react, and collaborate is at the heart of everything we want to achieve in research culture work, and the ability to take a collegial approach to research leadership is widely recognised as key to creating better, more equitable careers and cultures (Vitae (RDF), 2010; Vitae (RDF) 2025; Concordat, 2019).
Collegiality withing research was initially framed in terms of team member interactions, showing respect, working collaboratively, and sharing responsibility equitably (Cipriano and Buller, 2012). Contemporary definitions acknowledge the impact of neoliberal managerialism, increased staff diversity, and a shift in the understanding and experience of collegial work (Craig, Harris and Woodfield, 2025) leading to a view that “collegiality defies simple definition” (Woodfield, 2025).
CLARITY IS COLLEGIAL
You may have heard the saying that ‘clarity is kindness’ (Brown, 2018); the alternative is not saying what needs to be said while incorrectly thinking we're being kind in doing so. At InFrame, we believe that clarity is not just kindness, it is also collegial, transforming tasks, processes, or relationships from being hidden and disordered to transparent and logical. We also believe that good leadership is about speaking the unspoken, bringing the unseen into the light, and clarifying requirements or expectations, so team members can contribute their skills and experience to benefit the task at hand.
CLARITY IN THE InFrame FUNDING CALL
By making £1M available to the research community through InFrame’s Culture Catalyst Fund we became a funder. That placed a significant amount of responsibility on us to create a ‘clear and kind’ call for applications, particularly when it came to ensuring accessibility of the call and transparency of the funding scope and criteria, as well as robustness and rigour in the quality of the applications.
By diversifying beyond traditional leadership hierarchies and established leaders, we move closer to realising our goal of exploring new aspects of collegiality, and being able to champion – and fund – new ideas from new leaders is InFrame’s core mission. Given our aim of developing the breadth of leaders through increased inclusivity, as providers of the funding call, clarity is now also crucial.
We wanted our behaviours and practices to create clarity for the people we hoped to fund. We wanted to ensure that people knew the ‘rules of the game’, and that those applying the rules would do so fairly and consistently. Inclusion is increased when ideas are judged on their merits and not by a series of arbitrary views on quality applied randomly to maintain the status quo. Clarity surfaces new leaders as new ideas are championed as the currency of access. From our launch events, to our documents and processes, through to our reviewing, and sharing of outcomes and feedback, we didn’t want to create barriers to engagement.
HOW WE INCREASED TRANSPARENCY AND CLARITY
To make our processes clear for all, we took steps in two broad areas:
For applicant and project lead support we:
1) made available expert advice on project design and planning, data collection and analysis, so that great ideas could be translated into excellent applications
2) provided helpful, kind, structure feedback – aligned with the assessment criteria – so that unsuccessful applications could be revised and resubmitted, and applicants were encouraged
3) for Round 2, separated the outcome email from the feedback email to allow applicants processing time between the two communications
4) considered the time of day and week that we sent outcome and feedback emails, so that people had access to personal networks and weekends weren’t ruined
5) ran resilience sessions to support unsuccessful applicants, so that – having been encouraged to apply – people didn’t feel personally rejected
6) provided training on leading self, others, and systems to successful applicants, to develop the skills of those whose new ideas had brought them into leadership roles
For reviewer support we:
1) provided training on conscious and unconscious bias, our values and assessment criteria, so that applications were being judged on their merits
2) provided training on how to give kind and constructive feedback, so that it was useful to and supportive of applicants
3) for Round 2, recruited extra reviewers and reduced the workload from Round 1, so that people had more time to review and capacity to provide good feedback
INVITING FEEDBACK
As well as giving clear feedback, we also asked for feedback, as we wanted applicants and reviewers to be clear with us what had and had not worked for them. We listened during the process, adapting within and between the two funding rounds based on our reflections and the feedback we received. We deployed a formal survey after the application and awarding processes were completed, and that will be analysed as part of our overall project evaluation to allow us to make recommendations for others seeking to increase funding call inclusivity.
LESSONS LEARNED AND RECOMMENDATIONS
It was exciting being in the ‘ideation sessions’ when early ideas were being explored, and it was a privilege to share outcomes with successful applicants. However, we put our collegial clarity and kindness into action when sharing outcomes with unsuccessful applicants – many of whom we work closely with in other areas of work. Supporting learning and maintaining relationships was paramount.
Ultimately, our key recommendations are that funders should:
1) structure their application form to guide applicants while providing additional guidance
2) ensure governance processes give credit to promoted values and train reviewers to follow them
3) be clear with reviewers about timelines, key dates, and workload expectations
4) be clear about any assumptions they’re making, even on grounds of kindness. We held back on circulating applications to reviewers before the weekend but some had planned their work and other commitments around their reviewing
Finally, if you’re running your own flexible fund and would like to talk to us, get in touch via InFrame@ed.ac.uk