Strategic plan - research and impact

What makes SoML stand out from many other schools of modern languages in the UK is the sheer depth and breadth of our research activity which spans not only some eight distinct language areas, but also a range of cultural-historical epochs from the Middle Ages to the Present-Day. This expertise is complemented by the School’s research activity in Comparative Literature which, almost uniquely in the UK, operates under the auspices of SoML rather than English.

As Modern Languages has evolved as a discipline, our researchers have increasingly embraced new critical concepts, and methodologies; and this has been supplemented through a number of recent appointments (including, as envisaged in our previous Strategic Plan 2019-20, the creation of a new Department of Chinese Studies). In addition, the recent appointment of additional Associate Lecturers in Arabic and Persian has made it possible to implement a rota of regular research leave for E+R colleagues in that department.

Our research strategy is driven by three underlying objectives:

• Maintaining and deepening our existing excellent coverage of a broad range of research fields.
• Fostering interdisciplinarity and collaborative research (both within and outwith our School and the institution).
• Extending the reach and impact of our research and engaging the broader public.

By pursuing these three key objectives our overall aim is to improve our performance in future cycles of the REF and to ensure our research makes significant contributions to society. We are committed to promoting an inclusive, nurturing and collegial research environment in which all colleagues can thrive, and which we believe is fundamental to realising this goal.

To achieve our aspiration to be a globally world-leading centre of research across the breadth of research in modern languages we will continue to:

• Grow capacity in the nine research areas we have identified as particular strengths of our School (comparative studies; creativity and performance; gender and sexuality studies; history, politics and society; medical humanities and cultures of science; medieval and early modern studies; memory studies; postcolonial and transnational studies; translation studies and linguistics). We will do this through targeted recruitment alongside increasing numbers of postdoctoral fellows, PGR students and grant applications in these areas.
• Build on our recent recruitment of a founding Chair of Chinese Studies (G9) by recruiting additional outstanding researchers with strong track records in publication, income generation and impact.
• Build on our implementation of a regularised programme of sabbatical leave in Arabic and Persian by exploring the potential to recruit a senior scholar (G8 or G9) with the capacity to provide high-level research leadership.
• Grow the postdoctoral community in SoML by proactively encouraging fellowship applications across all our departments, and by increasing the number of large grant applications with postdocs attached.

Key performance indicators of success in these areas will include an increase in the overall number of postdocs in SoML over the next five years and improved scores for both Outputs and Environment in REF.

In order to promote interdisciplinarity and collaborative research we will:

• Devise and implement an incentivisation scheme for the development of large collaborative research grants.
• Complete the review of our existing research institutes and centres to ensure that they optimise opportunities for interdisciplinary and collaborative research across and beyond our School.
• Continue to use the School Research Seminar series as a forum for developing cross-disciplinary discussions and initiatives that go beyond the remit of individual departmental research activity days.
• Seek to build on our recently identified interdisciplinary research areas through a proactive engagement with other Schools in terms of collaborative research projects.

Key performance indicators of success in these areas will include an increase in the number of applications for large grants (£500k+) over the next five years and an improved Environment score in REF.

In order to extend the reach and impact of our research we will:

• Identify and support possible new impact case studies from the beginning of the next REF cycle.
• Continue to use our Byre World programme as a testbed for impact and engagement events and support this with dedicated funds from our operational budget.
• Seek to ensure that all research-active colleagues on E+R contracts in SoML participate in some form of impact and engagement activities through agreed goals for individual institutional study leave.

Key performance indicators of success in these areas will be an improved Impact score in REF.