Sarah reports from the International Research Culture Conference #IRCC25 which was held at the University of Warwick on 17 September 2025. It features contributions from Rika Nair, Alys Kay and Dolly Coates, as well as excerpts from Sarah's talk on professional development for research enablers.

Sarah and her guests talk about

• Why the recognising the contributions of research-adjacent roles is a key research culture issue
• Challenges research-adjacent professionals can face when trying to make progress in their careers
• The System Shuffle game which aims to make the hidden labour in research teams more visible
• How the language used to describe research-adjacent roles influences how they are perceived

Find out more

• Read the show notes and transcript on the podcast website
• Connect with Rika Nair, Alys Kay or Dolly Coates on LinkedIn
• Read Alys's LinkedIn post about the System Shuffle game
• Find out more about Research Culture Knowledge Exchange, IRCC25 and the work of the National Centre for Research Culture
• Read the Wellcome report 'What researcher's think about the culture they work in'

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Mentioned in this episode:

Member of the Month: Duncan Yellowlees, DY Training

Let’s put rubbish presentations in the bin – where they belong. Get in touch with Duncan for specialist research presentation skills training www.duncanyellowlees.com

Come along to our Manchester networking event

Join host Sarah McLusky and fellow research-adjacent professionals on Thursday 12 March 2026 at 5.30pm. Find out more and register here https://researchadjacent.circle.so/c/open-events/manchester-research-adjacent-community-networking