Skip to main content
What types of page to search?

Popular pages: Undergraduate Postgraduate PhD Accommodation Research International students

Alternatively use our A-Z index.
A person wearing a lab coat and safety goggles, using a piece of equipment in a lab.

People and culture

Great people, limitless potential

Our ambition to be a Top 100 university can only be realised through the talents, expertise and endeavours of our people. Placing our values at its heart, our vision is to foster an inspirational, welcoming and inclusive culture in which every colleague is valued, respected, and able to thrive and reach their full potential.

We will involve our diverse community of staff and students in decisions and future plans, recognise and celebrate their strengths and successes, and build collaboration, engagement and high-quality support into all that we do.

Our ambitions in this area include being recognised as an employer of choice, able to attract and retain people of the highest calibre from all backgrounds and to compete successfully with other global universities in recruiting staff from around the world. We will also provide innovative development opportunities that support everyone to deliver their best work in pursuit of organisational and personal objectives.

Our objectives

staff smiling at the camera

Be an employer of choice

Attracting and retaining a diverse range of great people globally, nationally and locally, unlocking their potential to achieve the University’s strategic objectives and our global Top 100 ambition.

We will:  

  • Ensure our colleagues are clear about their contribution to our strategic priorities, and equip and support them to succeed
  • Embed our global ambitions through all our people processes, that both attract and retain international talent, and amplify our standing and reputation around the world
  • Implement our equality, diversity and inclusion plans to improve our representation at all levels, and specifically be more representative of the communities we serve
  • Implement our Wellbeing Strategy embracing the key themes of Connecting, Working and Living well.

Culture and values

Develop a culture which embodies the University Values – through which our colleagues thrive, and an environment in which academic and professional services staff work collaboratively to deliver our strategic aspirations.

We will:

  • Enhance our reward and recognition portfolio, reflecting the strategic priorities and our values, to ensure aligned achievements are appropriately rewarded
  • Review and revise our career and promotion pathways to provide advancement opportunities for those leading in their fields
  • Evaluate our contracts and policy frameworks to ensure we have the most appropriate, fair and inclusive employment arrangements 
  • Listen and take account of the views of our diverse communities through the implementation of effective diversity, equality and inclusion plans at all levels.

Staff development

Provide innovative development opportunities that enable all colleagues to perform at their best.

We will:

  • Cement our position as sector-leaders in the development of the research community, fostering a culture of research excellence in which future talent is equipped to deliver upon our research priorities
  • Continue to develop our colleagues in stellar educational practices that generate student success 
  • Create a working environment which values and supports all professional and technical services staff in reaching their potential and facilitating professional and personal development
  • Ensure leaders at all levels are able to drive our organisational success, through high quality development opportunities that recognise their unique practices and contexts.

The People & Culture strand of our strategy sets the foundations on which to build over the coming years. It is instrumental to retaining and attracting talent, to engaging and developing our workforce and to helping our employees flourish. It underpins the way in which we need to operate as individuals and together, and how we decide what we do and the method in which we do it. All of this will impact on the achievement of the goals we have set and ultimately, the overall success of the University.

Dr Carol Costello, Director of People and Services

What will our impact on people look like?

Equality, diversity and inclusion will be demonstrably valued.