Research Culture and Values

The Discovery Research Platform for Medical Humanities brings people from a wide range of backgrounds, identities, disciplines, professions and career stages to work and learn together.  

We are committed to diversity, accessibility, equity and inclusion. We want to create a space for taking risks and experimenting with new ideas; a space in which everyone feels welcome, valued and respected.

Vibrant and inclusive research cultures grow and change over time. We are committed to ongoing reflection and evaluation, and to finding creative ways to embed this learning as we evolve our practice. In this we work closely with Flourish@Durham, the Durham University EDI team, Wellcome, and with other projects, centres and initiatives across the sector.

Here we share some of the values, working groups and initiatives that inform and support the development of our research culture.

Our Values

Our values statement emerged from an ongoing consultative process and is reviewed annually.

Our values are practical, not abstract – guiding principles that are core to how we operate.

We seek to enact them tangibly, to concrete ends.

We value process.

We care deeply about how we work together. We pay attention to who is in the room and draw on creative methods to develop connection and progress.

We value variety.

We are committed to different ways of working and thinking, with diverse people from different disciplines, backgrounds and areas of expertise.

We work in good faith, with energy and creativity.

We want people to flourish through mutual respect and trust.

Find out more:

A Statement About Respect
Working Groups
Resources for Staff and Speakers