Safety in numbers: Implementing an innovative program to transform the academic culture for beginning researchers.’ Paper presented at

Research is accepted as a principle academic role, yet it can be a daunting concept for the inexperienced. Academic staff trying to meet their expected research productivity report that the research environment can be unfriendly and competitive sending the message that academics must sink or swim in the university culture. Providing a safe and collaborative forum, therefore, for encouraging this group of academics to actively engage in research is critical, particularly as the traditional avenue for developing these skills has primarily been limited to enrolment in research degrees. This paper discusses the impact of the establishment of an innovative scheme, the Research into Teaching and Learning (RTL) program, which was designed to support experienced, innovative teachers who are inexperienced researchers. An action research framework was used as a guide to investigate the impact of the RTL program from its inception through the first three months of operation. Among the themes to emerge from the data were that RTL members reported their research activity had transitioned from ‘reflection ’ to ‘action’, the research process had been demystified, and they identified a change in their self-concept as they were redefining themselves as researchers