Abstract
Research culture reform has received fluctuating attention within UK higher education and research funding over the past decade. Given the need to sustain positive research cultures while the sector faces significant financial pressures, it is important to understand which parts of the research system are best placed to set, maintain, and improve research culture. This study reports findings from semi-structured interviews with UK researchers and university professional services staff (n = 30), analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Participants described a hierarchical model of responsibility spanning individual researchers, principal investigators, research groups, universities, and funders. Although many favoured a shared responsibility model, meaningful systemic change was seen to depend disproportionately on funders and research organisations, whose levers operate at scale and whose interface represents a critical locus for change. We argue that responsibility should be distributed according to power, recognising that research culture cannot be improved through individual goodwill or local initiatives alone. We further argue that institutions require the organisational capability to operationalise this responsibility, with greater attention to the translation layers linking funder incentives, institutional resources, and everyday research practice. These findings have direct implications for how research funding and research-performing organisations design, resource, and evaluate research.