{"id":49588,"date":"2019-10-01T02:56:16","date_gmt":"2019-10-01T09:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=49588"},"modified":"2019-10-01T02:56:16","modified_gmt":"2019-10-01T09:56:16","slug":"how-do-you-start-a-research-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-do-you-start-a-research-network\/","title":{"rendered":"How do you start a research network?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

We had a question recently from Ely asking for pragmatic advice on starting an international research network. Alyssa Sbisa and Sally Grace wrote \u201cSetting up a professional network<\/a>\u201d a while back and that post has heaps of relevant good advice that I\u2019d strongly encourage you to check out!<\/p>\n

I\u2019d written previously on\u00a0building a research network on a shoestring<\/a>, and much of that still applies. I realise now, however, that the earlier post presumed a network that needed cohering and development.<\/p>\n

I think Ely is after something that addresses a much earlier step: how do you even get a research network started?<\/p>\n

This post aims to tackle this, and would welcome others\u2019 input on the topic. I\u2019m speaking very much from my HaSS (Humanities\/Social Sciences) point of view, and realise that other areas may have quite different contexts and ways of doing things. One of the things I should make clear from the start is that I\u2019m talking about how to start a research network\u00a0with few to zero resources<\/em>. I\u2019m not talking about setting something up with a ready cache of funding, or the need to access such a cache.<\/p>\n

These are the key things you need if you want to start a research network:<\/span><\/p>\n

A network<\/h3>\n

OK, so you may be thinking \u2018what the heck?\u2019 with this one, but bear with me. Having a personal network (scholarly or otherwise) and forming a research network are two different things. But getting creating a research network\u00a0requires<\/em>\u00a0you to have a strong personal network.<\/p>\n

A big part of being the person, or group, that starts a research network is that the most effective first step is to reach out to your immediate circle of colleagues to spread the word for you about this shiny new endeavour. They may not be the actual people who will join the network but they will be the most likely to share your stuff around and lend it their support (and I would include scholarly or professional associations and societies in this \u2013 they may not become core participants but they may give you access to the kind of people or other organisations who will be). This kind of advocacy is based on your reputation in various circles and does not exist if you haven\u2019t been developing good connections early and often in your career. We\u2019ve published quite a lot about networking that (hopefully) won\u2019t make you cringe \u2013 here\u2019s a selection across various modes so that you can see what \u2018networking\u2019 can mean:<\/p>\n