What makes a good collaborator?
A true collaboration results in something that is greater than the sum of its parts and which leverages the unique strengths and experiences of the different collaborators.
A good collaborator brings to the table something different from what you can do yourself – discipline, approach, perspective, access to funding, equipment etc. Ultimately, you are looking for someone who respects you as an individual, your discipline, what you bring to the collaboration and what you want out of it, as well as being able to deliver on commitments. Here are some things to look for:
- The strategic institutional perspective: if your institution already has agreements with another institution, this can make the paperwork smoother. If your project is strengthening strategic partnerships, this might give access to other funding (e.g. for travel). If you are unsure of the right person to speak to on contracts and partnerships, your GW4 Programme Manager might be able to help.
- Geographical proximity: although online meetings are common, you may still want to factor in some face-to-face meetings, time spent working in each other’s facilities, social events, team building or joint fieldwork. If so, time and money for travel are important factors.
- The best collaborator might be one you know already: you will already have started to build trust and understanding. Personal recommendations are also valuable, so let people know what you are looking for in a collaborator.
- Collaborating with an established researcher or someone more junior? Both have advantages. A more junior researcher might have more time to commit and be more invested in the outcome. It might also feel like a more equitable power distribution. However, track record is important when it comes to winning funding and certain departments or PIs have high funder success rates, good access to equipment and experience in managing large projects.
- Casting the net wider for greater creativity: If you focus only on the ‘big name researchers’, and conference regulars, think about who is less visible in these spaces. Some researchers struggle to attend conferences due to funding, health or caring responsibilities. Citations and funding can also be skewed by several factors and some minority groups are likely to be less visible. Some researchers may not have access to funds or institutional support to make their work open access. By ignoring less visible researchers, you risk reinforcing an already inequitable system as well as limiting creativity and the ability to generate new knowledge and unique collaborations.
Making a connection
There are many ways to identify and reach out to collaborators and to make yourself more visible so others can find you.
Events and networks
Some funders have specific calls, matchmaking events or sandpits to bring collaborators from different disciplines or sectors together. Sign up to funder newsletters and follow them on social media to find out about these events.
Try to attend events outside of your main subject, to gain new perspectives and widen your network. Be curious – you might think you know what is needed for a particular problem, but there could be something else entirely outside of your field of knowledge. A conversation might not seem immediately relevant but, by staying with it a bit longer and asking open questions, some common ground may emerge.
Engaging with GW4 events and professional bodies or disciplinary networks are great ways to build connections and peer support. Some of these offer you the opportunity for a profile on their webpages or social media. If there are no networks in your field, could you start your own?
Giving seminars or helping to organise them are good ways to get your name known and have time with keynote speakers.
To follow up with new connections:
- Acknowledge and thank people for their time or contributions. Remind them who you were (e.g. ‘thanks for taking the time to talk about x topic’). You may want to send them a LinkedIn request and complete any actions you promised (e.g. sending them a link to journal article).
- Check that any outputs you shared are findable. Do they have a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) or a license (e.g. creative commons) for how they can be re-used?
- Consider posting on social media or blogging about the event. Include subject or event hashtags and tag the organisers if possible). Share, celebrate and build on ideas or contributions from others.
Reaching out to other GW4 researchers about a potential collaboration
- Explain who you are: provide a link to a webpage or attach a recent publication.
- Outline what you bring that is of value or different from what they do. E.g.:
- Access to datasets, facilities, sites, funding or other resources;
- Helping to solve a specific challenge they have;
- Networks with external partners, industry or communities.
- Tell them why you decided to approach them.
- Be specific about the time required – many people want to help but are worried about overcommitting.
- If possible, ask someone you both know to make the introduction.
Make yourself findable
Could someone in your department (aside from your line manager) describe your research interests and expertise? If not, what steps can you take to ensure that others can advocate on your behalf and mention your name if the opportunity comes up? Can you speak at a local seminar or reconnect with some people in your network who might not have up to date information on you?
Who are the ‘connectors’ in your department and GW4, who attend networking events and enjoy putting people in touch? These could also be members of professional services staff (grants teams, impact professionals or researcher developers). Do they know what you’re interested in?
What would a potential collaborator find if they google you?
- Update your institutional webpages as these are often highly-ranked on search engines.
- Make sure your social media pages are consistent, up to date, and offer a clear vision, with appropriate keywords, articulating the skills and experience that you bring as well as the challenges or applications you are interested in for the future.
- Even if you don’t like social media, some platforms don’t require frequent updating but act as a virtual business card. If you do engage with social media, use it to let people know you are going to be in a particular city or at a conference and are open to chatting – make connections in advance, and schedule meetings, rather than having to find people when you get there.
- Make use of open research tools such as preprints, figshare and institutional repositories to share your work and engage with a wider audience. Use hashtags and share your conference posters, blogs or a summary of your latest publications.
- Use an ORCID unique identifier.
USEFUL LINKS
- Find research collaborators (bath.ac.uk)
- If you want to work on your online presence, 15 questions that will tell you if your professional online identity is an asset or a risk Online Impact | Fast Track Impact
- https://gw4.ac.uk/our-communities/
- what is decolonising methodology? (warwick.ac.uk)
- Fort’s academic wheel of privilege: a resource to help you reflect on the power and privilege that you bring to research collaborations https://youtu.be/mzEdTyA06cU
Book recommendations:
- Who is in your Personal Boardroom?: How to choose people, assign roles and have conversations with purpose by Zela King
- Start with Why by Simone Sinek
Hear from GW4 researchers on how they go about finding collaborators and making themselves more findable. As James describes, there are many ways to go about establishing collaborations, from reconnecting with former colleagues to directly contacting individuals. For Rosie and the GW4 Queer Frontiers project, establishing a research agenda in the field required being intentional about diverse representation. and, as Lizzie shares, the power of ‘super connectors’ – such as GW4 colleagues- is also not to be underestimated in helping you find the right people. Be proactive and think about who you know who can connect you to others.
Building the relationship
Rather than having a specific start date, collaborative relationships often evolve gradually. Start with low-risk activities, such as these ones suggested by experienced GW4 collaborators, to build trust and determine whether you will work well together:
- Start small – apply for smaller pots of funding or joint supervision of a Masters student.
- Communicate regularly and build in social time, perhaps a blend of face to face and virtual.
- Consider opportunities to share data, equipment, or upcoming publications with each other.
- Share techniques or methods: what do you know that could help someone else? Perhaps arrange for your students to spend time with the other partner.
There are many things to agree with your collaborator before you start. Professional services staff (e.g. within Finance or Contracts) can be really helpful at this stage. Talk to your GW4 programme manager if you’re unsure who can help.
It is not just about what you do, it is also about how you act:
- Be honest about your capacity to invest throughout the collaboration (time, energy, resources).
- Make sure nothing you do could be seen as exploiting your collaborator – don’t use their name or data without discussing first.
- Until you have established trust, run all your ideas and actions past each other.
- Vary where you meet so they don’t always travel to visit you.
Collaboration and team science: a field guide (with relevant theories on building trust within collaborations).
Understanding intellectual property in research (Vitae)
GW4 programme managers:
- Kate Charles, University of Bath
- Emma Barrow, University of Bristol
- Kate Patten, Cardiff University
- Helen Bell, University of Exeter
Finding other GW4 researchers
https://www.bath.ac.uk/guides/find-research-collaborators/
https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/
https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/research/our-research-environment/working-collaboratively
