The creation of a ‘Toolbox for Developing and Sustaining Effective Researcher Networks’ has drawn on initial thematic analysis of a dataset comprising examples of practice from a range of international researcher networks, new and established.
Researcher networks exist in a multitude of forms, at a range of scales, with a variety of purposes and membership size. However, there is often little reflection on what being ‘membership-led [1]’ means in terms of researcher networks as ‘spaces of inclusion and exclusion’. The notion of exclusive membership is commonly associated with a sense of privilege, which raises questions around access and participation in the context of researcher networks and the Researcher Development Concordat’s [2] [2]ambition of ensuring people and ideas flow freely through the research system.
The creation of a ‘Toolbox for Developing and Sustaining Effective Researcher Networks [3]’ has drawn on initial thematic analysis of a dataset comprising examples of practice from a range of international researcher networks, new and established. It has enabled us, as members of Vitae’s Researcher Networks working group [4], to reflect on the boundaries that are established or emerge during the development and continuation of networks.
Read the full article on the Vitae Website: https://www.vitae.ac.uk/news/vitae-blog/contesting-boundaries-researcher-networks-as-inclusive-and-exclusive-spaces [5]