How do you learn from and improve your research collaboration and networking skills?

As a biblical researcher, identifying the goals and interests of my research is a complex and ongoing process. It involves a thoughtful examination of the areas that I find stimulating, as well as the broader objectives I hope to achieve through my endeavours. Primarily, I reflect on personal curiosity. I introspect and consider the specific topics or questions within biblical studies that I am curious about. This could include aspects like the historical context of biblical texts, their literary analysis, etymological themes, or exploring the cultural impact of the Bible. I then familiarise myself with the current landscape by the reviewing literature. This helps me identify areas that have received less attention but are of interest.

As a PhD researcher whose research heavily involves collaborations and partnerships with individuals as well as institutions; I will say that in addition to identifying your goals and interests, it is very pertinent to understand how your individual (research) interests intertwine and blend to achieve one broad goal at the end of your collaboration. When this is not properly understood from the get go, working together might just be a symphony of chaos thus, unproductive. Assigning certain tasks/aspects of your collaboration based on areas of strength and expertise help to lessen the burden of clashes during collaborations. It is also important to do a personality assessment of collaborators especially how they respond to stress/situations.

In my experience, cold outreach for potential collaborations has been fruitful when the initial: A) Invitation to chat clearly outlines the value of this person’s SME and how they can help / contribute. B) Conversation is casual in nature but peppered with well-thought-out questions, prepared ahead of time. Knowing there’s a clear overlap in interest/expertise & that the result of a potential research collab involves solving problems, challenging status quo, filling a gap, helping others, it’s often a win-win. Key: Do your homework before reaching out. Relying heavily on your current network of colleagues + their referrals will potentially limit the scope of diverse perspectives that enhance & strengthen processes, results/insights.

If you are shy person and feel uncomfortable reaching out to new people, it helps to find common connections and ask them to introduce you, specially if it can be done in person. Make sure to have specific questions prepared. Conferences are ideal places to grow your network. It is a lot of work if you aren’t well known yet in the community, but it is a valuable investment.

Be ready to explain why potential collaborators should want to work with you. Before you approach anyone, construct a pitch that explains what they will gain from the collaboration and what you expect out of the professional relationship. This pitch needs to be built on an understanding of their interests, past achievements and current position (not just yours!). If you do not know the person directly, then institutional staff pages and LinkedIn profiles are a good starting point for gathering information, but make sure you are also familiar with previous research projects they have worked on or led, and read their recent publications and posts to get a feel of what currently interests and motivates them.

I find connecting with colleagues to be helpful, particularly to serve as the “new Rolodex” as one cannot necessarily keep up with the multitude of professionals we encounter. Unsolicited “blanket” outreach does not appeal to me professionally and I generally ignore those requests.

To increase networking depth one should not only communicate well, but also take into account cultural sensitivity. Being able to listen carefully, ask right questions and reflect on answers are the key of successful collaboration.

Let's get to the point. No one knows everything or is good at everything. Collaborating effectively is all about identifying your teams strengths and making sure everyone is doing what they are best at and enjoy doing. Right person right seat. The rest is trusting your experts and communicating enough that everyone is in the loop and the person on your team who knows best in each case can be heard. Personal rule of thumb for managing collaborations: When I'm between two options I leave it to my team and collaborators to guide the way. This builds team investment and increases outcome quality. It also reduces team/leader cognitive load so I can focus on big picture and supporting the team.

In 2005, I wrote a short film screenplay before starting my second year in a Comparative Literature MA program. I had taken a class in absurdist theater and wanted to try it. I pulled folks together who I thought could make it: a film student and a Harvard PhD student who participated in a theatrical play production. I had one conversation with the film student, in which we discussed broad ideas. She later gave me some edit requests. The Harvard student never gave feedback. They produced/directed the film without me, and gave themselves credit as the 2 co-writers, before I objected and got a 3rd writer credit. They won awards for this film. I don't think "collaborative" writing works for workaholics like me who tend to just do the writing.