What is your strategy for connecting with researchers and practitioners?

My approach to connecting with researchers is to observe, listen and learn from people from diverse backgrounds in any given setting. It could be a conference, an online seminar, a lab visit or surveys! It is not limited to the experienced in the field but also the new incoming students/staff who are bustling with ideas, creativity and innovation. They have immense knowledge and a lot to teach! Platforms like LinkedIn, ResearchGate are wonderful dynamic setups to connect with people.

My strategy for connecting with researchers and practitioners involves several steps. The first step is identifying the goals, objectives, and purpose (What and Why). Ask yourself what you are trying to achieve as an outcome. Second, having a strong online presence, for example, a LinkedIn account, so that you can interact with other business-minded individuals. Be a proactive participant. Initiate connections by joining groups and participating in discussions that align with your goals and objectives. Third, attend conferences and meetings relating to the goal and objectives you have set to achieve the results. And through the conferences and meetings, you can develop meaningful relationships leading to future research collaborations, etc.

Connecting with researchers and practitioners requires a proactive approach that will require expertise, willingness to collaborate, and commitment to supporting their work. Building meaningful relationships and delivering valuable solutions can lead to long-term engagement and partnerships. A strong online presence through a dedicated website, social media profiles, and professional platforms. This allows researchers and practitioners to find information about your capabilities and services. One can provide valuable and informative content related to research and practice to establish credibility and enhance your reputation within the research community.

I always connect researchers and material scientists after citing their relevant scientific work. It helps to cooperate and collaborate straight away.

Regardless of what is your research about, the most important thing is to believe (and to prove) your research can be crucial for certain process/product/circumstance. Once you pass the "believe in your project" part, look out to what industry or private research institutes are working on and find out a way to connect your research towards the cutting edge direction. I could think of so many examples. Third and the easiest part, reach out! Researchers usually forget how powerful an email can be. Do not be afraid of reaching out. Once you have done the first part, you will be more confident on what your research can be useful for (being your own marketing manager). It is not easy yeah! But not trying is already a loss.

I find that online platforms such as LinkedIn and ResearchGate are much better to facilitate networking. You can make direct contact with researchers. Databases and conducting searches are good for finding and searching individuals but networking and making contact is just as or if not more important!

A researcher is someone who is always thinking and asking for new ways to know his/her environment. He/she is always pursuing new ways of doing things and reads a lot about many things. The internet, as a source of knowledge, is one of his/her favorite toys. The internet has revolutionized the way researchers conduct research. It has made it possible for researchers to access a vast amount of information from all over the world. This has made it easier for researchers to learn about new topics and stay up-to-date on the latest research. The internet has also made it possible for researchers to collaborate with other researchers from all over the world.

In my experience, there is great value in connecting directly with affected communities—You’ll discover the experts dwell within. Online platforms can serve as a springboard from which you can engage organizations and individuals in pursuit of your research. I also recommend a measure of self reflection about any implicit biases you may have, so you can approach sources with a fresh and open mind.

Connecting with researchers and practitioners also follows the focus area of the research, format and audience. More academic papers will allow to also search for university groups. Policy Papers and analysis will likely be published by think tanks, international organizations or foundations. Consider expanding your search through linked in in these other interesting sectors where practitioners are also found

I agree with using google scholar to read and follow different types of researchers. I read online blogs related to topics that I am interested in where I get a daily email with articles for me to read. For healthcare, I found NIH articles to be very helpful and news websites helpful for politics. Reading books related to the world or any topic at hand is good for learning more in depth. I also use LinkedIn for connecting with researchers that are in mutual groups past or present. Joining these groups is also a good way of connecting with them.

Submitting papers to international conferences is also a great way for networking. Usually this happens more on the academic area. For practitioners, subscribe to the newsletters of foundations, think tanks and international organizations or companies. This allows to keep up with their events, share their content or establish contact. Opt for virtual business cards (will also speak about compromise for sustainability and will show digital tech skills)

Attending conferences is such a fantastic way to meet others, learn, and showcase your skills and research! I am attending a free conference on 29th August. Info on my profile and DM me for more details! ????

Network intentionally with a few "networking goals". Events/conferences can be overwhelming, especially for early career researchers. Before a conference I write down some of the most challenging hurdles I have in my own research, and I choose a few experts who are likely to know how I could approach those problems. Or if my current work is complete, I will focus on finding relevant journal editors to see if my work is a good fit for them (be prepared to explain the work in 30 seconds).

If you want to contact a mentor/PI you are particularly eager to work with, a good strategy is to plan an in person presentation to them, after which you can also visit their lab and meet their PhD students and post docs. You can arrange this as a part of a small vacation to visit their city (arrange with them the day of the presentation first and tailor the rest of the vacation according to it). Remember that even if they can't hire you directly, they might suggest your name to other PIs that are looking for people and that you can also meet.

One thing I’ve found useful in this engagement with research and practitioners is to offer to give presentations or workshops at events, write blog posts or articles to showcase your expertise engage in discussions around trending topics in your field, attend networking events and seminars participate in webinars and online panel discussions and seek introductions through mutual contacts or mentors.

If you are new to it, invite a senior colleague to join the conversation. Observe how he/she asks questions, how they listen, observe, take notes. If you catch yourself talking too much, pause.

Try to reach out to at least one person outside of your immediate network every week. Once a week, you will notice someone who wrote an interesting article, or did an interesting presentation etc. Send them a brief email/message explaining why their research is interesting to you, how it relates to what you do and politely ask them for a brief 30 min call to exchange on your work. People are more open to having a brief 30 min get-to-know call than you might think, especially since COVID and if your work is related. The worst that can happen is that you don't receive a response. In most cases, you will create new contacts and learn something new.

Request funding from your organization to invite your researcher/practitioner of interest to participate in a talk series or course. Offer to coordinate their visit for additional one-on-one discussion time while touring the campus. :)

One thing which I’ve always practiced is that during a collaboration we should always try to positively approach any problem, using words reflecting any negation will taint your effort in bringing good to the team. Learn everyone’s mindset and fine tune your idea in such a way that it’s appreciated by others within the team. Trying to establish a dominant or submissive role will affect the enthusiasm within the team, actively support ideas and also empathize, gently turn down ideas which are diverting the team to wrong direction.

If you are into production, you can sent them the prototype to test and give a feedback. These are the things that will make you activities strong.

Be prepared to speak different languages and discuss priorities. If you come from industry and want to collaborate with an academic researcher or viceversa… If you are a researcher and want to create connections with funding agencies… Be prepared to the fact that effective communication can take a while. You and your counterpart are used to different working languages. Not all your expectations and goals would be shared. Nevertheless, do not give up at the first misunderstanding. Clarify your message as much as possible, ask for feedback and adjust. Start again. It’s worth the effort! These interdisciplinary collaborations will be the most nurturing! Enjoy the exchange process!

One of the most important things to consider is a case study. A case study is a concept of the intersection between real-world practitioners and academic researchers. Academics focus on case studies in the writing stage when they are purely studying the real world with an academic perspective. After that, they make a bridge between these two groups.

It could be important to improve the connections between the industry and the academic research, with partial detaxation of private funds that finance public labs. In this way, the companies could benefit of independent labs contributing to the development of the companies patents (which should be shared at 50% between the funding company and the lab) and the labs receive a constant influx of reagents and money to fund post-docs and current expenditures.

Use findings from online research as a start. It is common to see many researchers relying on online tools to complete research work/studies. Also post Covid lockdowns, most became increasingly reliant on online & digital. However, the Web is only a part of the process...especially in a South Asian background where most info are not readily available in English.Therefore speaking to respondents to collect reserch info still plays a crucial role. In fact, research work that includes such data are more valuable due to the first hand info presented in them.