So, firstly we should maybe point out that this blog post was
inspired by the Fuse conference on the
25-27th February 2013 at Linden
Hall. This sandpit event aimed to inspire post-docs and post-grads (like
our good selves) to write an inspiring, appropriate and sure-to-be funded research
bid. Whilst this conference was held a few weeks ago, what we really found
useful – and which inspired this post – was the opportunity to network. Being
researchers in different North East Universities (Emma is based in
the Institute for Health & Society at Newcastle University, and Annette
works full time for the NHS Health Improvement while studying part time at
Sunderland University) we don’t often get the opportunity to meet for a prolonged
period of time with researchers from other universities.
Cookies by Paolo Marco - an important ingredient of effective networking |
On arriving at the Fuse event, both myself and Annette were
placed in the same group, in which we were to spend many waking hours together
working on a hypothetical (but a potentially very real) research bid. Together
with an additional four researchers, Annette and I set to thinking about how we
would write a research bid that would shed some light on how reticent Hep C
carriers would come forward for testing. Whilst admittedly Annette and I were ‘forced’ to network in the
first instance, in that we were allocated to the same working group, we soon
realised over coffee (and dare we say it biscuits and other sweet goodies) that
we got on rather well and that we were both interested in very similar research
fields. Annette is currently starting her 3rd year of her part-time
PhD (and aiming to finish in 12 months!) looking into the views and patterns of
alcohol use in older adults living in sheltered housing, whilst I completed a
PhD (in 2010) into the food, alcohol and physical activity behaviours of young
adults, together with a first post-doc which looked at the dietary behaviours
of older people. Sharing similar
research interests and skills (such as a firm interest in the value of
qualitative research) was an interesting finding from meeting each other.
Since meeting up for coffee recently (minus the cake
unfortunately!), we decided that we should thank Fuse for giving us the
opportunity to network. The Fuse conference allowed us to meet with researchers
from all of the five North East Universities (Newcastle
University, Sunderland University,
Teeside University, Durham University and Northumbria University). It gave us the
opportunity to identify potential collaborations with other researchers and
universities, to establish new friendships with people who share similar
personal and professional interests, but crucially, by listening to other
people’s research interests and skills, it helped us to fully appreciate what
we have to offer as junior/early career research and the skills that we could
bring to any budding cross-university collaborations.
Whilst usually the
dreaded ‘N’ word brings a tear to the eye, and a lump to the throat akin to
that of ice breakers; the networking opportunity provided by Fuse was (fairly) enjoyable. The informal atmosphere, the
always-ready-to-help mentors, and the open-attitude of all those involved,
meant that we learned quite a bit about ourselves, but also about others who
attended the event. In future, should we ever have to network again, we can
tell ourselves that not always do we need to break into a cold sweat when made
to network, that it can be fun (okay maybe a stretch too far), useful, and also result in a new
friendship/collaboration being made. In this instance the networking between
Annette and I paid off…shame it couldn’t have helped us write the winning bid
though!
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