The phrase ‘what got you here won’t get you there’ applies to your networks as you establish yourself as a PI.  You may find, as you progress your ambitions and strategy, that the networks that helped you to get where you are today may not be the same as the ones you will need in the future. Or you may need to interact with your existing networks differently from now on. It’s valuable, therefore, to pause and review your networks and your networking:

  • Are the right people in your network?
  • Are you doing all you can for them?
  • Are you building and maintaining them effectively?
  • Are you doing the right things to enhance your visibility to new collaborators? 

Networking and collaboration are about reciprocity: what do you offer each other?  What can you each gain from knowing each other, helping one another, or working together?  So you should also be thinking about whether your networks know what you can do for them and whether you are making that clear to them. 

In this section you will: 

  • think about who needs to be in your network as your leadership develops 
  • review your current networks  
  • reflect on your readiness and visibility for collaboration 
  • learn how other researchers developed their networks 
  • consider ways to assess and enhance your visibility and reputation 

Approaches to improving your networks

Reviewing your networks

Find out how to review the health of your existing networks.

Building visibility and recognition

Learn about how to approach networking.

Managing your collaboration 'teams'

Keep your new networks and collaborations thriving.

Resources

Internal resources and guidance

Creating and managing your online profile at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø: 

Networking:

External resources and guidance

Networking at academic conferences: 

  •  - Dr Sara Shinton’s blog shares reflections from researchers on conference networking chats. 
  •  – The Thesis Whisperer on chatting to people at conferences.

Cold call emails: 

  • A blog on approaching someone for the first time:  from The Thesis Whisperer 

Boosting visibility of your outputs: 

  • There are some great suggestions in the University of Edinburgh’s .  

Having an effective online profile:

  • What does your digital footprint say about you?  that will tell you if your professional online identity is an asset or a risk
  •  – an online course from the University of Edinburgh
  • Tips on how to use Twitter, LinkedIn and open research tools to maximise your findability as an academic:    

General networking:

  • Aimed at early career researchers: the University of Bristol has an 
  • : a blog by Dr Sara Shinton with some suggestions for how you can maximize your chances at being lucky in getting an opportunity.
  • Drafting a short pitch to spark interest in what your research is about  – .

Collaboration: 

  • See page six on the success factors for collaborations in the University of Edinburgh’s: 

Previous and next

Go back to the previous section: The importance of networking

Go to the next section: Reviewing your networks