1. ‘I’m sorry, do I know you?’
The REDS guide to networking
for academics by academics
Contributors: Jenna Condie, David Roberts, Eleanor Jackson, Arash Raeisi, Charlie Mydlarz, Matthew Trump,
Fiona Christie, Cristina Costa, Nazanin Asadi, Zbigniew Koziel, James Woodcock, Pascal Venier, Tobias Ackroyd,
Gennaro Sica, Rasal Eskandari, Esme Caulfield, Princess Nwaneke, Ajeigbe Oluwapelumi, Lisa Scullion
This guide is the outcome of two events ‘How to network’ and ‘Online Networks for Enterprise’, part
of the REDS (Researcher Enterprise Development Salford) series of events designed to encourage
and support the development of entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial skills amongst the research
community at the University of Salford. The sessions consisted of postgraduates, early career
researchers and experienced academics coming together to discuss and debate the how’s, what’s,
where’s, when’s and why’s of networking in academia. What we all agreed on was that networking,
when done right, can lead to some brilliant working relationships and opportunities for
collaborations, not to forget employment.
What is this thing called networking?
“Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are,
you need one.” Jane Howard
Everyone talks about networking and most of us feel that we should be doing it, but what is it?
Rather than giving you a dictionary definition, here’s a wordle of what networking means to us as a
group of enterprising academics:
This wordle or ‘word cloud’ represents what networking meant for the group (www.wordle.net)
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2. A lot of the words above were originally part of a sentence so they might not make complete sense
on their own, for example ‘the old boy network’. However what the wordle does reveal is that two
words in particular, ‘sharing’ and ‘keeping’, were more commonly used by the attendees than any
other words. ‘Sharing’ knowledge and experience was important for attendees, as was ‘keeping’ up
with the latest in your field of research and ‘keeping’ in touch with those people. So as academics
and researchers, should we be networking for these central reasons, or should we be networking
with other goals in mind?
A bit of theory for you
As this guide is by academics for academics, here is a taster of some of the theories on networking
that we discussed in the session. These theories were used to help us consider the networking we
do, but also the networking other people and other groups do in their professional and personal
lives. Exploring different social networks (e.g. family, friends, professional), helped us get down to
the core of what networking is - an essential part of being human.
Within the session, we discussed the Strength of Weak Ties Theory by Mark Granovetter (1973)
which argues that people we don’t know very well (our weak ties) are less likely to know each other
than people we know well (strong ties). As we are already sharing a lot of information with our
strong ties, our weak ties have more potential for new information that we are unaware of such as
opportunities or collaborations.
Applying Granovetter’s theory, we
need to expand on our network and
form relationships outside of our
close knit research communities to
reap the most benefits. This raised
the question of whether we want
quality or quantity within our
professional networks. So we
mapped out our own networks to
get a closer look at them; thinking
about what we want from them and
what we offer our network too.
Attendees brought other theories
and ideas about networking to the
table such as Actor-Network Theory, the idea of boundary spanners, six degrees of separation,
Dunbar’s number of 150 (optimum network community size), and books such as Malcolm Gladwell’s
Tipping Point (2001).
One of the most important conclusions was that successful networking and developing professional
relationships should be reciprocal – it’s all about give and take. You need to be offering up
something too whether it’s suggesting an event that might be of interest to someone, or bringing a
potential collaboration to life. The more people you are developing successful relationships with,
the more good quality work you have to do.
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3. So how do we network?
The group networked in a range of ways by attending events such as conferences and training
workshops; sharing information by publishing papers, speaking at conferences, and being part of
discussion/research groups within their specialist fields; getting involved in collaborative projects
such as REDS; and by using their expertise, knowledge and skills to support and help others with
their work. As a group, we also talked about how rewarding it can be getting to know people on a
social level.
As well as networking in person, some of the attendees were also networking online via various
social networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Some of the attendees were
also using other academic social networks such as Academia.edu (an academic social networking
site) and Mendeley (a research management tool for sharing and organising papers). A number of
attendees were also keeping online research blogs to tell people about their research. Online
networks and academic digital presence created much discussion and debate in the two sessions.
Get over yourself (!) and some ‘how to tips’
By David Roberts
Can you recall a circumstance where you made a real effort to attend a meeting,
presentation, or event and came away feeling that your time could have been better
spent?
For many people the thought of walking into a room full of strangers can be a cause of
anxiety. Our primeval fears of rejection, failure, and the unknown are often
stimulated. The following tips and ideas could be used as preparation so as you can
get the very best out of the next event that you attend. It may even make the next
event you attend less fearful and more fruitful.
Before you walk into the room, try reminding yourself of the following points and
make some decisions. First, you are going to enjoy yourself and meet some people
who will be interesting. Second, you will meet and listen with interest to two or three
new people and you will learn about their interests and the kind of things that are
important to them. Thirdly, remind yourself that the other people in the room are
there to meet people too. Fourth, be clear about your areas of expertise and your
interests. Finally, decide that if you do meet the 1% of the population who might try
to reject you ignore them and go and talk with somebody else.
As you walk into the room of strangers, take a number of slow deep breaths, put on
your best smile, and then make immediate eye contact with the people who look at
you and go and talk with them first.
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4. Academics in the digital age
In the current climate, it’s arguable that if you’re not online you might as well not exist. Have you
ever googled yourself? You might be surprised at what you find. By creating your own online
presence and building a profile of your work online makes you findable and accessible if someone
wants to contact you or consult with you about your research. Also by paying attention to what is
out there online about you means you can manage and control your online content.
In the group sessions, we used various online
technologies to engage with others. Many of us
were using twitter to find information,
communicate with other researchers, and talk
about various events that we were attending.
Twitter can be useful before, during and after any
events you attend. Today, most events create a
twitter hashtag (e.g. #sparc11, #REDSalford)
which people can use to tag all their tweets about
the event. There are also virtual communities of
people coming together on twitter to network
with one another, share information and keep in
touch (e.g. #phdchat).
On a recent #phdchat discussion (8th May, 2011) about what technologies academics were using,
@scottwdavis tweeted ‘I discovered a company and set up a live meeting to discuss a potential
research project all through Twitter’, and @qui_oui
‘through Twitter I recently participated as an "expert" on
a Guardian.co.uk online panel’. Twitter can be a place of
opportunity.
Facebook can also be good place to network online, for
example see the Salford PhD’s page
www.facebook.com/salfordphds. Although remember
to check your Facebook privacy settings and have a read
of Facebook's terms and conditions about copyright and
intellectual property rights. Awareness of Facebook’s
conditions is even more important if you are using the
site for academic purposes.
Managing your online presence takes time and skill. For
example, if you use Twitter for informal, unprofessional purposes, it would be unwise to sync your
Twitter with a LinkedIn account that you use for professional purposes, as the messages sent out to
your online network would be mixed. Have a look at what other people are doing to create a
professional identity online. If you’re unsure, training workshops and events are popping up all the
time on the use of social media for academic purposes. Also, we have included some links to useful
resources at the end of this guide.
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5. Networking for enterprise
One of the workshop attendees said ‘we can shape our future successes’. Networking is about
creating your own opportunities, as is enterprise. Being entrepreneurial is not necessarily about
making money or taking risks, it is about recognising and creating opportunities. We talked about
how meeting new people can be uncomfortable at times, especially if we have been brought up on
the mantra ‘don’t speak to strangers’. Enterprise is about exploring opportunities and one of the
most effective ways of exploring opportunities is to share ideas with new people. As individuals who
work within the field of academia, developing our networks will help increase the number and
quality of opportunities that present themselves. However doing this will require a little practice.
Once practiced, opportunities will emerge. Good luck!
To conclude
It is important to note that, as a group, we did not all agree on the best ways to network. How to
network is very much dependent on the individual in question – work out what works best for you.
In a LinkedIn discussion group recently, Nicole Gravagna, a Molecular Biologist at University of
Colorado said, ‘The economy doesn't look so bad if you skip the job ads and speak directly to the
CEO'. At the end of the day we all want a job, preferably doing something we like and something
that makes use of our strengths and expertise. If you network and network well, you are
(potentially) opening yourself up to a ton of opportunities. You never know what’s around the
corner!
A few links
Try mapping your network on LinkedIn Maps -
http://inmaps.linkedinlabs.com/
There are many places to network online but
here are some of the main ones to check out:
LinkedIn, Academic.edu, Twitter, ResearchGate,
Facebook, and Mendeley. If you’re starting out
on these sites, try searching for some of the
contributors to this guide – we look forward to
hearing from you.
Mark W Schaefer’s book ‘The Tao of Twitter’ is an excellent introduction to Twitter.
Why not start your own research blog? Wordpress www.wordpress.com and Blogger
www.blogger.com are easy to use.
Check out Social Media & Marketing Consultant Rachel Levy’s blog on online networking
http://www.rachel-levy.com/
The University of Salford postgraduate careers team have a blog full of advice and
information http://virtual-doc.salford.ac.uk/pgrs/
Vitae have lots of useful information on networking too http://www.vitae.ac.uk/
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