All entries for September 2024

New Episode: Outreach, Reaching Across the Divide & Engaging the Public

Writing about web page https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/BDEDZbjNcNb

A new episode relating to the research culture special issue is now live.

I am pleased to announce we have a new episode of the Exchanges Discourse podcast, the first in a series of episodes that are coming your way over the next couple of months. This is the first in a mini-series featuring authors who contributed to our special research culture special issue, and I couldn’t be happier to have such a gracious guest as Phil Jemmett from Warwick’s own WMG. Listen to our conversation here:

• https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/BDEDZbjNcNb [35:42]

As always we talk a lot about my guest’s life and work, but especially the article Phil and colleagues contributed to our recent journal issue – entitled: Engaging Academics with Outreach: How the ‘STEM Connections’ model empowers staff. Along the way we also talk about Phil’s publishing experiences, thoughts on being a public academic including matters of opinion on the best way to represent yourself and your research to a class of potentially disengaged school children. As such, our conversation touches on various techniques for engaging the public with topics of academic research and expertise. As a result, we get chatting about how to improve your academic presentational skills and especially the best routes to capturing an audience’s attention.

As always the episode concludes by offering some advice to less seasoned academic authors in publishing approaches and ways in which they can make their papers really sing.

You can read Phil and colleagues article here: https://doi.org/10.31273/eirj.v11i3.1544

As always, my thanks to my guest for their thoughts, and I hope you enjoy the episode.

Next up, as I recorded it last week, is a long and exciting chat with fellow editor and author Jonathan Vickery on the subject of publishing and the knowledge economy. Hopefully with you this time next week!

Gareth Johnson : 26 Sep 2024 15:19 |  Tags: Discourse Engagement Exchanges Outreach Public Publishing |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Special Issue Published: MRC @ 50

Writing about web page https://doi.org/10.31273/eirj.v11i4

After only a month, another special issue of Exchanges is launched to celebrate a unique, special and impactful archive

This half of the year has felt rather like a continual production of issues of Exchanges, which I guess is no bad thing! After last month’s highly anticipated and well-received Research Culture special issue, today I am so pleased to reveal we’ve just published our next one. This time the special issue [1] celebrates, commemorates and highlights work on and around the Modern Records Centre (MRC) archive here at the University of Warwick. In part the issue is a potted guide to the history of the MRC itself, but mostly it celebrates the fantastic role archives play in enabling groundbreaking and insightful social, cultural and historical research.

Read the issue:

https://exchanges.warwick.ac.uk/index.php/exchanges/issue/view/100 or https://doi.org/10.31273/eirj.v11i4

Most of the articles in the issue are drawn from the 50^th anniversary symposium hosted last year by the MRC, where speakers talked about their personal reflections of the archive, as much as they focused in on the research its collections have helped them to achieve. Hence this issue is very much a reflection of that day, wherein we invited all the speakers to contribute in some way. Not everyone decided or was able to contribute, but I would argue a strongly representative sample of the speakers have, making this volume a fitting capstone to the fantastic MRC’s ‘special’ birthday year.

Naturally, as with all specials there’s been a lot of work behind the scenes to bring the issue to you, not least of that from a great team of associate editors. Along the way we’ve faced some unexpected organisational challenges which did slow down the production of the issue a little bit – but I have been so impressed as always by the dedication, focus and team spirit I’ve seen from all the editors. Much as I am happy to have the issue live, I’m certainly sad I won’t be working with these people closely for the foreseeable future – they really have been a fantastic group!

Anyway, with this issue out, I can return my focus to the forthcoming regular issue of Exchanges due out next month (!), and following up with all the authors of both recent special issues too.[2] Not to mention, talking with my editors on the other special issues we’ve got developing…

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[1] Officially our 8^th special, since the first one in 2020. 4 more are active development right now too.

[2] I’m hoping I’ve not been too quiet in the past couple of weeks as my focus has been squarely on getting this issue out!

Gareth Johnson : 25 Sep 2024 14:03 |  Tags: Archives Centre Issue Modern Mrc Published Records Special Warwick |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Attending the International Research Culture Conference 2024

Writing about web page https://warwick.ac.uk/research/ncrc/ircc/

Second research culture conference is a time to celebrate and look to the future.

Yesterday I went along as Exchanges Chief Editor to attend the second International Research Culture Conference(IRCC '24), hosted at Warwick once more. As readers will remember at the 2023 event we launched our collaboration with the National Centre for Research Culture and the work began towards producing our first research culture special issue. That came out last month, and if you haven’t read it yet – you really should.

Yesterday was a chance, alongside listening to a range of informative and engaging speakers, to celebrate this publication a little. More importantly thought it was a chance to announce the call for the next research culture special issue – arising from this year’s conference. That, and of course my call for more associate editors to get involved. Delegates to the event will soon have a mailshot with more information about that.

It was a long day, but another one where I spent most of the moments between sessions talking to various delegates about the journal, our plans and how they can get involved. My thanks to everyone who stopped by our stall for a little chat – and I hope you enjoyed our little bits of promotional merchandise too. And my thanks to the NCRC for working with us once again in launching this second exciting issue call.

Next up though, my focus will be swinging firmly back onto the MRC @ 50 special issue – coming very, very soon to your screens.

Gareth Johnson : 17 Sep 2024 09:23 |  Tags: 2024 Conference Culture Ircc Issue Launch Ncrc Research Special |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Reflections on: Collaboration of the Faculties– Adventures in Interdisciplinarity

Writing about web page https://exchanges.warwick.ac.uk/index.php/exchanges/

British Academy event for early career researchers explores some exciting and innovative thinking about interdisciplinary working and research.

Hyperbole is omnipresent in Linked.In posts, to a routinely and often nauseating superfluidity, but for once when I posted last week about being ‘delighted’, ‘honoured’ and ‘inspired’ by an event I attended: this was quite simply the honest truth. Last Friday (6^th Feb) I had the genuine pleasure to head into London to the prestigious British Academy’s Westminster headquarters to attend their Early Career Researcher Network’s event entitled Collaboration of the Faculties - Adventures in Interdisciplinarity. This intriguingly titled event promised to explore the challenges of combining differing perspectives and methodologies, dissemination of interdisciplinary work and how to engage audiences across the disciplines. No small challenge!

I’d been approached way back in March this year by Paula Back, the BA’s ECR Network Officer, to get involved as a panellist. I realised from the outset, rather gratifyingly, I was one of the first people who’d been approached, which was a rare treat. Since then, there’s been a regular stream of conversation from the organisers which I’ve been privy too as they built up to the event. It felt very inclusive, and welcoming, to be included in this, rather the often-distant communications one has when speaking at other events! Certainly, I will say the planning organisation and delivering of this researcher development event was pretty much close to my personal ideal, and everyone involved should be commended for it!

On the day, the first thing that struck me was how welcoming and engaged everyone present was. I know most of the audience, beyond the speakers, are self-selected – those who have decided to attend. Yet, the resultant audience was so receptive you’d almost suspect they’d be carefully chosen to attend based on their willingness to engage! Certainly, at many conferences I’ve attended, many people head off into their cliques or friendship groups, to the exclusion of a wider conversation. Being somewhat of a wallflower [1] I sometimes find it challenging to network and have wider discussions as a result. This wasn’t a problem at the BA event, as I barely stopped talking for the entire event run time [2.] Frankly, by the end of the day, I was ready to go silent for some hours and simply let my brain start to reflect on the event.

Now, I’m not going to try and capture a blow-by-blow account of the day. There were so many excellent speakers, questions and side-discussions that it would take me far too long to recount. Not to mention, I’m sure there are better scribes than I out there who will have written a fuller accounting [3]. What I will share though are some of my key takeaways that have resonated with me over the weekend – in no order of priority!

Language barriers: A common theme was the difficulty of speaking to non-domain experts about your research or work, without using terms which are at worst opaque, or where you end up explaining them in other domain terms. Not ideal! When attempting to apply for funding or forming an effective interdisciplinary research teams, it is exactly these sorts of linguistic barriers which can create a genuine challenge to team cohesion and effectiveness. These sorts of barriers are perhaps even more apparent when scholars consider outlining their research or its outcomes to the public or to members of policy sphere and political classes.

Identity: A personal quandary for many researchers seeking to move to an interdisciplinary space or sphere of working. HEIs and senior executives continue to express their keenness for researchers to be more interdisciplinary in their working and practice. However, many of the esteem markers and career progression mechanisms are simply not configured to recognise or authenticate the ‘value’ of such work. Domain specific research remains more ‘significant’ in terms of these esteem markers, which means in terms of establishing an identity and even a career as an interdisciplinary researcher it can be a major uphill struggle with a slower progression to the senior grades. This was an area within which a number of speakers highlighted the importance of policy makers in changing perceptions and the lived reality.

Power Dysfunctions: A theme common to me from my own publishing research, but the existence of power dynamic imbalances are an issue even within interdisciplinary researcher groups. We’ve all encountered the ‘powerful’ and ‘dominant’ PI. Yet, broadly speaking, when groups of researchers come from across the disciplines to tackle a common problem scientists will typically view a problem from a certain vantage point or precept to those in the humanities, for example. Now, whomever is the driving or vocal force within the group – hierarchically speaking or simply by force of personality, can artificially close off exactly the kind of exciting, original or novel paths of exploration which interdisciplinary working is supposed to enable. As one speaker put it ‘to the [man] with the hammer, every problem looks like a nail’. [4] Overcoming this, can mean serious changes to underlying research culture too, another topic within which I’m heartily familiar.

Show Don’t Tell: When seeking to engage audiences around novel interdisciplinary-related concepts, methodologies or approaches – be they fellow researchers, the public, media or policy makers – ‘show don’t tell’ is a great approach [5]. It can help overcome some of those language barriers mentioned above, but can also help the interdisciplinary researcher by ‘forcing’ them to recontextualise their own work and potentially see it in a fresh light. Quite simply, by finding new ways to engage with audiences (and have audiences engage themselves) simply having objects, exhibits or interactive interventions can ensure a greater degree of success than simply seeking to ‘explain’ an interdisciplinary idea, research, method or methodology.

The Future is Interdisciplinary: ‘Complex real-world problems require interdisciplinary solutions’ as one speaker succinctly put it. When you look at global problems – climate change, space-exploration, healthcare etc., – there is no singular research domain that has the complete picture or solution. Working across boundaries, brining knowledge, expertise and ability from across the interdisciplinary spectrum is key to creating effective, practical leavers to affect successful change or outcomes. Getting this degree of buy in (and appreciating some of the challenges mentioned above) though, is still a journey: not everyone is ready, willing or able to step out of their disciplinary silo. Yet. Perhaps in a decade or so this might be a more natural expectation – look at the move towards open publishing for example – but for now, disciplinarity remains the realpolitik and de facto ruling principles of the academy.

Connectivity is Key: I would argue the event itself was this connectivity made manifest, but in achieving this effective interdisciplinary working future for researchers and society, finding people who are likeminded, who are willing to step beyond the disciplinary and helping to support and enable each other is key goal. Fresh and exciting perspectives await!

Alongside this exciting stuff, I was speaking myself about Exchanges and our role in facilitating interdisciplinary publishing – without any myopic application of ‘true’ or ‘authentic’ interdisciplinary research: we remain catholic, welcoming and all-encompassing in our approach. I was gratified to have such a positive feedback from the audience to my comments and answers to questions, as well as the delegates and organisers I spoke to throughout the day, about Exchanges’ rationale and approach. I hope in our own, modest, way we can help engender the kinds of exchanges (#sorrynotsorry) which the British Academy event was seeking to enable through this event. Certainly, from a more pragmatic standpoint, as more than one potential author spoke to me on the day and subsequently about future article ideas, I’m excited to see what fresh perspectives we can help bring to global attention in our forthcoming issues.

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My grateful thanks to everyone attending, who asked a question and of course the British Academy for the invite to get involved in the first place. I had a simply terrific day, and I suspect a version of this blog post will be appearing as a future editorial in Exchanges itself! So, I was certainly inspired too.

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Endnotes

[1] No, honestly, I am. Despite appearances to the contrary.

[2] Except, naturally, during the presentations.

[3] Of course if anyone would like to submit a critical reflection article on the events and speakers of the day, I’d be more than happy to consider it for publication!

[4] I work with a lot of scientists, and this feels very true to me – there’s always a positivist viewpoint that is privileged over others – frustrating!

[5] And one I’ve long loved from screenwriting theory and practice, I should note.

Gareth Johnson : 11 Sep 2024 10:38 |  Tags: Academy British Career Early Event Interdisciplinarity Network Researcher |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem