Theme 1 - 5th Research Staff Conference

Research Collaboration is an essential element of current research activity, increasingly across disciplines and countries. Research councils and other funding bodies encourage this type of activity in order to enhance research output and coordinate efficiently research funding. Research active universities aspire towards creating a responsive research environment to encourage collaborative capacity and practice. The University of Liverpool has created seven research themes by bringing together internationally renowned researchers from all faculties. The themes provide the backdrop of internal collaborative practice. Research collaboration appears also in the form of external affiliations and therefore it is important for researchers at all stages of their career to develop and maintain a research network that can offer opportunities for partnerships.

The session presenters are experienced researchers who have practiced collaborative research in their discipline (or as part of a multidisciplinary project in an academic or industry based environment), and are familiar with the characteristics of effective collaborative work. The purpose of the session is to demonstrate the need for developing effective collaborative networks, maintaining them and managing them productively.

Points to be covered include

• Defining collaboration in a research context
• Factors contributing to effective collaboration
• Type of initiatives that promote collaboration across disciplines
• Demonstrating the value of collaboration in terms of professional development and academic practice
• Taking control of a network and promoting research interests
• Initiating and managing networks and collaborations within the University; utilising the university’s local expertise
• Interdisciplinary research in context and developing issues

The following sessions will run in parallel, please select the one you would like to attend
Dr Joao Pedro de Magalhaes, faculty of Health and Life Sciences – further information about Joao Pedro
Dr Jon Bridge, faculty of Sciences and Engineering – further information about Jon
Dr Beatriz Garcia, faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences – further information about Beatriz