This book contains an Open Access chapter.
Communities exist everywhere in academia. They are important not only for facilitating academic socialisation and generating intellectual capital, but also for fostering academic wellbeing. But how do communities come to be and how do we develop and maintain them? What kinds of challenges are involved when bringing people together around a shared interest in a field or topic?
Addressing community-building in academia through a practical yet critical lens, the nine chapters present cases of academic community-building, or lack thereof, from across the globe. These communities are built and maintained by scholars representing different career stages, resulting in a go-to resource for any academic or higher education practitioner interested in community-building activities that strengthen and emphasise the collective – rather than competitive - aspect of academic work. Communities bring various benefits, yet community builders encounter several challenges. Very often, community-building often takes a great deal of time and (often voluntary) effort that is rarely officially rewarded.
Building Communities in Academia poses important questions and provides extensive insights that scholars and practitioners can use when developing community-related activities to enhance connection in academia.
Chapter 1. Introduction; Melina Aarnikoivu and Ai Tam Le
Chapter 2. Liminal Communities in Academia: From Research Education to Practice; Amoni Kitooke, Sally Windsor, Martina Lazarevska, Oscar Funeskog, and Samuel Holt
Chapter 3. Co-creating graduate research communities: Reflections on designing, developing, and delivering graduate researcher-led projects; Yuqi Lin and Ai Tam Le
Chapter 4. In search of a community: navigating the academic spaces of belonging as a postdoctoral fellow; Juuso Henrik Nieminen and Robyn Ruttenberg-Rozen
Chapter 5. Uncovering the journey of building a community: A story of a global network for early and mid-career women researchers; Gaoming Zheng, Mee Joo Kim, Jing Qi, Melina Aarnikoivu, Saule Bekova, Charity Meki-Kombe, Baktygul Shabdan, and Lifutso Tsephe
Chapter 6. Invitation to an online coffee! Exploring how informal academic communities support early-career researchers’ professional growth and wellbeing; Vesna Holubek and Henna Juusola OPEN ACCESS
Chapter 7. Building a community for researchers to foster mental health and wellbeing; Mayya Sundukova and Olga Vvedenskaya
Chapter 8. Tensions of aspirational activism: Developing the Research Whisperer community; Tseen Khoo and Jonathan O’Donnell
Chapter 9. Making a beginning together: the value of collective practice; Sinéad Murphy
Chapter 10. What if academia was not a gladiator fight? Reflections on trying to change the discourse from competition to community-building; Andrew G. Gibson and Taina Saarinen
Chapter 11. Conclusion: Can communities be cornerstones of future academia?; Ai Tam Le and Melina Aarnikoivu
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