On April 16, a small and wonderfully diverse group of Yorkville faculty joined us online for our latest Research Café, no slides, no speakers, no formal presentations. Just people who care about research, sitting down together to talk about Collaboration in Research and Academic Writing.
What made this conversation so rich was the range of experience in the room. We had a brand-new sessional faculty member preparing for her very first class in May, sitting alongside colleagues with decades of research and teaching behind them. A legal professional turned first-time academic researcher. A neuroscience postdoc rediscovering her passion for scholarly work. A marketing writer whose research lives embedded in the craft of writing every day. A mathematician exploring gender and academic choices through student voices. And two faculty members midway through their first SSAF-funded grants, equal parts excited and, by their own cheerful admission, a little scared.
Our conversation started with a simple question from a newer faculty member: Where do I even begin to find collaborators here? The group had plenty to offer:
The CTEI SoTL Scholars Program: one participant found her whole research team by simply sharing what she cared about within a learning cohort.
LinkedIn was recommended not just for connecting but for discovering what colleagues across the university are working on.
For those looking further afield, conference presentations were highlighted as a way to assess not just someone’s research interests, but their working style and personality before committing to a collaboration.
The Office of Academic Research’s Newsletter was also mentioned as a useful window into what colleagues across Yorkville are working on.
Our conversation continues with benefits of collaboration, challenges that nobody expects, authorship, credit, and ethical issues.
The room reminded us of something worth saying out loud: research at Yorkville doesn’t look like one thing. And that’s a strength.
Our next Research Café will be in approximately two months. If you have a topic you’d love to explore together or if you’d like to help shape an upcoming session, reach out to the Office of Academic Research.
And if you missed this one: you were missed. Come next time. Bring your questions and a cafe.
The Research Café is an informal faculty community series hosted by the Office of Academic Research at Yorkville University, held bimonthly and open to all faculty, staff, and students.
Email Dr. Thu Le at tle@yorkvilleu.ca if you would like to listen to the recording.
