Building a Community of Research Community Leaders

This project aims to build a community of research community leaders and strengthen the emerging Research Community Management (RCM) community across the UK.

Across the UK’s RTP landscape, many individuals formally or informally conduct Research Community Management (RCM) activities, such as coordinating contributions to open-source projects and sustaining communities of practice. These contributions are often hidden and lack recognition, time, or support, creating structural imbalance in essential community leadership. Consequently, there is limited incentive for individuals to take on community leadership or roles that underpin the socio-technical infrastructure vital to collaboration and innovation.

We will host online meetings to encourage and support the development of Research Community Managers. This will provide training and mentorship through an informal setting, enabling different forms of learning, including expert presentations and peer learning.

To build on and validate our pilot project findings, we will run a full-day in-person event for Research Community Managers to continue exploring the scope and value of RCM work. This will include networking to enable greater connectedness, resulting in empowering and uniting the community.

Ultimately, we aim to strengthen the emerging RCM community, expand our network across the UK and across new organisations, and build further robust evidence towards the better recognition and professionalisation of this distinct RTP role, such that they are understood to be an essential component in the leadership of an effective research ecosystem.