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Interdisciplinarity and Impact: Year 1 of The British Academy Early Career Researcher Network Scotland

By Dr Robyne Calvert, The British Academy Early Career Researcher Network (Scotland Hub) Project Officer 

“We learned how important it is to check with other disciplines – we think we know what to do, but learn that maybe we should do things a different way.”
– Dr Sacha Hasan, Herriot Watt University, speaking at the Scotland Showcase of The British Academy Early Career Researcher Network

Creating interdisciplinary spaces

There is nothing terribly new or innovative about the concept of interdisciplinary research (or multi- or cross-disciplinary research), and yet there are still many barriers to accomplishing it. One of the biggest is also the most basic – how do you identify collaborators, particularly when you don’t know the possibilities other disciplines offer?

While many professional researcher networks are discipline-based, there is a move to create more discipline-diverse and flexible spaces across the research landscape. Interdisciplinary networks can provide opportunities for both serendipitous and structured conversations that foster innovative ideas and collaborations. Facilitating in such spaces can build mutual respect around what research looks like in unfamiliar disciplines (as also discussed by my colleague Misha in this recent post) and different methods or ways of working.

The British Academy Early Career Researcher Network aims to broker this mutual understanding through providing an “inclusive, researcher-led membership body accessible to all UK-based early career researchers (ECRs) working in the humanities and social sciences – regardless of their funding source or background.” To meet this aim in the first year of the network’s Scotland Hub, we have brought together all Scottish universities, encouraged the involvement of independent researchers, and uniquely we have prioritised the inclusion of the Independent Research Organisations (Historic Environment Scotland and National Museums Scotland) and Research Funding organisations (The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland) into the Consortium. Both strategies expand the disciplinary reach of the network by looking expansively at arts, humanities, and social sciences research beyond HEIs, enabling new, impactful public sector and industry partnerships.

The impact of interdisciplinary spaces

One of the things I love about leading on the coordination of The British Academy Early Career Researcher Network (BAECRN) is the way in which it brings a great diversity of ideas into a single room. On September 6th & 7th we held our first ‘Scotland Showcase’, generously hosted by HES The Engine Shed in Stirling and featuring presentations from the successful projects awarded our first round of Seed Funding, as you can see in the photo gallery below.

As I previously shared the Seed Fund call required that projects represent new cross-discipline collaborations. This aligns closely with the values of the Scotland Hub, which, as noted above, seeks to recognise, facilitate, and celebrate knowledge exchange and collaborative research between the HEI sector and independent partners. What was striking was the sheer amount of work that had already achieved real impact, produced in a truly short period of time. Our funded researchers managed to deliver a wide range of outputs in the 6-month project period, producing (for example) everything from policy briefing papers on energy, the cost of living crisis, and youth activism; to podcasts from Migrant Voices. Obtaining seed funding enabled our researchers to deliver activities such as participatory community workshops, held both online and face-to-face across the country, to support their projects. And nearly all funded projects were already planning to apply for larger grants to follow-on the research the Seed Fund enabled.

Dr Alex Lewis, Director of Research at The British Academy, stands at a podium as she welcomes everyone to the BAECRN Scottish Showcase
Andres Copp, National Museum of Scotland, and Ben Thomas, Historic Environment Scotland, give a workshop on Impact and working with IROs at the BAECRN Scottish Showcase
Sarah Ward, University of Glasgow, talks about 'The barriers and enablers to youth activism in Scotland' at the BAECRN Scottish Showcase
Sadie Ryan shares a QR code for a podcast from the project 'Migrants and the Media: Participation and Policy' at the BAECRN Scottish Showcase
Migration and Racialisation: The Psyche and Social Akshi Singh, University of Glasgow Hannah Proctor, University of Strathclyde at the BAECRN Scottish Showcase
A picture of the audience in HES The Engine Shed auditorium at the BAECRN Scottish Showcase
A slideshow presenting Navigating Digital Ethics for Rural Research Diana Valero, The James Hutton Institute from Alison Mayne, Independent Scholar; Christina Noble, The James Hutton Institute; and Paula Duffy, University of Aberdeen, at the BAECRN Scottish Showcase
A slideshow presenting Health and Place: Developing a Co-Created Research Design for Inclusive and Sustainable Blue/Green Spaces Natalie Dickinson, University of the West of Scotland Sacha Hasan, Herriot-Watt University Paula Duffy, University of Aberdeen Kiri Rodgers, University of the West of Scotland Kasia Smith, North Ayrshire Council at the BAECRN Scottish Showcase
Sacha Hasan presenting at the BAECRN Scottish Showcase
A slideshow presenting Ar Dáimhean is Dualchas --A’ co-chruthachadh le coimhearsnachdan / Our Relationships and Heritage - Co-creating with Communities Ben Thomas, Historic Environment Scotland Stephen Collins, University of the West of Scotland Catriona Morrison, Historic Environment Scotland Iain Craig, Historic Environment Scotland Jacob O'Sullivan, Museums Galleries Scotland Frank Rennie, University of the Highlands and Islands at the BAECRN Scottish Showcase
A slideshow presentation on The ecosystem of support organisations during the cost-of-living crisis by Diarmuid McDonnell, University of the West of Scotland Xihui Chen, Heriot Watt University Joao Rafael Cunha, University of St Andrews at the BAECRN Scottish Showcase
A slideshow presentation at the Xihui Chen, Heriot Watt University, talks about 'The ecosystem of support organisations during the cost-of-living crisis'
A slideshow presentation on 'Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children in Scotland: A Scoping Exercise to Understand how Separated Children Access Education and Participate in Leisure' by Kieran Taylor, Queen Margaret University Diana Camps, University of Glasgow. Daria Morozova, Glasgow Caledonian University at the BAECRN Scottish Showcase
A slideshow presentation on 'Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children in Scotland: A Scoping Exercise to Understand how Separated Children Access Education and Participate in Leisure' by Kieran Taylor, Queen Margaret University Diana Camps, University of Glasgow. Daria Morozova, Glasgow Caledonian University at the BAECRN Scottish Showcase
A picture of the audience in HES The Engine Shed auditorium at the BAECRN Scottish Showcase
A slideshow presentation on 'Scottish Histories of Resistance: Thematic Research Bank for Extra-Mural Education Programme' by Cailean Gallagher, University of St Andrews/University of Edinburgh Kevin Gallagher, Independent Researcher at the BAECRN Scottish Showcase
A slideshow presentation on 'Big projects, little community benefit? How low carbon pilot projects help to tackle fuel and transport poverty in island communities' by Christian Calvillo Munoz, Centre for Energy Policy, University of Strathclyde Liliana Maria de Almeida Fonseca, European Policies Research Centre, University of Strathclyde Tanja Mueller, Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Strathclyde at the BAECRN Scottish Showcase
A slideshow presentation on 'Co-designing future implementation research priorities and assistive technology innovations targeted at supporting older caregivers of people with multiple long-term conditions' by Stella Arakelyan, University of Edinburgh Eleanor Curnow, Queen Margaret University Jenny Robertson, University of Edinburgh at the BAECRN Scottish Showcase
A slideshow presentation on Decoding Democracy: Analysing Public Participation in Constitutional Reform with Deep Learning' by Tarik Olcay, University of Dundee Rosa Filgueira, University of St Andrews at the BAECRN Scottish Showcase
A picture of a workshop on grant-writing with Patricia Krus of The Carnegie Trust at the BAECRN Scottish Showcase
A picture of a workshop on grant-writing with Patricia Krus of The Carnegie Trust at the BAECRN Scottish Showcase
A group of staff (Rhoda Stefanatos, Bryony Wakefield, Alex Lewis, Chris Pierce, Melanie Simms, Robyne Calvert, Susan Alexander, and Linsey Dickson) in front of a welcome slide at the BAECRN Scottish Showase
Stirling Castle entrance
The grounds of Stirling Castle.

The Scotland Showcase event also included two workshops that were designed to help researchers learn how they can better engage with non-HEI partners – which utilised the first hand expertise held within those partner organisations: Getting Impact from Research Through Working in Partnership with Independent Research Organisations with Andrea Cop of National Museums Scotland and Ben Thomas of Historic Environment Scotland; and How to Succeed at Grant-writing with Patricia Krus of The Carnegie Trust. Due to the high level of success, and depth of learning they offered, these workshops enabled we are now planning follow-on sessions focused on impact, knowledge exchange, and developing grant reviewers’ skills.

Celebrating the BAECRN Scotland Hub’s successes

The Showcase was also a time to celebrate the wider successes of the network, as it comes to the end of its pilot phase.

In its first year, the BAECRN Scotland Hub accomplished rapid growth, achieving c.50% uptake across member institutions and attracting over 700 Network members. The Scotland Hub, which was the third pilot to launch after the South West and Midlands regional Hubs, already represents 27% of total UK Network membership.

There were also many Scotland Hub events over the last year, including the launch of a bi-monthly online What’s The Tea? initiative for sharing information with ECRs, community building, and supporting researchers to plan new activities. One of these was the Summer ‘Write-Along’, an online writing retreat held every weekday in July. Run online by an ECR-led team with support of the BA and myself, we welcomed a total of 148 attendees across the month. I want to thank the wonderful team who led the event, and who have formed the start of a great community of writing practice: Abigail McBain (Edinburgh) – who designed the structure of the event, Nicole Smith (Glasgow), Diana Valero (James Hutton Institute), Layla Adamson (Strathclyde), Andrea Ford (Edinburgh), Mila Dasklova (Glasgow), Pushpi Bagchi (Edinburgh), Ann Gillian Chu (Leeds), Laura Lebec (UWS), Julia Cussans (UHI), Christina Noble (James Hutton Institute), Niina Turtola (Edinburgh Napier).

Moreover, The British Academy also organised local events for the network, for example the Vitae: Careers Beyond Academia event hosted in Glasgow in June 2023.

Plus, the BAECRN Development Fund (supporting ECR-Led events across Scotland) also generated exceptional initiatives and events, including:

What will we achieve next?

Now that funding has been secured to roll out the network across the rest of the UK, we are excited to share our successes and practices to support new regions to engage. As noted above, Scotland has been a leader in recognising the value of independent scholarship and scholarship beyond HEIs, a model that The British Academy ECR Network plans to roll out, as it expands further.

Our team, led by the Universities of Glasgow and Stirling, is excited to work more closely with Scotland Hub Consortium Members to provide even more interdisciplinary development opportunities (including workshops, events, and another Seed Fund call that will have a particular focus on partnering with independent research organisations, charities, and industry). Consortium partners have additionally been encouraged to open up their institutional activities to Network members, allowing for equity of access to opportunities across Scotland, and further increasing the diverse and comprehensive programme of opportunities.

Our members at present are: 

A graphic showing the members of The British Academy Early Career Researcher Network Constortium, co-led by the Universities of Glasgow and Stirling: Abertay University Edinburgh Napier University Glasgow Caledonian University Glasgow School of Art Heriot-Watt University Historic Environment Scotland National Museums Scotland Queen Margaret University Robert Gordon University Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities Scottish Graduate School for Social Sciences The Carnegie Trust University of St Andrews University of Aberdeen University of Dundee University of Edinburgh University of Strathclyde University of the Highlands and Islands University of the West of Scotland

The Universities of Glasgow and Stirling are committed to supporting the development and professional prospects of their Research Staff as outlined in the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, and co-leading on the BAECRN is one of the many ways this is being implemented. Engagement with the BAECRN is a wonderful and proven way that all Scottish HEIs can fulfil their duty to (as the Concordat asks) “Provide researchers with opportunities, and time, to develop their research identity and broader leadership skills.” I am excited to announce the line-up of activities we have planned for year two. If you are an eligible researcher in the Arts, Humanities, or Social Sciences, please do join us here.

One thought on “Interdisciplinarity and Impact: Year 1 of The British Academy Early Career Researcher Network Scotland”

  1. Pingback: Industry and charity partners enhance the 2024 British Academy ECR Network Seed Fund Awards  – The Auditorium: a research culture and researcher development blog

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