Fostering a Culture of Collaboration for Change: TU Dublin’s Engaged Research Network

Authors:  Dr Catherine Bates, Dr Mary Deasy

Organisation:  Technological University Dublin

Engagement drives a strong research culture, fostering collaboration, impact, and sustainability. It enables integration by connecting early-career and senior researchers; enhances research outcomes; and creates more opportunities for funding. This creates a more inclusive, diverse, and dynamic research ecosystem. Engaged research involves co-created research with stakeholders, e.g. communities, industries, and policymakers, to provide tangible outcomes and impact. 

TU Dublin has established an Engaged Research Network (ERN) to enable knowledge co-creation. The aim is to build its capacity for Engaged Research, with a focus on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. It focuses on connecting and supporting staff and PhD students in that regard and developing and sharing resources and experience. Full network meetings are scheduled twice a year, where the members identify priority initiatives to run. Working groups are established and supported to deliver outcomes from these initiatives during the year. 

There are currently >130 ERN members, with 3 main working groups, which have delivered positive outcomes: 
o        Mentoring programme development (pilot programme is underway)
o        Hackathon/themed networking events development (events on 2 themes have been supported, including a Greenhouse for Engaged Research in Education (GERE), and a collaboration with TU Dublin Radiation and Environmental Science Centre on research roundtables with researchers and community partners, on air, soil and water health) 
o        Network podcast series development (Pilot podcast is now available on Spotify)

This bottom-up approach to peer learning is effectively building supports for researchers to enhance their confidence and skills in engaged research, through the ERN.