NCAD Research Support Panel: Peer-to-Peer Support for Research Career Development

Author: Ally D’Astolfo

Organisation:  National College of Art and Design (NCAD)

The Research Support panel is a voluntary peer-to-peer platform for researchers at NCAD to discuss their research practice in a supportive, collegial environment. Launched in December 2023, this initiative focuses on light-touch one-off mentoring for academic staff. Researchers submit an open-ended form which asks them to outline their research interests, research activity, and a series of questions or challenges they are seeking support for. Submissions are reviewed by the Research Office and used to pair researchers with a peer 'mentor,' selected from a panel of staff who have volunteered for this role. A representative from the Research Office then hosts a 2-on-1 career development conversation which includes the 'mentee' researcher, the 'mentor' Panel member and a Research Officer.

The initiative aims to encourage cross-college research collaborations, provide a forum to expose researchers to the diversity of their peers’ research career paths; and increase connections between researchers and the Research Office. 23 members of staff participated as 'mentees' and 10 as 'mentors' over two submission cycles in the 2023/24 academic year. With one cycle underway in the 2024/25 academic year, thus far 14 mentees have participated, with 43% of these being repeat participants. Preliminary evaluation highlights that there is an appetite for points of informal connection between researchers who may not work together otherwise. Within small, specialist institutions centralised Research Offices are well placed to see potential linkages between researchers across departments and disciplines, and to leverage a birds-eye view to actively facilitate points of connection and opportunities for peer learning.