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EDUCATION AND DEBATE: Sally C Davies Universities have a vital role BMJ 2005; 331: 105 [Full text]

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Speed-networking

Matthew J Ridd, Alison R G Shaw   (14 July 2005)

Speed-networking 14 July 2005
Matthew J Ridd, MRC Clinical Research Training Fellow Academic Unit of Primary Health Care, University of Bristol, BS6 6JL, Alison R G Shaw Send response to journal: Re: Speed-networking	One way for universities to revitalise academic medicine might be to look outward. Research takes money, and competition for funding is fierce. The chances of success are improved by demonstrating an expertise in both the subject area and the appropriate methodology. Collaboration can be one way to achieve this, but how do you know who to collaborate with? It’s not just about the interests or the skills of course. If successful, you have got to actually work with these people. A recent approach we have used to improve our collaborative outlook was a modified form of “speed dating”. Primary Health Care and the School for Policy Studies are research active departments within the University of Bristol, but within different faculties. We were aware of some overlap in subject areas and methodological expertise, yet to date we have had little experience of working together. We devised “speed networking” as an efficient means for members from each unit to meet and identify areas for possible future collaboration. We introduced the groups to each other through brief oral presentations that gave an overview at a departmental level. Members from Primary Health Care were then stationed at points around the room and, at three minute intervals, colleagues from Policy Studies invited to rotate between each station. After 24 minutes, all 16 participants had had the opportunity to meet and rapidly outline their skills and interests. Thereafter followed coffee to allow interested “pairs” to follow-up their introductions in more detail. We acknowledge that other means of networking exist, but as far as we are aware this is the first application of a populist approach in a research setting. Feedback from participants was positive and we suggest that other departments, looking for research relationships, may wish to adopt our idea as an ice-breaker to future collaborations. Competing interests: None declared