By interacting with another research and innovation professional outside of their organisation, we expect participants could gain knowledge that could inform: 

• their understanding of the NI Research & Innovation ecosystem, including organisations and colleagues involved, priorities, challenges and overall landscape 

• their practice and how they operate in their role/organisation 

• their career perspectives 

The programme is designed to be flexible and enable participants to address a range of goals they may have. 

Examples of goals could be: 

• The participant wants to understand the experience of people ‘using’ some of the services or processes they create to potentially improve them (e.g. staff designing grants in a funding agency interacting with staff involved in administering their grants within research organisations) 

• The participant wants to find out how someone with a similar role in a different organisation operates to bring back ideas and know-how to their organisation (e.g. how they approach similar problems, learn useful tools/ methodologies/ contacts/ information) 

• The participant wants to learn about specific roles and organisations to inform their own career progression 

The programme is not: 

• A mentoring or coaching programme 

• A shadowing programme 

• A speed-networking opportunity (participants should have a goal beyond simply meeting someone new) 

• A secondment or formal collaboration opportunity (participants won’t be working or undertaking a project in/with another organisation) 

Due to its flexible nature though, discussion and activities may include mentoring-type conversations, elements of shadowing, or may lead to collaborations if parties are further interested. This won’t however be the main feature or the scheme. 

The programme will offer a framework for research professionals to engage across organisations to address goals as listed above. Based on the goals and needs expressed by prospective participants, the programme’s coordinators will identify appropriate hosts for them (normally within the network), and make initial contacts. Once suitable hosts have accepted to be involved, the coordinators will make introductions, provide further information to get the engagement started and answer any questions. The host and participant will have an initial meeting to discuss the participant’s goals, what the host could offer, and agree some follow-up activities (see examples in ‘What kind of activities may the participant and host engage with as part of the programme’). The activities will normally take place in the next few months; the type and number of activities will be defined by those involved and would normally range between two separate 1h meetings and up to the equivalent of a day (~8h) and involve interactions with one or several members of the host organisation. After engagement has taken place, the programme’s coordinators will collate some feedback and learnings from participants and hosts to identify any benefits, challenges and potential for future wider iterations; this will include a short form to complete and probably a short meeting. 

The programme is open to Research and innovation professionals only (e.g. individuals involved with principally administrative roles linked to enabling, broking, or supporting research and innovation). 

Participants must be working in Northern Ireland. 

Participants must be registered as members of the NIRPN. 

Note: hosts would normally meet similar criteria, however, the coordinating team may decide to approach individuals outside of the network when appropriate, and several individuals within the host’s organisation may get involved and not all be network members. 

If unsure of your eligibility, please contact Holly Clawson (h.clawson@qub.ac.uk). 

The programme is designed to be flexible in terms of activities and doesn’t impose or preclude interactions that may be beneficial to address the varied goals of the participants. It only requires a first meeting between the participant and the principal contact at the host organisation to agree on what activities would be suitable. 

Types of activities will depend on: 

• The goals of the participant

• What the host organisation is able to offer (notably to fit within their confidentiality and health and safety procedures) 

• The capacity and specific circumstances of the participant and members of the host organisation involved (both in terms of time and location, commute requirements etc.) 

Examples of potential activities may include: 

• Discussions/meetings in-person or online with one or several people in the host organisation 

• Attendance of a team meeting 

• Tour of facilities 

• Attendance of an event organised by or involving the host 

• Demonstration of a tool/methodology 

• Observation of the completion of a specific piece of work 

• Provision of context and sharing of documents, policies etc. 

The programme requires that the participant and host interact at least twice and for a minimum of 2h in total (including the initial meeting), but it is anticipated that most pairs will engage further than this minimum. The maximum length of total interaction is set by the programme as one working day (~8h), split across as many occasions as identified by the pair. A full day is not a target all groups are expected to achieve. These interactions would normally take place within a 2-3 months period defined by the programme. 

Further interactions beyond this outside of the programme are possible if both parties are in agreement, but the programme itself is developed to represent a short commitment. 

Participants are required to: 

• Engage with the programme as defined above, making time for the agreed activities (corresponding to minimum 2h – maximum 8h of interactions in minimum 2 separate occasions), avoiding cancelling/rescheduling activities and communicating with their host contact when required or if their ability to engage is affected 

• Comply with their own organisation’s requirements regarding engaging with the programme (e.g. obtaining approval by their line manager as appropriate) 

• Be open to what their host is proposing and understand that hosts may not be able to accommodate all requests due to their own capacity and internal policies 

• Commit to respect the confidentiality of what they get exposed to during the activities, and to check with their contact in the host organisation before sharing any information with other parties (e.g. their colleagues) 

• Provide feedback on their experience at the end of the programme (expected to be a short form and potentially a short meeting or focus group of maximum 1h) 

The programme is meant to function without incurring any costs, notably by enabling online interactions. In some instances, participants may wish to travel to their host organisation, which could require travel costs. Such costs would be the responsibility of the participant and their own institution; the NIRPN is unfortunately not able to support any funding requests at this time. 

The host’s primary contact commits to: 

• Organise the initial meeting with the participant and discuss options for activities, completing the short form for hosts provided by the programme coordinators 

• Ensure the overall programme of activities agreed match the requirements of the programme (minimum 2h – maximum 8h of interactions in minimum 2 separate occasions) 

NOTE: the total time commitment mentioned here (2-8h) do not have to be carried out by only one individual; several people in the host organisation may meet separately with the participant to fulfil this requirement 

• If involving other individuals of their organisation, making the relevant introductions and ensuring that they are aware of the requirements for host members (above) and comply with them 

• Communicate details relevant to agreed activities with the participant 

All involved members of the host organisation (including the primary contact) are required to: 

• Engage with the programme, making time for the agreed activities as defined by the primary host contact, avoiding cancelling/rescheduling activities and communicating with the participant when required or if their ability to engage is affected 

• Comply with their own organisation’s requirements regarding engaging with the programme (e.g. obtaining approval by their line manager as appropriate, complying with rules to host visitors when meeting on-site etc.) 

• Be open to propose a range of activities to address the needs of the participant as best as possible, within the remit of their own capacity and internal policies 

• Understand that participants may not be able to engage with everything that is proposed to them due to their own capacity and internal policies 

• Commit to respect the confidentiality of what is shared by the participant, and to check with them before sharing any information with other parties (e.g. their colleagues) 

• Provide feedback on their experience at the end of the programme (expected to be a short form and potentially a short meeting or focus group of maximum 1h) 

For the 2025 pilot, we expect that expressions of interest will be open from the 31 January to 28 February, and that selected participants for whom hosts could be secured will be contacted mid-end of March. The programme would then run approximately to mid-end of June, with feedback collated then. 

The pilot’s selection process will involve: 

1) Selecting applicants who meet the eligibility criteria defined above 

2) Selecting those who have provided a clear goal on their application form 

3) Using a random number allocation to rank applications for consideration 

When coordinators are unable to identify and secure a suitable host from a different organisation, the next ranked application will be considered. 

For the pilot and depending on the number of applications received, the coordinators may wish to choose participants from diverse organisations and with a range of goals, to ensure a diversity of learnings before further roll-out. 

The programme aims to create and broker interactions across organisations, notably by identifying organisations participants may not have considered, roles they may not know about, or contact people they may not feel comfortable approaching. 

It is however completely possible for members of the network to directly approach other members of the network to propose similar types of interactions as would take place within the programme. If doing so, the programme coordinators would be grateful if you could contact them and let them know about it, as promoting interactions across the NI R&E ecosystem is a goal of the network and they are eager to capture evidence of it to evaluate its impact.