Welcome to 23 Things International!
This Thing is all about getting started. What’s happening, what you need to do first, and what you can get out of participating.
What have I signed up to?
23 Things International has been running since 2019, and gets bigger every year. It introduces researchers from all disciplines to tools and techniques that can help them to conduct research more effectively, gain a fresh understanding of the research environment, raise their professional profile, and connect with other researchers. The programme also helps researchers develop a better understanding of the broader research landscape across a range of disciplinary and global contexts: best practices, positive changes to research culture, as well as challenges facing the research community. The programme’s online, global format is also unique in that it allows researchers to connect with others not only across different disciplines, but across a range of global academic contexts and cultures. You’ll connect with people that you wouldn’t otherwise meet, and hopefully sharing insights that you wouldn’t otherwise hear. This is what sets 23 Things International apart from other researcher development programmes that exist within institutions. We know that many researchers live or work far away from where their institution is physically located, so 23 Things is also a great option if you find it tricky to take part in development activities in person.
By the end of the programme, we hope that you’ll have considered some fresh perspectives on what it means to be part of a research community, having connected with other researchers and reflected on your own interests, experience and ways of working too. We also hope you’ll have some new ideas and feel more confident in using different tools and approaches, communicating your research in different formats, and more.
The blogs and timetable
The programme runs for 14 weeks (including 2 break weeks), with 2 ‘Things’ being released each week. Each Thing is written by academic or professional experts, and introduces a specific topic, with links, voices of experience, tasks or reflections, and further reading. Some blogs are collaborative, and all of them are designed to invite further discussion or reflection, mostly through specific tasks or questions at the end of each Thing. Throughout, we are conscious of the differences between academic cultures around the world and hope this variety of voices will encourage you to reflect on your own context and those of others in the pods. You might find that some blogs really resonate with your own experiences, while others might present a new or different perspective, or even a topic you’ve not thought about before.
The programme is semi-structured, meaning that you can engage with the Things at your own pace (once they’ve been released) though we do encourage you to try and keep on top of the blogs weekly, so that you can keep up the momentum and get the most out of the programme.
Each blog has a ‘tag’ relating it to some of the overarching goals of the programme, to help you concentrate your efforts and relate different topics together. Our tags are:
I want to improve social justice.
I want to boost productivity and improve my wellbeing.
I want to improve my influence and professional standing.
I want to attract more research funding.
I want to understand how the research landscape is changing.
Pods and networking
“Networking” is a term that often carries negative or cynical connotations, or for some, even feelings of dread. But, when done right and with the right structures in place, networking and connecting with others can open up new perspectives, help us reflect more on ourselves, and even lead to future collaborations. It is this potential for connection and relationship building that elevates 23 Things beyond a standard website or a blog series. We’ll explore more ideas about academic networking in Thing 2, in the hope of getting our new 23 Things connections off to a great start!
When you registered, we asked you if you wanted to join a pod. If you said yes, you will have been allocated to a pod based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) you expressed an interest in. The idea is that pods meet a few times during the course for live discussions – each pod arranges its own meetings – as well as communicating through the chat channels on the Discord server.
In your pod, you will find researchers from different countries and disciplines, all with their own interesting experience in research, industry, and wider life. It’s a wonderful chance to meet and share. In the past, some pod members have collaborated on research projects, met in real life, and even started a business together! Each pod is a different size and with participants from multiple timezones, so don’t worry if you can’t find a time that you can all meet. You may want to split into smaller groups to get together, and could then use the Discord channel to share highlights from your discussions.
Make sure to check your emails for information from Teresa about your Pod allocation and the link to Discord.
If you said no to joining a pod, you can still join the 23 Things Discord server and join in the discussion of the Things there, as well as taking part in live events. The link to the Discord server is in your email from Teresa, even if you said no to joining a pod. There’s a channel to discuss the Things, another for suggestions for the programme, as well as a ‘breakroom’ for social or off topic discussion. So there are different networking options for everyone, depending on your preference.
Completing the course
To acknowledge your taking part in 23 Things , you will be able to claim a certificate and a unique digital badge. Completion is based on a self-declaration that you have read all the Things and completed at least half of the tasks. You are welcome to complete the course after the official run-time, too: the website will remain up for at least 6 months after the end of the programme. We do not check up on or evaluate the tasks – it’s entirely up to you which topics are most useful and interesting – but we can say that the more you invest in the programme, the more value you will extract from it! We’ll circulate information about this towards the end of the programme.
What happens next?
We release two Things each week, so keep an eye on your inbox for notification of each release, and remember to share your thoughts and reflections via Discord. Make sure to check your spam/junk in case the notifications end up there! If you’re in a Pod you may want to arrange a meeting to get to know each other (using whatever platform you choose). The two Things will pop up each week, some with pod-specific extension suggestions, some not. We recommend pods arranging to meet a few times over the course of the programme, using the video chat on Discord, but you are free to set up a WhatsApp group, stay in touch by email, or choose whatever platform works best for you.
Do bear in mind that not everyone in your pod will have the same level of engagement, and you don’t need everyone in the group to take an active part. Like any online programme, some people prefer a more individual route, or can only dip into the course on occasion. You will also need to juggle different time zones, as participants will be in Europe, Africa, Asia and Australasia, so you might like to arrange a variety of times and ways to meet.
And if you’re not in a Pod, we encourage everyone to connect and discuss using the main text channels of the Discord server, so please do get involved here.
Last but not least, we’ll share details of our live events as soon as these are confirmed. Keep an eye on your emails and the Discord server for further details.
Your task for Thing 1: Setting yourself up
So what’s next? Before we dive into Thing 2 and the main content of the programme, here are some next steps that will help you make the most of 23 Things:
Explore the website – you may find the FAQs section particularly useful.
Join the Discord server if you haven’t done so already, and take some time to explore this. Please use the link in your email from Teresa to access the server. Feel free to introduce yourself on the ‘Welcome’ channel and in your Pod, if you’ve joined one. If you’re not sure about something, post a question in the ‘Welcome’ channel. Chances are, somebody else will be wondering the same thing!
Take some time to reflect on what you hope to get out of the programme - and share this on the Discord server if you want to. This a very individual question – some participants will be experienced researchers planning their next large project or wanting to learn more about leadership; others will be early in their career and getting to grips with their first piece of independent work; or you might just be looking forward to connecting with some new people.
Think about how you can make 23 Things work for you. This might involve structuring your time to engage in the programme in a way that is realistic for you and your other commitments. Think about blocking out a couple of hours per week in your diary for the Things or trying to plan a pod meeting in advance. We’ll cover a lot of topics (23 of them!) over the next few months so you might also want to think about how to collate your individual reflections, whether that’s a document stored in the cloud, or an old-fashioned notebook or journal.
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