Collaboration: making it work across research environments

Collaboration is often described as a core skill for postdoctoral researchers, and it is easy to understand why. Research increasingly depends on working with others, across teams, disciplines, institutions, and sectors. 

However, collaboration is not simply something individuals do. It is shaped by the environments in which research takes place, how teams are structured, and how people interact. In this sense, collaboration sits at the intersection of individual capability, leadership practice, and institutional culture. 

Collaboration often involves working with people who think, communicate, or prioritise differently. These differences, whether disciplinary, organisational, or cultural, can make collaboration more complex. 

At the same time, this breath of differences is what makes collaboration valuable. Being able to recognise assumptions, adapt communication, and build shared understanding is increasingly important, and closely linked to areas such as leadership, influence, and intercultural competence. 

If you’d like to explore this further from a researcher perspective, our collaboration page introduces key ideas and prompts reflection on how you work with others.

While often framed as an individual skill, collaboration is shaped by the wider research environment. Managers of researchers play a key role in setting expectations, supporting clarity, and creating spaces where people feel able to contribute. Institutions, in turn, influence collaboration through the structures, opportunities, and support they provide. 

For those supporting researchers, the PI Network offers resources focused on developing strong, collaborative research environments.

Collaboration develops through doing, through working with others, reflecting, and adapting over time. 

To support this, we’ve developed “A lab coat, a quill, a compass”, a short, practical activity designed to help teams surface assumptions and begin building a shared language. It can be used in workshops, meetings, or development sessions, and is particularly useful when working across different perspectives. 

Download the game and try it with your researchers or your team.

Using the game is a playful starting point to reflect on how collaboration happens in your context and how it might be strengthened.