handbook-executive-leadership-of-research-development-pdf-v10

do everything they can to facilitate the interactions and networking that followsand make a point of removing barriers. The notion of ‘marrying up’ with leadingresearch-intensive universities ultimately relies heavily on personal connectionsand can be highly rewarding all round. While forced marriages may open up newhorizons they are potentially problematic and often require sensitive management:many of the most successful and life-long research partnerships come from personalcontact between researchers. Academics collaborate best when they like thepeople involved in partnerships and their approach to research. They will be moreobviously committed when there are strong synergies and clear rewards including theopportunity to pursue areas of mutual personal interest.Successful executive leaders focus on looking for long-term relationships. They takeslow steps to build up the relationships with a small number of institutions with similaraspirations. These are not necessarily the most prestigious universities: the matchneeds to be based on pragmatic goals. It is important that the relationships are notjust faculty-to-faculty but university wide, that is, they are multi-stranded relationships,which are therefore more likely to endure. This is in contrast to discrete projectsinvolving specific individuals that disappear when key researchers take up positionselsewhere.58 A handbook for executive leadership of research development