Karen De Paw, Dries Landuyt and Kris Verheyen talk teamwork at ForNaLab.
Approximately one year ago, the Journal of Ecology invited plant ecologists to write mini-reviews on the theme of nature-based solutions. Given our background in forest ecology, this sparked the idea within our research group of coming up with a review that would summarise the potential of forest canopies as nature-based solutions to mitigate global-change effects on people and nature. What we came up with can be read here.
In this post we’d like to share more about how this mini-review was created and written as a team effort. The idea for the mini-review started with a question. And, perhaps more importantly, in sharing that question. “Would it be possible to contribute a mini-review to Journal of Ecology on a topic related to the plant ecology of nature-based solutions”? Kris Verheyen, head of the Forest & Nature Lab, received this question and decided to share it with the full research group. All researchers, from PhDs who were just starting out, to more senior postdocs and professors, were invited to think along and provide ideas. From the start it was clear that this writing effort would be done in team and everyone was welcome to contribute. Unsurprisingly, many colleagues – junior and senior – were interested in joining this group effort.
As a second step, a first outline was drafted by Kris and a brainstorm was organised to discuss the content together. New additions were proposed, the rough lines were jointly drafted and sections were appointed to smaller working groups of two to three colleagues. In this way, everyone could contribute to and focus on sections that matched their experience or interest the most, while keeping in mind the birds’ eye view of the entire mini-review. Later on, first drafts of all sections were brought together and all colleagues involved were invited to provide feedback on all sections. After this first round of review, the small working groups reconsidered all suggested changes, while Kris made sure to keep an eye on the overview and level of consistency. When the mini-review was finalised, submitted and reviewed, everyone was again invited to help answer reviewer’s questions and adjust the sections accordingly.
For many colleagues, the group effort for the mini-review provided a nice break from their main research work, whether it’s a chapter of a PhD, the writing of grant proposals or deep meta-analysis work. It’s something worked on collectively, which is a welcome contrast to the more usual research papers in which lead authors take care of most of the data collection, statistical analyses and writing. Additionally, the mini-review enabled colleagues to work together who would otherwise be working on similar topics but doing this separately for different projects. It strengthens the collaborations and exchange of ideas within a group, at least on an informal level. Often it is exactly this informal way of discussing findings and questions that can help find new perspectives and angles on research questions and spark new ideas. Benefits related to educational aspects should not be underestimated. For early career researchers, it can be a very rewarding experience to be able to go through a full writing, submitting, reviewing and publishing experience together with more seasoned colleagues. Certainly, given that the mini-review we wrote went through the whole process within a year, which is rare for standard research papers.
In sum, we want to highlight the opportunities such mini-reviews or other similar formats can provide when choosing true teamwork as a mode of operation. Joint discussions will strengthen the cohesion of a research group. Bringing together the different subdisciplines within a research group will spark new ideas, which can lead to entire new projects and research findings. During the entire process, both junior and senior researchers were invited to learn from each other on several levels. The opportunities were ample… Ready to give it a shot in your research group?
Follow the team at: Twitter/X: https://x.com/fornalab Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fornalab/ and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/fornalab/
