Building research capacity and strengthening partnerships of Syrian researchers in exile: British Academy International Writing Workshops 2023

Our stated aims with this Alumni Funding Writing Workshop programme were to support alumni participants to further consolidate, strengthen, and grow their partnerships, develop skills in targeted ways that support career development, and produce further high quality research-based texts (chiefly articles and grant applications); to extend the benefit to a wider network of Syrian early career researchers (ECRs) by opening the workshop activities to new participants; and to build alumni participants’ capacity in mentoring and workshop facilitation through training.

In so doing, we not only sought to support individuals, but also leverage collective expertise to build research capacity and culture at a cohort level, enhancing long-term sustainability.

Our approach adhered to that set out in the proposal: a programme of preparatory sessions (featuring input from the facilitators and invited experts, and structured according to an evidence-based framework for writing expertise, informed by Tardy's (2009) model and developed/refined across earlier workshops) were delivered online to writing groups and their mentors. These were followed by two in-person workshops in Gaziantep, Turkey. The first was co-facilitated by the UK-based PI and Co-I and the alumni Co-Is, and the second was lead-facilitated by the alumni Co-Is. Alongside the workshop programme, alumni facilitators received training in the writing workshop model.

Both the online and in-person events were well-attended, and were productive. Groups worked closely with their mentors towards completion of manuscripts for publication, receiving input and support from academic writing experts. A reflective, collaborative-goal-setting approach ensured that all groups worked effectively together towards agreed-upon goals, with effective divisions of labour and responsibility.

While it is too early to determine publication success for all groups, all have now completed and submitted manuscripts, and feedback from participants and mentors assures us that our aims were well met, and that the workshops constituted a vital opportunity to support Syrian ECRs to develop their skills, networks, and self-efficacy. All of the 16 participants who completed the post-workshop evaluative survey rated the workshop as 5/5 'the writing workshop was useful', and 5/5 for 'the facilitators were supportive' (qualitative feedback analysed and discussed below).