How to Use Groups on LinkedIn to Grow Your Scientific Network

LinkedIn is a social network for professionals. It is an excellent tool to help you establish your expertise. It allows you to build your network professionally and of course, to find a job or job candidates.

There is basically a group for every step of a professional career. If you are in the R&D field, there are many LinkedIn groups that you could benefit from being into.

Here are some suggestions of groups you can be part of to assist you at every step of the way.

Use LinkedIn to be part of a community in your field of research and to have regular updates

The first step in your journey as a researcher is to be part of the community and the discussions in your field, to be able to share on topics that you have insight on.

LinkedIn is full of resources in most R&D fields. For example, if you are working in biotechnology you can join Life Sciences, Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Professionals

This is the largest LinkedIn group in biotech, pharma, healthcare, medical, and life sciences. They welcome individual from various area of R&D: diagnostics, medical devices, clinical trials, and more fundamental research. People from different backgrounds joined this group: academics, writers, job hunters, students, recruiters, and more.

And if your interest is towards healthcare, you can also join Healthcare & Life Sciences. Especially when you want to expand your network and share ideas.

This group welcomes people that are active in biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical technology, and care. It covers a wide array of topics in R&D, clinical, care, sales, marketing, communications, management, and regulatory areas.

There are groups for any field of research, not only for life sciences. Here is an example. Indeed, if you are in the field of software development and mobile applications you can also take a look at Technology & Science.

It is a large group of people in the technology and software development area that exchange on news, jobs or information on science and tech.

As you could see, you can be part of any community you want, and be updated on the last news or jobs in your fields thanks to LinkedIn.

Use LinkedIn to find strategic partnerships

Let’s say that having discussed with your fellow researchers in your field, you came across an interesting idea. You are now trying to launch an innovative project.

The following step of your journey as a researcher is to look for information on the field of research that you are interested in launching a project in.

If you need project partners, LinkedIn can be a gold mine if you know where to look.

Indeed, if we focus on EU projects, when looking for partners for your lab to participate in a project with, there are a number of interesting groups.

One of them is the EU Projects Partner Search.

It is a group of more than 33 000 members specialized in EU partnerships. You can make your announcements and requests of collaboration directly on this group.

Maybe you already know about which European program you will apply to. Then you can directly find the related LinkedIn groups and post your expressions of interest in the related groups. For examples, there is a group related to the Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) program.

Apart from European projects, there are general groups where you can connect with potential partners. For instance, if you are looking for partners amongst innovation professionals, take a look at ISPIM: the International Society for Professional Innovation Management.

It is an association of people from research, industry, consulting and the public sector, all sharing a passion for innovation management.

Find a project manager to run your European project

Finding partners is a first step towards the constitution of a consortium. But what is also important is to manage well your projects. You can ask for support to a professional in project management.

Anyhow, if you are looking for a project manager to be part of your project or only a piece of advice and insights, you can go look at the European Community Project Managers Association

This group is for anyone involved directly or indirectly into the European Union framework programs for research and innovation.

Join the network for communicating on your R&D

One step of your journey that you shouldn’t neglect is to communicate on your project and the results you obtained. Then again, LinkedIn groups offer you the perfect place to showcase your R&D news.

Take a look at Science Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation of Results to be active in the dissemination of your results.

This group is aimed at people who have an interest in the communication of science and technology and the exploitation of the results of research and innovation projects.

Or else, you can join the Science Communication & Publishing network if you have an interest in improving scientific communication, publishing, and outreach.

Care for your network to promote your company and expertise

If you have an innovative company, you know how much promoting what you do is important.

LinkedIn can also be valuable when looking for businesses to partner with, or marketing and communication tips for your R&D company.

As we said in our article about marketing ideas to promote scientific expertise, there are plenty of ways to promote your expertise and your lab. And one of them is being active on social media.

So, not only can LinkedIn enable you to complete every important step of your researcher journey but it also provides that your lab is visible to a large audience.

Of course, LinkedIn is not the only channel to monitor interesting content and show your belonging to a community. Networks like Scientist can also be of help when looking for partners and sharing your lab’s news.

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