Registration for 23 Things International 2024 is now open.

23 Things International is a unique global collaboration for researchers at leading institutions around the world. It introduces you to tools and techniques to enhance your strategic thinking, productivity, and professional profile. For researchers of all disciplines and career stages, it is also a wonderful opportunity to meet and collaborate with others in related disciplines around the world.

University of Bath is a new partner for 2024, along with institutions in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Indonesia, Singapore, the UK and across Western Africa.

About 23T

23Things is a combination of self-guided learning to suit any timetable, collaborative discussions in small groups, and a week-by-week structure to help you keep on track. The course starts on 4 March 2024 and runs for 14 weeks.

Each week we will release two related 'Things', each of which is a short blog post about a useful piece of software, a website, or research technique, with suggestions for further exploration and reading. The blogs are written by academics and experts from our partner institutions, sharing real experience and know-how. Optional extension activities and reading help you to maximise the benefit of topics most relevant to you. You can concentrate on the topics most relevant to your interests, whether that's their proximity to your research topic or the goals they can help you reach.

The high-level goals we address include using your research to address social justice, improving your productivity, influence and professional standing, understanding the global research landscape, funding your research, and considering the wellbeing of yourself and others.

Participants are grouped into 'pods' with researchers at other institutions but with overlapping research interests. For 2024 we link people via the 17 UN Sustainable development goals, generating unexpected links through the potential impact of your research. The programme is a chance to build international networks and broaden your perspective. There will be some blog activities to do together with your pod, and support available for getting started on our dedicated Discord server. Most pods agree to meet 2-3 times a month, with informal communications as desired.

During the programme we have optional live events for meeting fellow participants and blog contributors - including a unique 48-hour writing retreat.

There is no formal assessment at the end of the programme, but if you read all the blogs and attempt at least half the tasks you can claim our unique certificate and digital badge.

Our partners

Our partners are leading universities and networks:

  • The Africa Research Excellence Fund (UK & pan-Africa)
  • Auckland University of Technology (NZ)
  • University of Bath (UK)
  • Cambridge University (UK)
  • University College Dublin (IRL)
  • James Cook University (AUS & SING)
  • Kings College London (UK)
  • Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana (IDN)
  • Latrobe University (AUS)
  • University of Otago (NZ)
  • Royal Holloway University of London (UK)
  • University of Surrey (UK)
  • Swansea University (UK)
  • Sydney International School of Technology (AUS)
  • Techne Doctoral Training Partnership (UK)
  • The Whisper Collective (International)
  • Wollongong University (AUS)

We expect to have around 800 participants for 2024, from all areas of research.

Schedule

Registration is open from late January until late February. The first ‘Things’ are released in the first week of March, which will include instructions on how to get started and make contact with your Pod. The course runs for 14 weeks (including two break weeks).

The time commitment is very flexible. It’s designed to take about an hour a week (on average) to read the blogs and complete the extension tasks, but you can tailor your involvement to suit your own interests and availability. There is no obligation to complete all the tasks, and each pod will decide how and how often they would like to meet.

At the end of the programme you can claim a certificate and digital badge. We also invite you to take part in a questionnaire and focus group, which supports our further research into online learning and how researchers adopt and adapt technologies to their needs.

How to join

You can register through this form. Once the pods have been allocated, we’ll provide you with everything you need to get started. Each pod has a ‘chair’, to facilitate initial introductions; if you’d like to volunteer to be a chair and put your people skills to good use, please indicate this when registering. We will also have an Engagement Mentor, a friendly point of contact to support your group to meet and keep conversations flowing.

Subscribe to the website to make sure you receive a notification when each blog post goes live.

More information

Before things kick off we also have live Q&A sessions, so you can find out a bit more (23 February, 3:00pm-4.00pm), or visit our FAQ webpage.

Please email Mike Rose, Research Strategy Business Partner in Research and Innovation Services (RIS), for any further queries: mr2441@bath.ac.uk.