The Graduate Junction: platform for young researchers
07 Jul 2008
The Graduate Junction is a brand new website designed to help young researchers make contact with others with similar research interests, regardless of which department, institution or country they work in.
Designed by two graduate researchers at the University of Durham, The Graduate Junction has proved very popular with research students and academics alike. Within the first two weeks after our launch in early May 2008 over 2,000 researchers in the UK had registered and the news had spread across 40 countries.
Preventing isolation
Currently research students have two main sources of information, published literature, and academic conferences. Whilst published literature is essential, it can only ever reveal completed work. Relevant academic conferences provide a forum for students with similar research interest to interact but occur infrequently. It is very easy to become isolated, overly focused on the specifics of one's own work and lose a sense of what other related work is being done.
The Graduate Junction hopes to prevent that isolation and allow young researchers to start forming the networks which can stay with them throughout their careers. The Graduate Junction aims to provide an atmosphere similar to that at academic events and through the use of the internet aims to establish an on-line worldwide graduate research community.
Interdisciplinary relationships
The Graduate Junction links researchers based on 'research keywords', promoting interdisciplinary relationships. By registering a few basic details, users can search for fellow researchers by keyword, institution, department, supervisor or name. Alternatively, users can search The Graduate Junction's on-line research groups which allows them to find and communicate with a number of other researchers sharing their research interest.
The Graduate Junction is useful for all young researchers at any stage of the research process, and allows them to stay informed about current developments in their field. With the addition of conference and postgraduate job listings imminent, The Graduate Junction aims to be one of the most useful resources available for all graduate researchers.