@inbook{782d4835a5c841a1b49d413d8e31e048,
title = "Invitation to an Online Coffee! Exploring How Informal Academic Communities Support Early Career Researchers' Professional Growth and Well-Being",
abstract = "Our chapter explores the benefits of informal academic communities by focusing on the Finland-based early career higher education researchers' network (ECRN). Established two years ago, the ECRN primarily operates through monthly online coffee meetings. Via dialogical reflections by the authors and a qualitative inquiry into the ECRN, we explore the ECRN's role in its members' professional growth and well-being. We provide a narrative vignette of an imagined online coffee meeting to illustrate the significant peer-learning conversations in the ECRN. Based on our dialogical approach, we conclude that the ECRN is beneficial for its members' professional growth and well-being as it provides peer support, information sharing, scholarly support and higher education research-related support. Hence, we call for academia to better recognise and support informal academic communities as they have the potential to nourish a more collaborative working culture in academia.",
keywords = "early career researchers, Finland, informal academic community, network, online meetings, professional growth, well-being",
author = "Vesna Holubek and Henna Juusola",
year = "2024",
doi = "10.1108/978-1-83797-500-620241006",
language = "English",
isbn = "978-1-83797-503-7",
series = "Surviving and Thriving in Academia",
publisher = "Emerald",
pages = "73--87",
editor = "Melina Aarnikoivu and Le, {Ai Tam}",
booktitle = "Building Communities in Academia",
}