Building the right network is essential at every stage of an academic career, but it can be particularly decisive for early career researchers. Whether you are looking for partners for seed funding calls, preparing a postdoctoral mobility application, exploring intersectoral collaboration, or simply trying to position your research internationally, finding the right connections is often the first step.
Digital tools developed within the Circle U. alliance are designed to make this process easier by helping researchers identify expertise, discover potential collaborators, and build meaningful connections across nine European universities. While particularly valuable for PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers, these tools also support more senior academics looking to expand their collaborations, develop new projects, or explore interdisciplinary opportunities.
We hope that these tools will shorten the path to partners, facilitate access to knowledge, and open up new opportunities for young researchers.
Slavko Gajin, WP6 Coordinator in Circle U., in charge of creating a fully functional inter-university digital campus
The Academic Directory (which connects to ORCID) offers a secure and structured way to find researchers by discipline, research interests, institution, or expertise. For early career researchers, this can help identify potential partners for funding applications or mobility opportunities. For more established academics, it provides a way to step outside existing networks, identify emerging talent, and develop new international or interdisciplinary collaborations.
The Research Outputs Repository complements this by providing access to a large collection of publications from across the alliance. This makes it easier to explore who is working on related topics, identify trends across disciplines, and discover potential collaborators based on their research track record. For ECRs, this can help identify potential postdoc hosts or project partners. For senior researchers, it can support consortium building, mentoring connections, or the development of new research directions.
Together, these tools support a more connected European research community by making expertise more visible and collaboration more accessible. They can help researchers at all career stages strengthen their international profile, develop new ideas, and access opportunities that might otherwise remain out of reach.
Whether you are at the beginning of your career and looking to build your first international collaborations, or a more experienced researcher aiming to broaden your academic network, these platforms offer practical ways to discover new connections and turn them into future opportunities.
Take the next step: explore the Academic Directory, browse the Research Outputs Repository, and consider how these tools could support your next collaboration, funding application, or career move. Your next research partner might already be part of the Circle U. community.
