The ‘roots/routes to fruit’ model: developing a ‘fruitful’ collaborative network across universities

Beauchamp, G ORCID: 0000-0001-7268-5027, Chapman, S ORCID: 0000-0001-6181-4268, Atherton, S ORCID: 0000-0003-4651-9695, Ayres, J ORCID: 0009-0007-3363-2628, Young, N ORCID: 0000-0002-9246-6822, Crick, T ORCID: 0000-0001-5196-9389, Davies, O, Horder, S ORCID: 0009-0007-5666-3080, Hughes, CJ, Jones, M ORCID: 0000-0002-2903-9756, Karlinger, P ORCID: 0000-0002-3836-725X, Layland, S, Lewis, A, Lewis, C ORCID: 0009-0009-6658-1534, Lewis, J ORCID: 0000-0002-7725-9630 and Owen, K ORCID: 0000-0002-8198-1175 (2025) The ‘roots/routes to fruit’ model: developing a ‘fruitful’ collaborative network across universities. Cogent Education, 12 (1). ISSN 2331-186X

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Abstract

This study explores the development and dynamics of the Wales Collaborative for Learning Design (WCLD), a multidisciplinary network across eight Welsh universities. Funded by Welsh Government, the WCLD aimed to foster collaboration in digital learning design while supporting individual and collective academic growth. The study aimed to investigate what factors impact on the development and sustainability of a personal and professional, multidisciplinary Higher Education collaborative network. Using a collective autoethnographic approach, the research explored the network’s evolution, highlighting the interplay of person attributes, facilitating conditions, and professional relationships. Findings revealed key factors including trust, open-mindedness, and consistent communication as essential to the network’s sustainability and success. Further findings illustrate how positive constraints, diverse career stages, and interdisciplinary opportunities underpin growth and productivity. ‘Outcomes’ included enhanced institutional impact, significant personal and professional conversations, and the cross-pollination of ideas within and beyond the network. When considered as a process, the findings underscore the value of cultivating intentional, yet adaptable, collaborative networks to support higher education innovation and personal academic development. This culminates in the ‘Roots/routes to Fruit’ model. This original contribution builds on existing theory surrounding significant, collaborative networks and provides a process for future interdisciplinary, multi-institutional, collaborative networks to build upon.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	3903 Education Systems; 39 Education; 4 Quality Education; 1301 Education Systems; 1302 Curriculum and Pedagogy; 1303 Specialist Studies in Education; 3903 Education systems; 3904 Specialist studies in education
Subjects:	L Education > L Education (General) L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education
Divisions:	Education
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Date of acceptance:	4 September 2025
Date of first compliant Open Access:	21 May 2026
Date Deposited:	21 May 2026 09:59
Last Modified:	21 May 2026 09:59
DOI or ID number:	10.1080/2331186x.2025.2559153
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/28597

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