The loss of academic conferences during the coronavirus pandemic has revealed how research collaboration has been ¡°hampered¡± by an over-reliance on in-person meetings, a university head has told the?Times Higher Education?World Academic Summit.

Shearer West, vice-chancellor of the University of Nottingham, said academia¡¯s embrace of virtual communication during the Covid-19 crisis had shown that it was ¡°possible to work even better than we did before when we were hampered by our habits of face-to-face conferences and meetings¡±.

¡°When our labs started reopening, people said they spent more time talking to their international collaborators than when they could fly across the sky to meet them,¡± said Professor West, who?added that the use of digital communication during lockdown had particularly benefited research collaboration between her university¡¯s three campuses in Nottingham, Malaysia and China.

Professor West told the virtual?THE?event that sector leaders should ¡°not take our eye off the ball to this possibility¡± of improving international research collaboration using digital tools.

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Academia¡¯s response to the coronavirus had been a ¡°stellar example of interdisciplinary and international research¡± showing how a ¡°scientific problem can be understood and solved by scientists in different parts of the world sharing their knowledge¡±, she said.

Other university leaders also praised how researchers had swiftly adopted virtual conferencing and communications, but noted that this form of digital interaction was much harder to arrange.

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Luc Sels, rector of KU Leuven, in Belgium, said it was ¡°paradoxical¡± that the ¡°model of virtual mobility needs deeper collaboration, more coordination and organisation than simple student [and staff] mobility¡±, which typically saw PhD candidates and junior researchers spend several months in the laboratories of different universities.

However, some senior scientists at the?THE?event questioned Professor West¡¯s implication that virtual conferencing can replicate some of the more important elements of more traditional in-person academic gatherings.

Yoav Yair, a professor in the Open University of Israel¡¯s department of natural sciences, wondered whether ¡°for research collaborations¡­we can dispense with physical meeting and travel?¡±

¡°Until now, many strong collaborations between scientists have been derived from individuals spending significant periods in each other¡¯s labs,¡± he said.

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Tim Softley, pro vice-chancellor (research and knowledge transfer) at the University of Birmingham, asked: ¡°Would those collaborations [that ran successfully in lockdown] have been initiated without face-to-face meetings?¡±

Christine Ennew, provost at the University of Warwick, said universities would ¡°need both the face to face and the virtual¡± to continue to cooperate internationally.

¡°The initial face to face is important in building the initial relationship but once that relationship is in place, it is much easier to sustain and develop through digital channels,¡± Professor Ennew said.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com