Emerging researcher perspectives: Finding your people: My challenge of developing a creative research methods network

Research is not a solitary process. Yes, we work as individuals through our specific research foci trying to answer our personal research questions. However, research does not happen in a vacuum. To build on these existing ideas and develop them further, we rely on what has been done before and what others are doing at the same time. The importance of having a network of colleagues was a particular focus in the keynote speeches of the Qualitative Methods Conference 2018 in Banff organized by the International Institute for Qualitative Methodology. Many speakers referred to the process of “finding your people.” Indeed, the principle of having a close network of colleagues working on and through similar issues and concerns chimes with me. But as yet, I still feel isolated within the world of qualitative research. My focus is on using creative methods within research, which I approach as an all-encompassing term that includes artistic and arts-based work but also the broader sense of creating, making, and doing. Of course, there are academics and researchers who focus on embodied aspects of research (Chadwick, 2017), on performative and artistic creations and research as arts and arts as research (Barrett & Bolt, 2014), on research using creative methods (Mason & Davies, 2009; Nind & Vinha, 2014; Orr & Phoenix, 2015; Tarr,Gonzalez-Polledo, & Cornish, 2017) and bridging the gap between arts and sciences (Leavy, 2015). So where does my feeling of isolation stem from? Is this something that needs to be addressed at all? And if yes, then what can be done?