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

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.