In a system where academic success is defined by outputs and individual achievement, Rachael Hains-Wesson and Nira Rahman call for a shift towards connection and belonging. They argue that an overemphasis on productivity undermines the human relationships vital for intellectual growth, advocating for mentorship, collaboration, and a more inclusive, supportive academic culture.
How academia values targets over relationships
In academia, success is measured by research outputs, teaching excellence, and career progression. Yet, the relationships that sustain us receive far less attention, particularly in scholarly publication. Traditional, non-personal publications and grants are celebrated, but the intellectual and emotional labour required to meet institutional expectations is rarely acknowledged. The relentless pursuit of excellence and productivity often sidelines the fundamental human need for connection, especially for staff from diverse backgrounds.
Without meaningful connections and a sense of belonging, academic spaces risk becoming solely transactional, shaped by institutional demands rather than genuine human interaction.
Academic life is paradoxically both highly networked and deeply siloed, despite an emphasis on intellectual exchange, research and career progression. While we collaborate on research projects, serve on committees, and attend conferences, much of our daily work remains independent and invisible. The competing demands of teaching, publishing, and administration leave little time for relationship-building, which can create professional landscapes where colleagues within the same institution may feel profoundly disconnected.
The need to foster relationships and belonging
Without meaningful connections and a sense of belonging, academic spaces risk becoming solely transactional, shaped by institutional demands rather than genuine human interaction. Career pressures turn professional interactions into necessities rather than opportunities for mutual growth. While collaboration is still part of academic life, it often remains confined to non-personal, structured projects, leaving little room for relationships that nurture intellectual and emotional wellbeing.
Yet, none of us succeed alone. Behind every published paper, funded project, and teaching innovation are colleagues who provide guidance, support, and encouragement. Despite academia’s collaborative nature, institutions rarely prioritise fostering a sense of belonging among educators and researchers, especially in diverse research domains or publication output choices. For example, academia talks collaboration but builds systems (promotion, funding, community recognition) that often undervalue diversity, whether that’s diversity of discipline, publication type, or research approach. Belonging is also not actively fostered because it’s often assumed that academics will find it on their own. Those who work across boundaries or choose different publication routes (eg, community reports, creative works, policy briefs) can feel invisible or unsupported.
Learning from student mentorship initiatives
Much attention has been given to students’ sense of belonging, particularly how engagement and relationships influence academic success. Collectively, these studies demonstrate that meaningful interpersonal connections, inclusive teaching practices, and supportive environments significantly enhance students’ academic performance, motivation, and resilience. Extrapolated to researchers, these findings suggest institutions could similarly benefit by prioritising inclusive research communities, fostering strong mentorship, and recognising diverse scholarly contributions. Doing so would likely increase researchers’ productivity, career satisfaction, and retention, reducing feelings of isolation, particularly for those working in interdisciplinary or non-traditional research domains.
In the search for connections that sustain us, mentoring relationships can bridge the gap between professional demands and personal connection.
In the search for connections that sustain us, mentoring relationships can bridge the gap between professional demands and personal connection. They counteract academic isolation by providing spaces where trust, empathy, and shared growth take root. A meaningful mentor-mentee relationship fosters belonging, intellectual camaraderie, and a culture of mutual support.
Explorations on the benefits of mentoring suggest that women in academia feel empowered and persist in facing challenges. In particular, group-based autoethnography studies reinforce that mentoring extends beyond individuals, fostering a culture of solidarity and shared resilience. It highlights that support networks are essential to sustaining meaningful academic work.
Valuing collaboration beyond research outputs
Yet, academic collaborations often arise in response to external demands such as funding, publication expectations, or administrative requirements, rather than deliberate efforts to cultivate collegiality and shared purpose. When mentoring and relationship-building are instead valued as integral to academia, partnership moves beyond transactional exchanges to foster relationship-rich collaboration, where mentorship is rooted in trust, mutual learning, and sustained support.
Mentoring and collaboration should be understood as foundational to both scholarly relationship-building and research, not tacked on incidentally or as an afterthought.
A culture that nurtures these connections enhances knowledge-sharing and productivity while reducing stress. It fosters an environment where scholars learn from each other while supporting student learning, reinforcing education as a collective leadership endeavour. From this perspective, mentoring and collaboration should be understood as foundational to both scholarly relationship-building and research, not tacked on incidentally or as an afterthought. The difficulty lies in communicating the value of this relationship-building in and of itself, and not just for the collaborative work that may come out of it.
To change this, academia must embrace alternative storytelling as distinct research endeavours, such as individual and group-based autoethnography or self-study. The participants in a study exploring the value of mentoring in higher education described the scheme’s benefits, claiming it
[enabled sharing] “wisdom,” possessed rich “experience,” provided “guidance,” gave “me a road map of how to get there,” encouraged “my strength while accepting my weaknesses with grace,” “made themselves accessible,” “helped me develop in certain areas,” and “positioned me for opportunities.”
The transformative power of stories and connection
These types of research-based narratives highlight the transformative power of mentorship, showing how relationships rooted in trust and mutual learning influence teaching, research, and well-being. Although publishing such narratives can be challenging due to their candid exploration of success and struggle, these scholarly stories serve as vital tools for navigating hierarchies, overcoming isolation, and resisting hyper-competition within academia.
Stories like these validate relationship-building in academia and show how mentorship and camaraderie can create lasting change. If embraced widely, these experiences could shift relationship-building from incidental efforts to recognised institutional practice. Storytelling itself becomes an act of facilitation, empowering others to invest in meaningful academic relationships and fostering a culture where collaboration and care are the norm, for a more inclusive, supportive, and thriving scholarly community.
A longer version of this article first appeared in Future Campus.
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