This portal sets out to be a ‘one-stop shop’ for NRENs to find information, materials, arguments and tools for persuading their key stakeholders about their raison d’être, value and role and for making the case for research and education networking.
It also offers a toolkit of guidance materials to support NRENs, in particular those that are starting up, to progress towards successful and sustainable organisations.
The portal is structured as follows:
Section 1: Making the caseWhen embarking on making a case for an NREN, there can be many starting points and many target audiences. This section outlines different stakeholder groups and comprises resources for relevant advocacy. Section 2: Case examples
This section includes examples of how successful NRENs present themselves, with an analysis of the reasons why a specific NREN got successfully established in its ecosystem and how it achieved sustainability.
Section 3: Resources & toolsView useful tools, such as templates, matrices, checklists and marketing exercises designed to assist you in making the case and achieve sustainability. This section also contains a document library with a comprehensive list of materials used in the portal.
How to contribute to this portal
We would like this portal to continue to evolve and develop over time with new material and content being added. For this portal to be a valuable resource we rely on NRENs to contribute.
Do share with us and fellow NREN colleagues your own experiences of ‘making the case’ for your own organisation and R&E networking in general, your strategies and tactics, your success stories or challenges you face. Ultimately, the challenges one NREN faces are challenges many other NRENs also have to tackle and overcome. Thus, the spirit behind this portal initiative is that of a community: to share experiences, best practice and to learn from each other.
Please share any contributions (e.g. relevant conference papers, case examples etc.) to the Review Group via the contact form.