Ms. Beatta Zarrabi1
1UNSW, Sydney, Australia
Biography:
Beatta Zarrabi has worked in the community outreach and engagement field for almost a decade, with a passion for empowering participants to be valued and engaged. Holding a master’s degree in Psychotherapy and Counselling, Beatta strives to bring her unique perspective to the field. Working with various leaders, stakeholders and teams, Beatta has continuously created an inclusive, supportive, and meaningful environment for researchers. Compelled to help others, Beatta enjoys sharing her insights, experiences and assistance with peers and researchers.
Abstract:
Established to empower and support UNSW researchers to navigate the digital landscape, the Research Technology Services (ResTech) Community Program focused on bridging gaps between knowledge of research technology and resources. Fast forward to the present, our journey has been characterised by unforeseen challenges, including the global pandemic, and changing user expectations, and workplace engagement. Subsequently, the community program too has had to be re-evaluated and evolved to include seminars, workshops, consultations and collaborative conference events alongside traditional training.
This presentation will delve into the ability strategies and initiatives employed to not only sustain but also increase engagement. From the inception of initiatives such as Researchers’ Corner and social groups, to revising and modifying existing practices (e.g. Hacky Hour, Lunch & Learns, etc), the Community Program is continuously re-assessed in conjunction with the needs of its audience and resources to ensure an ever-dynamic platform for collaborative knowledge exchange and skill enhancement. Through this and a strong marketing strategy, the engagement has grown by over 300% from 1,000 researchers to over 4,000.
Successfully tailoring the development of innovative community projects and events to meet the diverse and evolving needs of researchers and staff, the Community Program has been nominated for and acknowledged by the UNSW Vice Chancellor’s Awards for driving innovation. During this presentation, Beatta will discuss the methodologies utilised to increase brand awareness and engagement with both users and internal stakeholders in the new “work-from-home" era, the process of generating initiatives from old practices, and examine what proved ineffective.