Abstract:
This chapter presents a community of practice, known as Catalyst, which was introduced to support new academics finding their feet within the university. Catalyst is a special type of community of practice; it is structured, multi-disciplinary, one semester long, meets fortnightly and has no restriction on num-bers. In addition, it includes peer mentoring, where the members of the community of practice meet in pairs or small groups between meetings to foster further support at a deeper, more personal level. These are structured in such a way that the members talk with each other about critical aspects of beginning an academic path and in the process learn more about each other, building strong professional friendships. Catalyst offers continuity throughout the first semester, but creates long-lasting networks. While the focus is always on building community, the aim is to introduce new academics to the expectations of the university enabling them to have a quicker and smoother transition into their respective departments. In the chapter, the lessons learned in setting up Catalyst for new academics, are discussed. The findings from a group of ten new academics from a range of disciplines, who were involved in Catalyst for one semester, are presented. In particular, provides space for the group away from their departments to work collaboratively while learning about institutional and departmental expectations, and to discuss difficult issues that often arise for them.