Community Maturation Matrix (Illustration): Professionalising Community Management Roles in Interdisciplinary Research Projects

<p>Figure 1 (.jpg) file, editable version (.pptx) and supplementary 1 (.xlsx) for the research article: Professionalising Community Management Roles in Interdisciplinary Research Projects (July, 2024)</p> <p>Figure 1: Community Maturation Indicator: This is a framework through which maturation status for a community can be indicated at any given time as &ldquo;Level of Community Participation&rdquo; and &ldquo;Stage of Community Building&rdquo;. The Levels of Community Participation is shown in the x-axis (spanning 6 levels): Level 1: Inform Community, Level 2: Invite Feedback, Level 3: Engage and Involve, Level 4: Mobilise and Connect, Level 5: Empower Groups, and Level 6: Decentralise Power. The Stages of Community Building are shown as y-axis (spanning 6 stages): Stage 1: Initiation, Stage 2: Planning and Design, Stage 3: Implementation, Stage 4: Growth and Scaling, Stage 5: Monitoring and Evaluation, and Stage 6: Sustainability or Sunsetting.&nbsp;</p> <p>Supplementary 1: An example of how a community may progress its maturation levels. After the level has been identified, a CoP can start applying targeted approaches to community building, which occurs in stages. For example, at the community initiation stage of a new CoP, an RCM shares information and communicates project goals (Stage 1); at the planning and design stage, they build stakeholder awareness plans and help to prioritise specific objectives (Stage 2); at the implementation stage, they provide collaborative opportunities for specific stakeholders (Stage 3); at the growth stage, they facilitate knowledge exchange and skill building (Stage 4); and at the evaluation stage, it assesses the success of the CoP through feedback data to inform plans (Stage 5). These stages collectively affect how the project and its community can be sustained in the future or whether it should be paused (sunsetting) (Stage 6). RCMs build effective community strategies and implement creative approaches to support the development of a CoP, advancing a community from one stage to the next (Supplementary 1, Column 1 of the Community Maturation Indicators).</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>