by Frank van den Boom
Image: Maksim Romashkin – Pexels
Working together like we have the last couple of months was something I’d never anticipated when embarking on this journey. In the beginning, I was mostly expecting a lot of work on the article, a ton of rewriting and the proud feeling of finishing your product at the end of the road, and all of these things were true, that’s for sure! But while my focus lay on writing the article, at first I didn’t notice in what way we were all bonding, academically but also personally. All the peer reviews, fruitful discussions and online meetings did not impede the amount of laughter, or the sharing of mental struggles. Especially at the end of the process, once we were able to meet in person again, I felt that, even though most of us hadn’t physically seen each other yet, I knew everybody quite well already, and it started to dawn on me how special and rewarding this process of creating together is. I’ve come to think that that is also what LEAP stands for, that communication and reaching out are key not only on an interdisciplinary or academic level, but on a personal and emotional level as well, and that bridging these levels should be as much a part of the academia as any other scholarly skill.