The Mentoring Teacher-Research network (since February 2024 known as MenTRnet) was originally set up by Richard Smith in August 2019 in association with a Facebook group, to support dissemination of his book Mentoring Teachers to Research Their Classrooms (2000, British Council). The network was further built up by means of a series of input sessions and discussions (EVO2020) in January–February 2020 and, from May 2021 to November 2021, monthly online support group meetings. Participants’ work mentoring teacher-researchers during the pandemic was showcased at an event on 27 November 2021, Mentoring Teacher-Research in a Time of Covid-19 (poster below). Over 100 teachers who had been mentored by network members presented on their research at the Teachers Research! Online 2021 conference in December 2021. A second EVO (EVO2022) occurred in January-February 2022, and monthly online support group meetings ran again from July to December 2022. Activity during 2020–22 was supported by a UK Economic and Social Research Council award (ES/T502054/1). The Teachers Research! Online 2023 conference in March 2023 showcased teacher-researchers’ work which had mainly been facilitated by mentors within the network, some of whom, in turn, presented on their work at a Stories of Mentoring Teacher-Research event in June 2023. A third iteration of the Mentoring teacher-research EVO (EVO2023) was organized in January-February 2023 and followed by monthly mentor support group meetings throughout 2023. In January–February 2024, the EVO on Mentoring teacher-research was repeated, under the leadership of Dr Seden Tuyan, and 9th-10th March 2024 will see the third iteration of the Teachers Research! Online conference, which is being organized by MenTRnet in association with IATEFL Research SIG.
