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 the use of his book for prospective mentors, Mentoring Teachers to Research Their Classrooms: A Practical Handbook (2000, British Council). The network was further built up by means of a series of input sessions and discussions (EVO2020), led by Richard, in January–February 2020 and, from May 2021 to November 2021, monthly online support group meetings which he also organized. Participants’ work mentoring teacher-researchers during the Covid-19 pandemic was showcased at an event on 27 November 2021, Mentoring Teacher-Research in a Time of Covid-19. Over 100 teachers who had been mentored by network members presented on their research at the Teachers Research! Online 2021 conference, supported by the A.S. Hornby Educational Trust, which was organized with IATEFL’s Research Special Interest Group 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 University of Warwick / 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 an IATEFL Research SIG 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 again, this time under the leadership of Dr Seden Eraldemir Tuyan, and 9th-10th March 2024 saw the third iteration of the Teachers Research! Online conference, officially organized by MenTRnet in association with IATEFL Research SIG. By the end of 2024, a steering committee had been established, with different members responsible for monthly support group meetings, induction and teacher-research induction workshops (replacing EVO), book review and article mentoring, website, feature-writing, and the annual Teachers Research! conference. An International Festival of Mentoring Teacher-Research in ELT (2024–25) was being run with monthly events (supported by a further University of Warwick / Economic and Social Research Council award (ES/X004635/1), and a book of Stories of Mentoring Teacher-Research had been made ready for publication by IATEFL.
