Large-scale, international, collaborative research networks play a significant role in advancing the frontiers of science; collectively identifying gaps in knowledge and areas for future research (Adams 2013; NSF 2018; Wagner et al. 2015). However, building large-scale international collaborations is a complex process that requires coordination across disciplines, institutions, languages, and time zones (Currie-Alder et al. 2020; Dusdal & Powell 2021). These complex global communities of researchers depend on robust communication infrastructures that support not only the transmission of research-relevant information, but also the development of functional collaborative relationships. For teams, this requires explicit attention to the process aspects of collaboration in the early stages of project formation (NAS 2004).

Since 2019, the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative has supported project teams funded by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Accelerating Research through International Network-to-Network Collaborations (AccelNet) Program through facilitated dialogue-based sessions focused on building mutual understanding and clarifying shared goals across three key topics: network of networks collaboration, communication and coordination, and success conditions in large scale international collaborations. Our multi-year study involved the analysis of dialogue transcripts from 45 teams across five cohorts of AccelNet projects, interview transcripts with 31 project leaders representing 29 projects, and 89 survey responses representing 43 active AccelNet projects.

Data from the dialogue sessions identify opportunities and challenges around key areas in the early stages of development post-award funding. The Toolbox dialogue prompts effectively engaged teams in dialogue by directing attention to key coordination issues and creating space for reflection on what network-to-network collaboration involves, the role of communication in building relationships, and what is required for success. Repeated engagement with the same Toolbox prompts across diverse projects provided a basis for assessing the instrument’s potential to scale. Our findings suggest the prompts consistently surface common issues of coordination and sustainability in international networks of networks, eliciting discussion of both early-stage “set-up” issues such as shared goals, agreements, and equity, and later-stage “make it work” issues such as collaboration barriers and sustaining the work over time.

Interviews with project leaders at later stages in their project provide further information regarding the communication and collaboration strategies used to build and sustain engagement across the network of networks. Key findings indicate that shared values, inclusivity, career development, and flexibility were foundational for successful engagement, which also required attention to structures that sustained engagement and supported shared decision-making. For example, the main structural component, working groups, was highly dependent on voluntary and often uncompensated leadership, constraining productivity and engagement. Using the interview findings, the survey further explored perceptions and prevalence of challenges and strategies related to metrics, structures, policies, practices, and capacity.

Our findings outline a rich picture of what it takes to coordinate research across disciplines, countries, and career stages. The obstacles these AccelNet networks of networks encountered and the avenues they found to overcome them further contribute to the understanding of team science in large-scale international collaborations and other similar types of collaboration.