Clear management is needed to deal with partners from different countries and cultures. However, many of the issues will be reduced as over the course of the project, people learn and adapt to each other’s way of interacting and their view towards research. Different research and meeting culture between international partners can lead to some people in meetings feeling uncomfortable or marginalised.

Agreement is needed on the language for communications, and partners should all be aware that even informal emails need to be understood by all partners. Partners should be aware of implicit nuances in their native language that others may not understand. It is helpful if partners speak other languages of the consortium, but care should be taken that they don’t take on a ‘translation’ role as this could hamper their input to the project.

When project planning is undertaken to decide on tasks to be completed in a given period, account needs to be taken of different holiday periods, differently structured day, and different attitudes to working late. Different countries work different hours and partners will be working on the project at different times. It is good practice that the additional time required for communication, and especially travel, should be factored in at the start of the project.