Researchers who want to work with Vietnamese colleagues often start by contacting an institution's international office and waiting. That rarely leads anywhere. Collaborations start between people working on the same question.
Where to look
Publication databases. Search by topic and filter by affiliation country. Look for papers where a Vietnam-based author is first or corresponding author — that signals a group that leads its own work rather than only contributing samples.
Regional conferences and networks. Many strong groups present regionally more often than at large Western conferences, particularly in agriculture, environmental science, public health and infectious disease.
Alumni of your own institution. Many Vietnamese researchers trained abroad and returned. They understand both working cultures, which removes much of the friction in a new partnership.
Existing networks. If your institution already has an agreement with a Vietnamese university, ask who is actually active under it — formal agreements and real collaborations often differ.
What a Vietnamese partner typically brings
Access to research settings and populations that cannot be studied elsewhere; field sites and long-term local relationships; knowledge of the policy and institutional context; and a team able to run data collection at a scale that would be costly to arrange from outside.
Increasingly also: analytical capacity and equipment. Assuming your counterpart only handles fieldwork is both inaccurate and a poor way to begin.
Making first contact
Write to the researcher, not the institution. Keep it short: who you are, which of their papers you read, the specific question you propose, and what each side would contribute.
Be concrete about resources. Whether funding exists, and for what, is the question your counterpart most needs answered and is often left vague.
Expect a reply within a week or two. A slower answer usually means a heavy teaching load rather than a lack of interest — teaching obligations at Vietnamese universities are substantial.
Practices that make the partnership equitable
Involve the local team in designing the study, not only in executing it. This is the difference between a partnership and a subcontract.
Agree on authorship in writing before starting, including how the order may change if contributions change.
Plan for local first authorship on at least part of the output. It is the single clearest signal of a genuine partnership and it matters greatly for your counterpart's career.
Budget for the local side properly: personnel time, publication fees, travel to present the work. Fieldwork costs are frequently underbudgeted.
Include early-career researchers from the Vietnamese team in analysis and writing, not only in data collection.
Ethics and data
Research involving human participants generally requires ethics approval on both sides, and the Vietnamese process takes time. Ask early rather than assuming your own approval is sufficient.
Discuss data ownership, storage location and cross-border transfer explicitly. Personal data carries legal requirements that should be checked before collection, not after.
Start small
A first collaboration works best as something contained: one paper, one analysis of existing data, one joint conference submission. Both sides learn how the other works before committing to a multi-year project.
If it goes well, a joint funding application is the natural next step — and by then you have evidence that the partnership functions.
Do I need an institutional agreement first?
Usually not to begin. Researcher-to-researcher work can start with an email; formal agreements become necessary when funding, staff exchange or data transfer are involved.
Is English sufficient for working with Vietnamese researchers?
In research settings, generally yes. Fieldwork, community engagement and administrative processes usually require Vietnamese, which is one reason the local team is essential rather than optional.
How long does ethics approval take in Vietnam?
It varies by institution and study type, so ask your partner early and build it into the timeline. It cannot be obtained retroactively.
What is the most common mistake international partners make?
Treating the Vietnamese side as a data collection service. It produces weaker science, damages the relationship, and increasingly fails funder requirements on equitable partnership.
