Conferences are still where most collaborations begin. They are also where most potential collaborations quietly end — not from lack of interest, but because nobody defined a next step before walking away.
Which meetings actually help
Large international conferences are efficient for seeing a field, but poor for meeting a specific country's research community. Vietnamese researchers who attend them are mostly the ones already internationally connected.
If your goal is building links in Vietnam, regional meetings and domestic conferences hosted in Vietnam are far more productive. You will meet groups that do not travel much, which is exactly where the unmet collaboration capacity sits.
Field-specific workshops with fifty participants beat conferences with two thousand for this purpose. You can actually talk to people.
Ask a Vietnamese colleague which domestic meetings matter in your field; this is not information that surfaces in English-language listings.
The first conversation
Read one or two abstracts before approaching someone, and open with something specific about their work. It signals that you came for their research rather than for a general contact.
Ask what they are working on now, not just what they presented — the presented work is often a year old, and the current work is what a collaboration would touch.
Say plainly what you are looking for. Vague expressions of interest in working together are hard for anyone to act on, and they read as politeness rather than intent.
Two practical notes. Business cards are still widely used and exchanging one is normal. And if the conversation continues, expect it to move to a messaging app rather than email — email response times are much slower in practice.
Language
English proficiency varies widely, and it is unrelated to research quality. Someone whose spoken English is hesitant may be doing the most interesting work in the room.
Speak plainly, avoid idioms, and check understanding without being patronising. If a conversation is difficult, a colleague who can interpret for a few minutes often unlocks it.
Offer to continue in writing. Many people are considerably more fluent reading and writing than speaking, and a written exchange afterwards can be much richer than the conversation was.
Leave with a specific next step
This is the step that separates contacts from collaborations. Before the conversation ends, agree on one concrete thing:
You will send a paper or dataset description.
They will send their protocol.
A call in two weeks, with a date.
You will both look at whether a specific funding call fits.
"Let's keep in touch" produces nothing. One defined action with a date produces a follow-up conversation, and that is where collaborations actually form.
The follow-up
Write within a few days, while the conversation is still fresh for both of you. Reference something specific you discussed so the message is clearly not a template.
Do the thing you said you would do, and do it first. Being the person who follows through is unusual enough that it distinguishes you.
If nothing comes back after two messages, let it go without reading it as rejection. People are busy, timing matters, and a contact that goes quiet now may reactivate in two years.
Hosting and being hosted
If you organise a session or workshop, actively invite researchers based in Vietnam rather than only those already on the international circuit. Consider whether registration costs and travel are a barrier, and whether your funding can cover any of it.
If you are invited to speak in Vietnam, accept when you can. Being physically present does more for building links than several years of correspondence, and it signals that the interest goes both ways.
While there, ask to visit a lab or department rather than only attending the conference. That is where you see what the group actually works with, and where the practical conversation about a joint project happens.
What makes the relationship last
Reciprocity that is visible: co-authorship where it is earned, invitations that go both directions, and support for the other side's students as well as your own.
A collaboration where one side consistently supplies data and the other consistently supplies authorship position does not survive, and it should not.
Which conferences are best for meeting researchers in Vietnam?
Regional meetings and domestic conferences hosted in Vietnam, and small field-specific workshops. Large international conferences mostly reach those already internationally connected.
How should I handle language differences?
Speak plainly, avoid idioms, and offer to continue in writing — many people are far more fluent reading and writing than speaking. Proficiency says nothing about research quality.
What should I do before ending a first conversation?
Agree on one specific next step with a date. "Let's keep in touch" reliably produces nothing.
What if my follow-up gets no reply?
Send one more, then let it go without reading it as rejection. Timing matters, and quiet contacts often reactivate later.
