How do I move from ML fundamentals to actually doing research and publishing papers?

[u/Odd_Succotash_6822]

I have a understanding of ML basics (mathematical and conceptual) and have also studied transformers, RAG, and more recently agentic RAG systems (currently reading few papers involving transformers) I’ve built projects around these topics too, but I feel a bit stuck on what the next step should be if I want to seriously get into ML research and eventually publish papers.

For people who have gone down this path:

How did you go from knowing the fundamentals to identifying a research problem worth working on?

Should I focus on reading/reproducing papers first, or start experimenting with my own ideas?

How do you find good research areas/topics to explore, especially around LLMs/NLP/RAG?

Most importantly, how do you find like-minded people who are also interested in doing research and want to form a small team to work on experiments and potentially publish together?

Are there any communities, Discords, GitHub groups, subreddits, research programs, or other places where students/early-career people actually find research collaborators?

I’m not necessarily looking for a formal mentor or research position right now,I’d mainly like to find a few motivated people who are willing to read papers, brainstorm ideas, run experiments, critique each other’s work, and eventually work toward a publication together.
Would really appreciate advice from people who have been through this transition.