You're saying "with similar interests or backgrounds", and then the list of these interests are Life Sciences, Financial Services, Education, and Business Operations Analytics
These seem to me like straight up professional occupations.
So if you're looking for 5 more professional backgrounds - that's one thing, and if you're looking for 5 more interests - that'd be something else. But then it wouldn't be related to R as much - it'd be more of an actual "social" thing, which can and should be done after hours.
Hope I understand this correctly.