Suitable collaborators
A tool that uncovers collaborative opportunities between the institution and each industry partner—to inform proposals or sales meetings
A scheme to identify and to allocate the most appropriate supervisors and mentors to student or inexperienced researchers
A center that is designed to explore and to demonstrate how to promote and to conduct interdisciplinary research more effectively
A platform that enables unacquainted researchers who have developed complementary skills to each complete one phase of a research program
Effective practices
A website that helps researchers conduct research that is productive rather than redundant, unhelpful, and uninformative
A network of academics who share valuable information about research opportunities—to foster a more cooperative sector
Collaboration identifier
A tool that uncovers collaborative opportunities between the institution and each industry partner—to inform proposals or sales meetings
Outline of the problem
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Industry partners, including government agencies, may collaborate with tertiary institutions on many activities, such as internships, research, consulting, vocational courses, micro-credentials, and credit for prior learning.
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Institutions could even design assignments in which student develop materials that industry partners could utilize
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But, even if they use CRM wisely, institutions seldom identify which of these collaborative opportunities are most relevant to each industry partner
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Consequently, few industry partners are aware of the collaborative opportunities that are available—a sizeable opportunity cost.
Outline of a solution
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Tertiary institutions should develop a tool that can identify potential collaborations between the institution and each industry partner
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To develop this tool, tertiary institutions could first apply web scraping and other methods to collate a database of previous collaborations between tertiary institutions and industry partners. For example, this database could scrape some information from organizations that organize internships.
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Institutions could then supplement this database with information that predicts the success of these collaborations—such as whether these collaborations persisted over time.
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Institutions could finally subject this database to a variety of analyses—such as a blend of cluster analysis and thematic analysis—to predict which collaborations are most suited in specific circumstances
Example of this solution
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To illustrate, according to this tool, if an industry partner comprises more than 500 employees and operates in the finance industry, particular collaborations—such as internships that revolve around data analysis or short courses that relate to superannuation—were likely to be successful.
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Tertiary institutions could thus utilize this information to develop proposals or brochures that are relevant to specific industry partners.
Distributed guidance
A scheme to identify and to allocate the most appropriate supervisors and mentors to student or inexperienced researchers
Outline of the problem
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In many tertiary institutions, such as small universities, individuals are seldom assigned the supervisors who are most suited to their needs & preferences
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For example, a PhD candidate, after enrolling at a university, may discover that none of the supervisors are leading authorities on his or her topic.
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Or an inexperienced academic could discover that none of the other staff at the institution have developed the expertise to mentor him or her effectively.
Outline of a solution
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To illustrate a program that addresses this problem, consider three practices that could be applied to facilitate reciprocal supervision of PhD students.
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First, a coalition of tertiary institutions could maintain a record of how often PhD candidates enrolled in one institution receive supervision from an academic at another institution. The institutions would agree to supervise PhD candidates at the other institutions to a similar extent.
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Second, these institutions could develop a tool that helps PhD candidates at one university identify the most compatible supervisor across the coalition of supervisors—that is, supervisors who not only share the same interests but also exhibit other qualities that could optimize the relationship
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For example, this tool could apply machine learning algorithms that match the research proposals of PhD candidates with the publications of supervisors
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In addition, this tool could identify candidates and supervisors whose values and personality—as measured by surveys—are compatible, according to previous literature on relationship compatibility
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Third, institutions can estimate the degree to which PhD candidates supervised by academics at other universities, achieve better outcomes than PhD candidates supervised by academics at their university. This information enables institutions to calculate the degree to which each of these supervisors enhanced research outcomes—calculations that can be included in performance appraisals.
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These calculations may thus motivate academics to participate in this program.
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This program not only enhances the supervision that PhD candidates receive but also tends to improve university rankings, especially if these institutions are located in separate nations.
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A similar approach could be applied to identify suitable mentors of academic or professional staff as well.
The interdisciplinary hub
A deliberate scheme to encourage students to embrace recreational experiences that enhance both personal development and wellbeing
Outline of the problem
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Interdisciplinary research is becoming increasingly vital, as researchers strive to address multifaceted problems, such as obesity or climate change
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Although many policies and leaders advocate the importance of interdisciplinary research, this rhetoric does not always translate into tangible practices—such as interdisciplinary research centers, interdisciplinary grants, or cluster hiring.
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Many universities are oblivious to the barriers that impede, or the practices that promote, interdisciplinary research.
Outline of a solution
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To facilitate interdisciplinary research, tertiary institutions could, either in isolation or in coalition with each other, develop an interdisciplinary center or hub that is designed to facilitate interdisciplinary research across the institution or sector.
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The hub would comprise several distinct features. First, the hub would develop guidelines on how to facilitate interdisciplinary research—and then disseminate resources that complement these guidelines.
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For example, these guidelines might stipulate which funding bodies prioritize interdisciplinary research or recommend a portal that enables staff to promote their skills to other disciplines
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Likewise, these guidelines might recommend that staff dedicate some time, such as two days, to help peers in other fields—partly to facilitate this research and partly to become more familiar with other disciplines.
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Second, to improve these guidelines and resources, this hub would apply the recommended practices to conduct interdisciplinary research on how to improve interdisciplinary research. The hub would thus become a role model on how to conduct interdisciplinary research effectively
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Although many studies have explored the practices that facilitate interdisciplinary research, many questions remain unresolved. Indeed, this research is likely to attract many citations: The burgeoning number of interdisciplinary centers may cite this research to justify their methods and practices.
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Finally, the hub may advocate to pursue changes in policies or practices that stifle interdisciplinary research.
Cascade research
A center that is designed to explore and to demonstrate how to promote and to conduct interdisciplinary research more effectively
Outline of the problem
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To publish research, researchers need to complete a range of activities.
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For example, they may need to conduct a literature review, justify the research question, choose a research design, select appropriate research instruments, organize participants, conduct the research, analyze the data, write a report, and communicate the research to stakeholders.
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Typically, individual academics, and even research teams, will tend to develop strong capabilities in some of these activities but exhibit limitations in other activities. For example, researchers who do not speak English fluently might not write in this language efficiently.
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These limitations significantly impede the efficiency of research
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To address this concern, researchers will often collaborate with peers from other institutions and nations. However, few platforms have been developed to help researchers identify suitable collaborators and cooperate with these individuals, compromising the efficiency of these collaborations.
Outline of a solution
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To enhance the efficiency, and to reduce the costs, of research, a coalition of tertiary institutions could develop a platform that facilitates collaborations.
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In particular, this platform enables researchers to complete only the research activities in which they are especially adept.
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For example, one tab enables researchers to post introduction sections of a report that outline the literature and justify a research question
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A second tab enables other researchers to propose a suitable design to conduct this research—suitable to specialists in various research designs
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A third tab enables other researchers to specify the precise instruments or methods they should be utilized
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A fourth tab enables some researchers to conduct the method—suited to researchers who can access extensive pools of participants, for example
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Other tabs enable researchers to analyze data, write reports, and so forth
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The precise configuration of this platform would vary to accommodate distinct research fields or approaches.
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Over time, other tools would be embedded, such as a tool that identifies and integrates distinct but overlapping research questions into a unified and efficient study.
The research accelerator
A website that helps researchers conduct research that is productive rather than redundant, unhelpful, and uninformative
Outline of the problem
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A large proportion of research projects are never published, cited, or applied.
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Too many studies generate results that are not significant, novel, or relevant to stakeholders
Outline of a solution
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A coalition of tertiary institutions should design a website that comprises a series of tools that enhance the significance of research.
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For example, one tool might enable potential stakeholders—such as clinicians, patients, and communities—to record or rank the topics or matters they feel are worthy of more research.
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Specialists could then derive publishable reports that specify the research questions that should be prioritized in each field of research.
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In grant applications and publications, researchers could then cite this research to justify their projects
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A second tool might collate and publish unsuccessful research projects. Researchers can publish these unsuccessful studies only if they enter information that can later be utilized to predict which projects are likely to succeed—such as whether a systematic review inspired the design.
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Specialists can then derive publishable reports that stipulate which practices are likely to enhance the utility of research.
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A variant of this tool might also prompt researchers to enter other information about their studies, such as effect sizes, sample sizes, and control variables. Researchers could then utilize these data to expedite systematic reviews.
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Funding bodies could prioritize the projects that apply these practices
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A third tool might enable researchers to delineate some of their skills—such as a method or theory they can apply and the circumstances in which these skills are applicable. Other researchers can then utilize this database to identify suitable collaborators, enabling these individuals to apply their strengths and thus work more efficiently.
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Over time, users may suggest and develop other tools, available from this website, that could enhance the utility of research.
Academic shares
A network of academics who share valuable information about research opportunities—to foster a more cooperative sector
Outline of the problem
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To thrive in research, academics need to be continually informed about the latest updates in research opportunities.
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For example, they need to be aware of which funding opportunities are most suited to their strengths and limitations.
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Unfortunately, academics can be competitive and hostile rather than supportive or compassionate—and, so, do not always share helpful information
Outline of a solution
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A team of academics might develop a network to support peers who want to foster a more supportive and compassionate sector
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Each year, the team could distribute a survey to potential members.
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The survey would first delineate the mission: to develop a network that assists supportive academics.
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Next, the survey would prompt the respondents of this survey to collect and to share valuable information that might assist other members.
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Respondents might, for example, be prompted to collect and to share information about which philanthropists might be willing to fund research.
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Or they might collect and share information about research tools, software, or resources that can diminish the costs of research and so forth
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The coordinators of this network would then collate the responses of respondents and summarize this information in a confidential report.
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If a participant shares information that one or more peers deem as helpful, this individual would then be able to access this report.
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Consequently, only academics who share valuable information can access the insights that other members disclose.
Contributors
To seek advice or engage specialists on these initiatives, contact the contributors of this page
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Collaboration identifier
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Distributed guidance
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The interdisciplinary hub
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Cascade research
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The research accelerator
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Academic shares