Interdisciplinary Research: Challenges and Opportunities

Ni#nAgarwal,Informa#onScience,nxagarwal@ualr.edu

EricWiebelhaus-Brahm,SchoolofPublicAffairs,ejwiebelhaus@ualr.edu

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AGENDA •  Interdisciplinary/collaborative research projects

•  Challenges •  Opportunities

•  Suggestions

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RESEARCH PROJECTS

INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATIONS

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CYBER COLLECTIVE ACTION NSF-funded, medium size ($750,000) , 4-year study on advancing understanding of cyber-collective actions manifesting in online social movements.

Cyber Collective Action

Organizational Behavior

Social Science

Information Science

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HEALTH INFORMATICS NSF-funded, large ($1,000,000) , 3-year study that addresses the fractured nature of healthcare information, and the lack of engagement of individuals in their own healthcare.

Six universities Over 10 partners

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Information fusion

Medicine

Big data/cloud

architecture

INFLUENCE OPERATIONS DoD-funded, over $1.3 million, multi-year study to examine information campaigns, misinformation and propaganda dissemination to influence thinking, provoke hysteria & chaos, and effect instability.

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Social Science

Communication

Information Science

BEYOND WORDS Norwegian Research Council-funded multi-year 11 country study to examine the implementation record of the recommendations of Latin American truth commissions.

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Activists/Practitioners Social Science Law

PEACE, JUSTICE, DEVELOPMENT UK Economic and Social Research Council-funded multi-year project to develop a multinational partnership of academics and activists that seeks to build capacity among victims and activist groups pursuing a multi-faceted justice agenda in Colombia, Sri Lanka, Syria, and Uganda.

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Social Science

Activists/Practitioners Law

CHALLENGES

INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH

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CHALLENGES •  Resources

•  Time commitments •  Different languages

•  Publication outlets

•  Performance evaluation (tenure/promotion)

•  Not all collaborative efforts will be successful

•  FAIL FORWARD!!!

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OPPORTUNITIES

INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH

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REAL WORLD PROBLEMS •  Opportunity to work on real-world problems

•  Gerontology •  Transitional justice •  Information/cyber warfare •  Health informatics

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FUNDING •  NSF

•  Science, Technology, and Society •  Law & Social Sciences •  Information and Intelligent Systems

•  NIH

•  Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research •  DoD (ONR, ARO, AFOSR/AFRL)

•  MURI (up to $7.5m for 5 years), •  Minerva, etc.

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SUGGESTIONS

INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH

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TEAMING UP •  Conferences

•  Conference/workshop grants •  Program reviews

•  Proposal panel reviews

•  Talk to/visit program officers

•  Find out program thrusts (even propose) •  Find out ‘star’ performers in their programs •  Offer to collaborate

•  Equipment grants

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SHAMELESS AD... 10th year of Social Computing Conference

http://sbp-brims.org/, Washington D.C., July 5-8, 2017.

Travel awards available for disciplinary minorities sponsored by ONR, ARO

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THANK YOU!

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