Team Science: Building Successful Research Collaborations

This webpage was developed in conjunction with the Team Science Workshops, led by NIH experts, on the University of Iowa campus in January 2013.

Workshop objectives

Speakers and presentation slides

Resources for collaborators

 

Workshop Objectives

Interdisciplinary, translational research brings with it the challenge of integrating researchers from different personal and professional cultures into dynamic and productive research teams. Many factors, such as building trust, identifying the right team members, good communication and effective negotiation are needed to advance collaborative projects, and to prevent and manage disputes and conflicts.

In this workshop Drs. Gadlin and Bennett discussed the characteristics of successful research collaborations as well as strategies that both leaders and participants can use to help build and sustain interdisciplinary teams. Drawing from research and first-hand experience, the session examined barriers and challenges to successful collaboration and introduce ways to overcome them.

More specifically, they addressed approaches that have been effective for the following:

  • Assembling a scientific team
  • Constructing a collaboration
  • Getting beyond disciplinary jargon
  • Working with differences
  • Managing conflict

 

Speakers

The workshops were led by NIH Team Science experts Howard Gadlin, PhD, Ombudsman and Director of the Center for Cooperative Resolution for the National Institutes of Health, and L. Michelle Bennett, PhD, Deputy Scientific Director, Division of Intramural Research (DIR), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI).

Drs. Gadlin and Bennett spearheaded an initiative to understand the fundamental characteristics that contribute to successful scientific team functioning. This work led to the production of a workbook: Collaboration and Team Science: A Field Guide that serves as a primer for investigators who are building or participating on a research team.

 

Presentation slides

 

 

Resources for collaborators

 

 

These workshops were sponsored by the Institute for Clinical and Translational Science, the Office of the Provost, and the Office of the Vice President for Research.