ACADEMIA

Collaboration increasingly lies at the heart of successful research. To help develop new collaborations, the Collaborations Workshop will bring together researchers, funding body representatives and technology experts in Edinburgh on 10-11 March 2010. This expertise, combined with the workshop's novel structure, will create the perfect opportunity to meet researchers with complementary skills who, in collaboration, could help turn your ideas into a reality.

Visit the Collaborations Workshop website.

Register for the Collaborations Workshop.

The focus of the Collaborations Workshop is e-Research: the harnessing of computer technology for research. Expect to hear about how to exploit the latest technologies, maximise funding possibilities and how researchers from all disciplines have benefitted by sharing expertise and experience. In addition, David Flanders, the JISC's programme manager of the Information Environment, will present a personal view on managing projects. At last year's workshop, a similar mix of expertise led to a number of new collaborations, some of which have already become funded projects.

The Collaborations Workshop is organised by OMII-UK, an e-Research organisation which is funded by the UK Research Councils. With many years of experience working with researchers from various disciplines, OMII-UK has the expertise to match researchers with those people who are best suited to realise their ideas. Matchmaking is a key aspect of the Collaborations Workshop and the reason that last year's workshop was described as 'a very useful way for elaborating plans and drawing in other partners to [our] project'.

The workshop employs a novel structure: the agenda is controlled by the delegates. Topics for discussion are suggested and the most popular are determined by a vote. The topics are explored in a series of parallel breakout sessions, with conclusions reported back to all delegates at brief feedback sessions. Aside from ensuring that only the most important topics are explored, this structure introduces flexibility into the agenda. Extra time is given to the ideas that prove most fruitful, and discussions that have come to a conclusion can be closed down. The agenda will initially be shaped by delegates that register early. To see the discussion themes as they emerge, visit http://oss.ly/w.

Today's research is becoming increasingly dependent on technology and expertise from outside a researcher's own discipline. This fact has been identified by the Research Councils who promote interdisciplinary research as one of the ways to optimise research spending. With research funding heading towards an uncertain period, there has never been a better time to build new collaborations and establish new contacts, and the perfect forum for this is the Collaborations Workshop.