ICT and Collaborative Research
G. Srikanth
Director, National Institute of Management Studies Hindustan Group of Institutions, TN – south India
V. NirmalaKumari
Associate Professor
National Institute of Management Studies Hindustan Group of Institutions, TN – south India
“Knowledge is power,”World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick said. “Making our knowledge widely and readily available will empower others to come up with solutions to the world’s toughest problems. Our new Open Access policy is the natural evolution for a World Bank that is opening up more and more."
Abstract:
The aim was to identify good practice to assist institutions in planning ICT services and support for research. AdvancedICT involves the use of computing and the networked infrastructure as part of the research process itself. This could include, for example, the use of grid or high performance computing for simulations or massive calculations, or the use of Web 2.0 tools and virtual research environments to facilitate collaborations.
While open innovation, as a newly coined term, includes collaboration as a main element of its strategies to promote product, process, service or organizational augmentation (Chesbrough, 2003; Rahman & Ramos, 2010). This paper synthesizes on utilizing collaborative research network (CRN) to promote sharing of best practices, solutions, applications and services; to facilitate coordination of Future Internet Initiatives to facilitate their coordination and integration. Collaboration among the institutes on this shared infrastructure, shared knowledge shared innovation will give us low Financial cost, outsourced IT and Unified approach to Implementation and Policy.
The need for research into how society should and can respond to the challenges of climate change is rapidly increasing. Research into climate change adaptation is inherently cross-disciplinary and involves long term research efforts, requiring input and integration of data and approaches from multiple fields and sectors.
The goal of this project is to provide the infrastructure needed to enable researchers to access the necessary data and tools, and to network with collaborators so that researchers’ efforts can better contribute to the larger climate change assessment research agenda. This project aims to build an information hub as research
In Collaborative Research Centers, scientists from a broad range of disciplines join forces to research complex topics in fundamental research from an integrative, interdisciplinary perspective. There is a constant exchange of data, experience, materials, and,not least, of scientific staff, which guarantees a close, interdisciplinary collaboration between the involved research institutions.
Collaborative Research
Collaborative research can be seen as any sort of research in which two or more researchers work in a team towards achieving a common goal and in which all of the members of the team are supposed to contribute equally, importantly and substantially (Pimple, 2005). In recent years, this form of collaboration has been accepted as success regarding specific goals, such as cost reduction, knowledge acquisition or value addition (Rahman & Ramos, 2012), and globally many organizations are collaborating successfully, including large corporate houses, research institutes and academics (EU, 2006).
Collaboration Variables
The collaboration variables of the layer collaboration framework contain the variables. These variables will act as a set of guidelines that can be used for the selection of ICT tools. The variables can be used as a checklist which facilitates the stakeholders to take correct decisions and to make sure that no crucial information is missing [5]. We were inspired by the categorization and definition of the variables from Berander et al [5], and extended their set of variables with the variables used in the collaboration variables (see Table 1).
Table 1. Collaboration Variables
Independent variables Dependent variables Context Variables
ICT Tools
Interoperability Organization Security
User Project Platform Stakeholders
Ease of Use
Independent variables – An Independent variable affects an outcome of a study [7]. The choice of
independent variables includes the right selection of measurement scales, range of variables etc. [3] [5]. In a collaboration framework, the independent variables are basically the ICT tools that are used in the project. Further, it is also important to mention the purpose of the tool. Most of the time ICT tools can be used for multiple purposes. For example, email can be used for delivering asynchronous messages, or sending documents etc. This related information helps stakeholders to understand the background of ICT tools.
Dependent variables – Dependent variables depend on the treatment of independent variables, they
are observed and measured to determine the effect of an independent variable [7] [5]. Dependent variables are basically a result or an outcome of a study [3]. In the collaboration framework, when a number of tools are compared, the dependent variables indicate, why and how one tool is better than another. Here, we will discuss a few important dependent variables briefly.
Interoperability – It is not convenient for stakeholders to use different tools for different or similar purposes. Interoperability allows two or more collaboration tools to exchange information.
Security – Collaborative systems are vulnerable and exposed to security issues. The ICT tool must provide security measures to prevent malicious attempts. Therefore, security is a vital criterion and should be considered in selection of ICT tools.
User Interface – It is important that ICT tools should provide intuitive user friendly user interfaces especially for collaborative work spaces. Due to the limited scope of this paper it is not possible to discuss all dependent variables. Other variables, platform, ease of use and notification support should also be considered in selection of ICT tools.
Context variables – Context includes the circumstances and conditions that can affect the results of an
environment in which project activities have been performed. Here, we will discuss a few important context variables briefly.
Organization – The organization variable focuses on an application domain, process model, size and location.
Project – The project variable includes the following attributes: size, duration, nature and goal of the project. These attributes should be considered during selection of tools. For example, small size projects do not require the use of wikis or project management tools. They can be managed by using email, instant messaging and light web based utilities.
Stakeholders – It is important to report the detail information about stakeholders including their roles, language barrier (if any), culture, location and experiences. For example, ICT tools that support multiple languages are recommended when stakeholders are from different countries and culture to overcome language barricade.
Objectives:
The salient features of Internet such as pervasiveness and ubiquity, interactivity, embeddedness , malleability, virtualization, miniaturization and augmentation improve the level of collaboration between different parts of the innovation system, and in particular between universities.
The goal of the interdisciplinary collaboration is to advance and deeply strengthen an innovative research focus at the university through the concentration and coordination of university resources , thereby sharpening the research profile of the university. Other goals include the fostering of young scientific talent and equality between male and female researchers. International cooperation is strongly encouraged as it makes possible to establish and extend networks between the centres and research partners abroad.
Moreover, the high quality of funded research projects must always be guaranteed. At the time of application, and indicator of the expected quality is the innovativeness and substantiality of the project as well as the qualification of the project coordinators as well as their academic achievements and international reputation.
The contributing researchers are to be integrated into a working group, so as to be able to work in close proximity to their co-workers. To a certain extent, neighboring and extra-university institutions as well as business and industry may contribute to the collaborative Research Center.
Aim of Collaborative Research
The aim of the Collaborative Research Hub is to establish partnerships with long-term enduring relations, which creates networks and connections to build on the social capital within the primary
health care sector.
The collaborative provides the opportunity to create ‘an engine room’ and platform to consolidate the vast amount of knowledge to provide focus and direction for the Queensland primary health care sector.
This collaboration aims to increase the dialogue between researchers, service providers, funding bodies and consumers at each of the critical stages of development in setting priorities, doing the research, sharing the findings and ensuring end-user application.
Collaborative Research Network (CRN ) Objectives:
• Help smaller and less research-intensive universities adapt to a research system driven by performance outcomes
• Facilitate collaboration between these universities and larger universities with established research strengths
• Improve the level of collaboration between different parts of the innovation system, and in
particular between universities, and
• Address wider national research and innovation goals.
• Utilize research repositories in promoting research and online collaboration
The World Bank announced that it will implement a new Open Access policy for its research outputs and knowledge products, effective July 1, 2012. The new policy builds on recent efforts to increase access to information at the World Bank and to make its research as widely available as possible. As the first phase of this policy, the Bank launched today a new Open Knowledge Repository and adopted a set of Creative Commons copyright licenses.
The new Open Access policy, which will be rolled out in phases in the coming year, formalizes the Bank’s practice of making research and knowledge freely available online. Now anybody is free to use, re-use and redistribute most of the Bank's knowledge products and research outputs for commercial or non-commercial purposes.
ICTs are also being used to transform research from something done by individuals or teams in particular Higher Education Institutions to an activity involving the instantaneous sharing and the collaborative generation of new knowledge by networks of researchers located around the world. This is facilitated by speedy telecommunications and the emergence of social networking sites, wikis, communication tools and folksonomies (the practice and method of collaboratively creating and managing tags to annotate and categorize content. that catalyze online collaboration and sharing among users).
Collaborative Research Hub: A nexus between research and practice
The Collaborative Research Hub provides an important nexus in:
• maintaining a focus on collaborative projects that engage relevant sectors of the community in the pursuit of solutions; and
• knowledge transfer through "linkage and exchange" - the interaction, collaboration, and exchange of ideas
The following objectives were agreed by the partnership and supported under the Memorandum of Understanding. They include:
• To provide an environment that facilitates strong links between research expertise and practitioner relevance by exploring collaborative projects.
• To produce joint publications, apply for joint tenders and research grants and seek philanthropic or corporate funding opportunities.
• Identify and build the strengths of each party in relation to the translation of evidence into practice and policy.
• To develop, apply and support innovative and evidenced-based approaches to health service delivery and the management of health issues in the community.
• To build research capacity by supporting training, higher education and skill-development around evidence-based practice and expertise.
• To conduct and promote research that addresses gaps in knowledge in priority areas, builds the evidence-base and contributes to the primary health care sector.
• To examine and apply processes of knowledge transfer to practice and system reform.
• To develop resources, educational tools and conduct workshops that promote the implementation of evidence into practice, particularly at the local level.
• Provide a platform to build research strength, focus and collective knowledge that can be shared across all key stakeholders.
Knowledge Networks
Knowledge networks will be established under each priority research stream and used as a platform to support an action research agenda incorporating the complex social determinants of health, which impact on health policy and planning. Knowledge networks will comprise of experts (from Divisions of General Practice, researchers, policy makers, consumers and both government and NGO representation) to support the translation of knowledge in practice in driving systematic and institutional change.
European Collaborative R & D
Support for businesses in the process of identifying, applying for and managing collaborative research projects. Research Hub offers the following services:
Bid writing and bid management support for UK and EU collaborative research and
development funding programmes, including technical, financial and administrative management of EU funded projects
Innovation strategy consultancy providing support to identify and exploit appropriate
innovation funding strategies, network development and technology transfer opportunities.
Specialist Placement Service – placement of specialist experts to assist organisations
with their research and project management needs.
Collaborative research programmes offer excellent opportunities for companies to make significant strides in developing new technologies, products and services which they would have found difficult or impossible to do on a standalone basis.
The benefits of participating in European collaborative R&D projects include:
• Access to substantial UK and EU R&D grant funding
• Development of high value international networks
• Access to world class R&D facilities and expertise
• Creation and ownership of valuable intellectual property
• Helps to create competitive advantage
• Support strategic growth
• Development of new products and services
• Greater visibility for the company
• More likely to attract external investment
• Access to new markets
For private sector clients the hub can:
• Develop innovation strategies including identifying and exploiting technologies already owned by them
• Access appropriate funding streams
• Broker partnership and develop networks in the UK and internationally
• Help with the management of collaborative projects, for those clients without either resource or the required expertise.
For public sector clients the hub develop and manage projects and programmes to support regional and national economic development, through innovation and enterprise.
Future Internet Research & Experimentation
The Internet is now much more than it was ever envisaged to be. Rather than simply a communication system, it has become the backbone of modern society. For many it is inconceivable to live life without being 'connected'.
New and unexpected applications and services are emerging from cutting-edge technological developments that shape the requirements for future ones.
The growth of the Internet is strictly intertwined with socio-economic, environmental and
technological development, no matter how small, may have multifaceted and even unexpected consequences.
Any consideration of new ways to approach the Internet from the most fundamental level simply cannot be limited to paperwork. It requires early experimentation and testing in large-scale
environments, even though some of these ideas might only be implemented in the long-term.
At the University of Lincoln, we understand that the best research outcomes are achieved through
collaboration. The University is keen to explore where new partnerships might work to uncover original areas of research, or contribute innovative knowledge or cutting-edge solutions to critical problems and challenges faced by business or the wider community.
We work with a wide range of organisations, from small and medium-sized businesses through to public sector bodies, governments and multinationals. With access to a wide range of research centres and networks throughout the academic world, our researchers provide tailored expertise through blue sky and applied research, consultancy and knowledge exchange.
In Lancaster University , the Centre for Technology Enhanced Learning is the research and evaluation centre for technology enhanced learning (TEL) within the Department of Educational Research. The Centre supports the wide range of research work within our Department that is concerned with teaching and learning with digital technologies and with widening digital participation across a range of populations.
The work of the Centre builds on the previous methodological and philosophical approaches to research undertaken through the world-renowned centre, CSALT, with its focus on networked and collaborative learning. The Centre brings together the many areas of expertise of current staff and students in the department, and the extensive studies we have carried out into a variety of aspects of technology enhanced learning in the UK and abroad.
Research Repositories
The wide variety of Information Through Research Hub is used to Promote Research and online collaboration . An ‘online library’ containing all of the academic papers and other research output produced by the host institution(s). As far as possible, the information is made freely available, permanently to everyone. This is referred to as ‘Open Access’. There are significant benefits to this approach.
• They increase the Institutional research profiles
• Increase citation counts
• Increase opportunities for collaboration
• They also make knowledge available to practical decision makers in society
• Can allow us to gather data on usage activity and research output
• Are becoming an essential for modern scholarly communication
The Collaborative Research Networks (CRN) program is part of a suite of initiatives to reform higher education teaching, learning, research and research training. These reforms will lead to a university system that is focused on quality, excellence, collaboration, and sustainability.
CCREC uses “Collaborative Research” as an umbrella term for methodologies that actively engage communities and policy makers in the research process from start to finish.
This means that university researchers, community-based organizations, and policy makers will work together to:
• frame the problems to be tackled and the questions that need to be answered;
• undertake the research and interpret the results in terms of their significance for community and policy change; and
• disseminate the research findings and advocate for change.
together they might know better how to understand the complex problems facing our communities and how to design and implement research-based responses to those problems.
While there are a variety of disciplinary approaches currently used by CCREC Fellows and Affiliates (such as Community Based Research, Community Based Participatory Research, Engaged Scholarship, Participatory Action Research, and Translational Research), CCREC considers three elements to be central: (1) equity-oriented, (2) collaborative, and (3) community-based. As such, CCREC prefers the term Equity-Oriented Collaborative Community-Based Research (EOCCBR) to refer to the kind of work that the Center supports through its programs and other activities.
Collaborative research programs have a significant impact on the structure of national innovation systems by creating and strengthening networks which are essential for breeding innovation clusters. These networks involve both technology and market stakeholders and are extended to include industry, research and technology producers. Network activities have resulted in setting priority in research and linking research fields that have high potential to coalesce into distinct technological clusters.
NORDP – National Organization of Research Development Professionals
To support a research program of multiple projects directed toward a specific major objective, basic theme or program goal, requiring a broadly based, multidisciplinary and often long-term approach. A cooperative agreement research program generally involves the organized efforts of large groups, members of which are conducting research projects designed to elucidate the various aspects of a specific objective. Substantial Federal programmatic staff involvement is intended to assist investigators during performance of the research activities, as defined in the terms and conditions of award. The investigators have primary authorities and responsibilities to define research objectives and approaches, and to plan, conduct, analyze, and publish results, interpretations and conclusions of their studies. Each research project is usually under the leadership of an established investigator in an area representing his/her special interest and competencies. Each project supported through this mechanism should contribute to or be directly related to the common theme of the total research effort. The award can provide support for certain basic shared resources, including clinical components, which facilitate the total research effort. These scientifically meritorious projects should demonstrate an essential element of unity and interdependence
Colloborative Hubs on Research projects
• Grant applications for cooperative agreements to establish regional research hubs to increase the evidence base for mental health interventions in World Bank designated low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Each regional hub is to conduct research and provide capacity-building opportunities in one of six geographical regions (i.e., East Asia and the Pacific; Europe and Central Asia; Latin America and the Caribbean; Middle East and North Africa; South Asia; Sub-Saharan Africa).
• IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) Supported by the NIH's National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), these networks promote the development, coordination, and sharing of research resources and expertise that will expand the research opportunities and increase the number of competitive investigators in the IDeA-eligible states supported by NCRR's.
• NIGMS Glue Grant
Makes resources available for currently funded scientists to form research teams to tackle complex problems that are of central importance to biomedical science and to the mission of NIGMS, but that are beyond the means of any one research group.
physiology and disease. Emphasis is on collaborative infrastructure for research on human ear disorders, where a combined approach can optimize expertise from a few small laboratories, improve the targeted procurement and shared use of particular temporal bone tissues, and coordinate training of new otopathologists and technicians.
• Collaborative R34s for Pilot Studies of Innovative Treatments in Mental Disorders To support collaborative preliminary intervention studies to evaluate the feasibility, tolerability, acceptability and safety of novel mechanism drug candidates, promising investigational new drugs (INDs), or novel psychosocial strategies for the treatment of mental disorders and for obtaining the preliminary data needed as a pre-requisite to larger-scale (efficacy or effectiveness) intervention or services studies.
• Collaborative R01s for Clinical and Services Studies of Mental Disorders, AIDS and Alcohol
Use Disorders
To support collaborative intervention trials in the treatment, prevention or rehabilitation of those with mental disorders and alcohol use disorders and comorbid mental disorders. Support is also provided for other collaborative clinical studies, including but not limited to mental health services research, AIDS, genetics, psychopathology, stigma, and cultural and social processes.
• Collaborative Interdisciplinary Team Science in Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolic
Diseases (R24)
To provide support to enable strong investigative teams to do inter- and/or trans-disciplinary research on a complex problem in biomedical science relevant to Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases.
• Collaborative Interdisciplinary Team Science in NIDDK Research Areas (R24) Grant Collaborative Interdisciplinary Team Science Awards will foster the application of interdisciplinary, integrative and/or paradigm-shifting approaches to address complex challenges in biomedical research relevant to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Diseases.
• Centers without Walls for Collaborative Research in the Epilepsies: Genetics and Genomics of
Human Epilepsies (U01) To encourage linked cooperative agreement (U01) applications from large, multidisciplinary
groups of investigators to accelerate the rate of progress in identifying the genetic factors that contribute to epilepsy syndromes. Linked applications may include an administrative core, a genetics core, and specific scientific projects proposed for the initial performance period of the Center without Walls.
• Collaborative Clinical Trials in Drug Abuse (Collaborative R01) The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) seeks to increase the clinical collaboration of investigators between multiple clinical research groups, while simultaneously facilitating the study of outcome measures and/or patient populations that require larger numbers of subjects than any single site can reasonable enroll. This mechanism supports collaborative clinical trials in drug abuse (CCTDA) through the funding of “linked” Research Project Grant (R01) applications across different study sites.
• Collaborative Research in Integrative Cancer Biology and the Tumor Microenvironment (U01) The National Cancer Institute aims to facilitate new projects in integrative cancer biology and/or tumor microenvironment research and to extend current research.
• Collaborative Research on the Transition from Acute to Chronic Pain: New Models and Measures in Clinical and Preclinical Pain Research (R01) The National Cancer Institute aims to facilitate new projects in integrative cancer biology and/or tumor microenvironment research and to extend current research.
• NINR Centers of Excellence in Symptom Science (P30) and Building Research Teams for the
Future (P20)
International Collaboration
• Indo-US Collaborative Program on Low-Cost Medical Devices (R03) To encourage collaborative research and/or technology development between scientists and engineers in the United States and India to develop new, low cost, appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic medical technologies for low-resource settings.
• NIH-NSF Ecology of Infectious Diseases Program: A Joint Program for Multidisciplinary Research
Joint Fogarty International Center (FIC) of NIH and the NSF to support to multidisciplinary teams in the development of predictive models and the discovery of principles governing the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases to humans and other hosts. Should include research in diverse disciplines.
• Chronic, Non-Communicable Diseases and Disorders Across the Lifespan: Fogarty International Research Training Award (NCD-LIFESPAN) (D43) Encourages applications for the Chronic, Non-Communicable Diseases and Disorders Across the Lifespan: Fogarty International Research Training Award (NCD-LIFESPAN) D43 program for collaborative research training between institutions in the U.S. and low-and middle-income countries (LMIC), defined by the World Bank classification system.
• Collaborative Hubs for International Research on Mental Health (U19) Grant applications for cooperative agreements to establish regional research hubs to increase the evidence base for mental health interventions in World Bank designated low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Each regional hub is to conduct research and provide capacity-building opportunities in one of six geographical regions (i.e., East Asia and the Pacific; Europe and Central Asia; Latin America and the Caribbean; Middle East and North Africa; South Asia; Sub-Saharan Africa).
• Scientific Meetings for Creating Collaborative Research Teams under the Indo-US Program for Contraception and Reproductive Health Research (CRHR) (R13) encourages Research Conference Grant (R13) applications from institutions and organizations that propose to develop collaborative research teams to address priority areas under the Indo-US Program for Contraception and Reproductive Health Research (CRHR).
• Scientific Meetings for Creating Collaborative Research Teams under the Indo-US Program for Maternal Child Health and Human Development Research (MCHDR) (R13) encourages Research Conference Grant (R13) applications from institutions and organizations that propose to develop collaborative research teams to address priority areas under the Indo-US Program for Maternal, Child Health and Human Development Research (MCHD). Teams must include investigators from US and Indian institutions involved in basic, clinical and social and/or behavioral sciences with particular emphasis on maternal, infant and child health.
Renowned EU and Indian experts who will explore opportunities, identify challenges, make recommendations for alignment of policy instruments, and set out joint action plans to achieve mutually beneficial ICT research to serve technological, economic and societal objectives in the EU and in India with the didigated groups of ICT addressing Societal challenges , Audio Visual Media and Internet , Emerging Technologies and EInfrastructures.
Conclusion:
References:
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