A key mechanism to help facilitate inclusivity and motivate cross-disciplinary teaming is embodied by the partnership between the Office of the Vice President for Research and Partnerships and the Provost’s Office Center for Faculty Excellence.
This partnership creates open workshops aimed at informing faculty, staff and students of the mission and goals of each of the multidisciplinary centers and institutes supported by the OVPRP and allows for networking that could lead to the creation of convergent teams that work together to pursue ambitious sponsored research opportunities.
On Mar. 1, the Data Institute for Societal Challenges and the Center for Faculty Excellence co-hosted a workshop to bring OU researchers from across disciplines together to ideate research topics that impact society’s challenges. Three breakout sessions facilitated conversations regarding how DISC’s personnel and resources could support multidisciplinary research regarding:
- High-Performance Computing, facilitated by DISC faculty fellow Chongle Pan
- Mis-information/Dis-information, facilitated by DISC faculty fellow Jeong-Nam Kim
- Humanities, Social Sciences, Society and Community Transformation, facilitated by DISC senior associate director Erin Maher
DISC supports several communities of practice and participation is welcome and encouraged. These include bioinformatics, brain and behavior, digital humanities, earth science systems, opioids research, supply chain networks, community engagement, neuroscience, and 3D workflow. Any OU faculty member interested in learning more or getting involved in shaping the research direction of the identified areas above is encouraged to contact the group facilitator. The expectation is that the resulting research teams will generate a one-page summary of their research proposal to then begin seeking extramural funding. If you are interested in starting a new community of practice, please email disc@ou.edu.
Future OVPRP/CFE events will be posted on the OVPRP event page as they are planned and promoted through the Research Insider newsletter, Provost Academic Bulletin, and OVPRP social media.
