Description: In the final session of the 2024-2025 INTEREACH webinar series, Virginia Tech researchers, Shalini Misra, Megan Rippy, and Stanley Grant, share their self-evaluation approach to assess the integrative processes and products of the first two years of a five-year National Science Foundation Growing Convergence Research project on addressing inland freshwater salinization. To examine the linkages between integration approaches and products, they analyzed the integrative qualities of fifteen research products and the collaborative processes used to generate these products using a discursive process. They found that large, heterogeneous sub-teams with a broad mix of disciplines and professional expertise produced more interdisciplinary research products, but they relied on skilled integration by the leader, more intensive forms of collaboration, and inclusive problem framing. Teams that relied on deliberation by experts and used more consultative or cooperative mechanisms for engagement produced research that was more uni- or multi-disciplinary. As part of this panel, they will discuss what they learned about the efficacy of the various knowledge integration approaches used in this research and share empirically derived recommendations for designing, implementing, and evaluating convergence research.

Speakers: Shalini Misra, Megan Rippy, & Stanley Grant, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech)

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