Click here to view the Oct 11th INTEREACH webinar, with Dr. Pips Veazey, Director of the UMaine Portland Gateway. This webinar explores boundary spanning in the specific context of the challenge to leverage regional and state possibilities and partnerships to maximize impact and reimagine the future of research universities. Dr. Veazey frames the discussion around the idea that many of us have served on large interdisciplinary research teams as facilitators, leaders, brokers and integrators. We synthesize information, refine tools and develop new approaches to enhance the effectiveness of these teams that are composed of people in pursuit of new disciplines, new ways of organizing information and new ways of seeing the world. What if we were asked to expand our frame of reference from an interdisciplinary research team to a statewide university system? How do we capitalize on team science leadership and management expertise to enhance the effectiveness of a university system? How might we as team science experts envision the future of higher education? This webinar includes an interactive discussion exploring the power of our collective experiences to change the future of higher education and the relationship between traditional university research systems and the communities in which they reside.
May 10th: Ideas and techniques for using team time effectively in convergence research teams
Click here to view the May 10th INTEREACH webinar in which we hear from Dr Gemma Jiang on the importance of intentional use of team time. For this webinar, Dr Jiang was inspired by Andrew Carnegie’s book “The Gospel of Wealth”. Here, Dr Jiang equates “Team Time = Team Wealth”, and advocates for the use of Adaptive Spaces to create conscious, collective team time that will ‘give energy’ to the team. She explains that Adaptive Spaces are ways of coming together that plays with the dominant structure, processes, and culture that are ever present and often invisible in the traditional academic research environment. She then provides examples of Adaptive Spaces, offers some observations, and philosophical musings from her perspective as the facilitator of Adaptive Spaces.
April 12th: Taking STEPS Toward Convergence Research Success: Sharing a plan and inviting community wisdom
Click here to view the April 12 2022 INTEREACH webinar, where Drs. Christine Ogilvie Hendren, Gail Jones, and Anna-Maria Marshall introduce Convergence Research efforts within STEPS (Science and TEchnologies for Phosphorus Sustainability), an NSF Science and Technology Center funded in October of 2021. STEPS is a convergence research community of diverse researchers who address the complex challenges in phosphorus sustainability - at once a limited, critical nutrient and a harmful, overabundant pollutant - by integrating disciplinary contributions across the physical, life, social, and economic sciences. During the multiple years that led up to the funding of this 9-university, 30+ investigator Center with as many self-identified disciplinary backgrounds, project leaders intentionally included Team Science and convergence expertise within the team, and welcomed evidence-based methods for collaboration and convergence into the fabric of the planning and the culture. Examples include the incorporation of named Boundary Objects, collaboration planning best practices, group commitment to epistemic humility, interdependence, and knowledge co-creation. This team of STEPS investigators shares Center approaches, plans to research themselves in real time, and most importantly, welcomes insight and feedback from the INTEREACH community.
March 8th: Bridging User Experience and Team Science
Click here to view the Mar 8th INTEREACH webinar led by Dr. Stephanie Vasko, Senior UX Researcher with MESH Research, and Managing Director for the Center for Interdisciplinarity at Michigan State University. In this interactive session, Dr. Vasko presented an introduction to user experience design (UXD) & user experience research (UXR) and to key topics in these fields. We discussed how team science practitioners and researchers can integrate UXR and UXD both into their work and into growing their own web presence. As a way to illuminate the inherent commonalities in boundary-spanning work and UXD/UXR, Dr. Vasko also presented some information about her own UX career path and offered ways that UX is an exciting career option for members of the INTEREACH community.
February 8th: The Art & Science of Adjourning
Click here to view the Feb 8th INTEREACH webinar, the final installment of the Series: The Art & Science of Making Meaningful Moments – Subtle Strategies & Creative Conditions for Effective and Uplifting Facilitation. Hosts Anne Heberger Marino, Founder of Lean-To Collaborations, Hannah Love, Co-Founder of Team Divergent Science, & Alyssa Stephens, Founder of Cactus Consulting join us again to close out this series with some tips for making your meeting closures as “satisfying as a chocolate chip cookie”. Just as chocolate chip cookies can vary greatly based on the ingredients used, adjournment tactics will vary based on the nature of the meeting or retreat. They share 4 key elements to consider when deciding on your specific adjournment strategy: purpose of closure/reflection (including observing, learning, evaluating integrating), depth of reflection, format of reflection, and time available. The hosts then demonstrate 3 interactive adjournment strategies for 1) a quick closure that highlights participant learning, 2) a more in-depth closure for longer meetings and retreats where more reflection is required, and finally 3) ensuring follow-through and generating action items for after the meeting has ended.
January 11th: The Art & Science of Changing Organizational Culture
Click here to view the January 11th INTEREACH webinar, the sixth installment of the Series: The Art & Science of Making Meaningful Moments – Subtle Strategies & Creative Conditions for Effective and Uplifting Facilitation. Hosts Drs Ellen Fisher, Vice President for Research at University of New Mexico, and Ellyn Dickmann, Researcher/Consultant, Dickmann and Associates, LLC lead a highly interactive session addressing why organizational change is so hard, especially in our current cultural context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The presenters focused on alignment of definitions of organizational culture, the specific context of organizational culture in higher education institutions, stages of organizational change, and some telltale signs of when a culture is no longer working. They end by covering 15 strategies to engage as a facilitator of cultural change, with specific examples that our presenters have used in their own organizations. This webinar is great for those looking to learn more about leading and facilitating organizational culture change within their own organization. You can access a pdf version of this slides at this link.
December 14th: Creating Conditions for Compassionate & Resilient Community Work
Click here to view the December 14th INTEREACH webinar, the fifth installment of the Fall Series: The Art & Science of Making Meaningful Moments – Subtle Strategies & Creative Conditions for Effective and Uplifting Facilitation. In this webinar, Courtney Ngai returns (prev. Series Introduction, see “Aug 13”, below) along with series co-host Alyssa Stephens, Founder of Cactus Consulting, to focus specifically on collaborations between academics and community groups, and why, if not facilitated equitably, these types of interactions may result in “missed connections”, such as those see in the craigslist days of old. They argue that in order for these types of collaborations to be compassionate and resilient, 1) they must recognize the power of combining community expertise with scientific knowledge, 2) honor the skills and strengths of each group, 3) understand the needs and capacity of each group, and 4) work towards goals that benefit all parties. They discuss strategies and facilitation tools for building equitable relationships from the group up and baking in best practices throughout the relationship.
November 9th: 20 Small but Game-Changing Strategies for Equitable & Inclusive Facilitators
Click here to view the November 9th INTEREACH webinar, the fourth installment of the Fall Series: The Art & Science of Making Meaningful Moments- Subtle Strategies & Creative Conditions for Effective & Uplifting Facilitation. In this webinar, our presenters Sarah Stephens, Senior Program Coordinator of Community Engagement & Staff Development at Colorado State University, and Megan Jones, Research Scientist at Colorado State University, share strategies to set the foundation, communicate clearly, and planning holistically for equitable and inclusive facilitation. They offer pragmatic tips and tools to implement the 20 strategies and invite the audience’s input for more. The presenters also shared handout of the 20 strategies and the slides with the webinar participants.
October 12th: Articulating the Value & Practice of Science Facilitation
Click here to view the October 12th INTEREACH webinar, the third installment of the Fall Series: The Art & Science of Making Meaningful Moments – Subtle Strategies & Creative Conditions for Effective and Uplifting Facilitation. In this webinar, our presenters Amanda Cravens, Research Social Scientist at US Geological Survey, and Megan Jones, Research Scientist at Colorado State University, present work in progress and invite participants in the discussion to co-develop and deepen our understanding and practice of facilitation. They do this by creating a space for the group to devote time and attention to metacognition and conscious reflection. They propose that science facilitation is a form of facilitation that accounts for the interaction between the cognitive/intellectual with the interpersonal aspects of scientific collaboration and knowledge-making. Their work has been submitted for review, and we will link to it, upon publication.
September 14th: Creating Conditions for Playful & Mindful Facilitation
Click here to view the September 14th INTEREACH webinar, the second installment of our Fall Series: The Art & Science of Making Meaning Moments - Subtle Strategies & Creative Conditions for Effective & Uplifting Facilitation. In this webinar, our presenters Anne Heberger Marino, Founder of Lean-To Collaborations, and Sarah Stephens, Senior Program Coordinator of Staff Development & Community Engagement, Colorado State University, share techniques and tools for encouraging playfulness and mindfulness into workshops, retreats, meetings, and coaching sessions. From unique and creative methods for introducing and getting to know a large group of people virtually, to naming the value of play and mindfulness in collaboration, to breakout sessions to dive deeper, this session was fun-filled yet practical for intentional application of these interactive techniques.