HIBAR RESEARCH ALLIANCE NEWSLETTER - OCTOBER 2020

WELCOME

Welcome to the first newsletter of the HIBAR Research Alliance. In each issue, we will share updates on ongoing HRA activities, upcoming events, and links to new resources that will help you to carry out HIBAR research projects more effectively, or enable others to do so. You can find additional information and resources at www.hibar-research.org. Please feel welcome to share this newsletter with your colleagues – they can join our mailing list HERE.

If at any time you wish to unsubscribe, you can do so by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this and every newsletter issue. We aim for this newsletter to be a valuable resource for you, and we would appreciate any feedback or suggestions that you can offer regarding content that you would find helpful in the future.

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The HIBAR Research Alliance brings together contributors who share the vision of an improved research and innovation ecosystem that better contributes to solving society’s critical problems. By enabling more HIBAR research, we can greatly accelerate the innovations that contribute to the public good.

The activities of the HIBAR Research Alliance are open to all individual contributors, and organizations may join the Alliance as either a Member or an Affiliate. Please visit the About the HRA section of our website to find out how you, or your organization, can participate. We look forward to working with you!

Lorne Whitehead, Alliance Director

Introducing the HRA Fellows Program

The HIBAR Research Alliance has established the HRA Fellows program to recognize individuals who make multiple, significant, and sustained contributions to the leadership and/or development of the Alliance. In June 2020, the HRA Governing Council conferred this designation, for the first time, on two highly deserving contributors: Marc-David Seidel and Scott Slovic.

We are grateful to Dr. Seidel and Dr. Slovic for their many valuable contributions toward first launching, and now leading, the HIBAR Research Alliance. They have each shared their vision of how HIBAR research can shape the future of the research ecosystem here.

READ THE INTERVIEWS

Aligning the Academic Incentive System

Do you feel the academic incentive system could be better aligned to encourage researchers to engage in HIBAR research? If you think there is room for improvement, as the members of the HRA Collaborative Action Group on Academic Incentive Systems do, then you might like to read their discussion paper and join the conversation.

READ THE DISCUSSION PAPER

Contributing to the Endless Frontier Act Discussion

The Endless Frontier Act, currently being considered by the US Congress, would provide a $100 billion strategic investment in a reformed and renamed National Science and Technology Foundation to bolster science and technology research and development. This considerable increase in overall funding may mark a major shift in the US research and development priorities. It also is a potentially significant opportunity for a major step forward toward realizing the HRA’s vision of an improved research and innovation ecosystem that better contributes to solving society’s critical problems.

The HRA management group views that this shift should include a recognition that significant technological advances to address pressing societal challenges are the result of interactions in an ecosystem rather than as a linear process, and that major breakthroughs are more likely when researchers collaborate across institutional, sectoral, and disciplinary boundaries, as is the case in HIBAR research projects. We had the opportunity to join this national discussion by publishing an article in Issues in Science and Technology.

We have a critical window of opportunity to contribute to this discussion, with a hope of positively influencing the societal impacts of research, and we are working with other organizations to help advance this discussion.

READ THE ARTICLE

UPCOMING EVENT

GUIRR webinar featuring NSF's Convergence Accelerator

You may be interested in joining this upcoming webinar: The Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable (GUIRR) is hosting a webinar on October 27 featuring the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Convergence Accelerator, a new capability designed to transition basic research and discovery toward impactful solutions. The Convergence Accelerator’s Program Directors Pradeep Fulay and Lara Campbell will discuss the Convergence Accelerator model and the current research areas in progress.

REGISTER

Building a durable infrastructure for HIBAR projects

In the most recent event in our webinar series, organized by our Collaborative Action Group on Facilitating HIBAR research across disciplines, Dr. Fonna Forman, the Director of the UCSD Center on Global Justice, shared inspiring work during the past decade to create the UCSD Community Stations, a network of field hubs located in disadvantaged neighborhoods on both sides of the San Diego-Tijuana border. Dr. Forman shared how the community members and researchers have developed long-term relationships through which trust has built as a result of being a constant positive presence in each other’s lives, enabling a platform for HIBAR research projects that address key societal issues and have the potential to lead to policy changes that enact lasting positive change in the communities. You can watch a recording of each of the HRA webinars here.

WEBINAR RECORDINGS