Developing Research Collaborations

John Zeleznikow

School of Management and Information Systems. Victoria University

john.zeleznikow@vu.edu.au

0432154217

ANZAM Mid-Year Doctoral Workshop- Friday 17 August 2012

My situation• B.Sc.(Hons), Monash University 1972 –

major in pure mathematics, minors in statistics and applied mathematics

• PhD., Monash University 1979 – abstract algebra

• Grad Dip. Computer Science 1986 – University of Melbourne

My PhD

• For first three years I was involved in Federal Politics (Whitlam era)

• Did some literature survey, but little else• Commonwealth Scholarship ran out at end of

1975• So I took on a full-time tutorship at University

of Melbourne• AND became a councillor (City of Caulfield)

plus started running marathons

Completing my PhD• In 1978, my group lost control of council and I became

disillusioned with politics.• My supervisor tried to convince me to drop my PhD and

learn computer science• But I wanted the degree, did not like computing and

worked hard over 9 months to successfully complete a high quality thesis of 120 pages.

• Over the 5 years of my thesis I– never attended a conference– never collaborated with others– wrote two single author journal articles: another two single

author journal articles were published after I graduated

Post PhD• By 1979, there were very few academic jobs in

Australian Mathematics departments – and I always wanted to be an academic.

• My supervisor managed to obtain a job for me an assistant professorship at Northern Illinois University, in De Kalb Illinois, 100 kilometres west of Chicago

• I hated De Kalb (and NIU did not at that time have a graduate maths program) and obtained an assistant professorship at Michigan State University in East Lansing. MSU was a far better and more cosmopolitain university. I was there 1980-1983.

• By then I decided I wanted to be back in Australia, and applied for and was accepted to undertake a law degree at Monash University.

Back to Australia

• At that time, my prospective partner obtained a postdoc at MIT

• She did not want me to return to Australia or become a student.

• So Ies managed to obtain an assistant professorship at an elite womens college, Mt. Holyoke in Amherst MA. I was there 1983-1985.

• In 1985, we returned to Melbourne.• At 35, I had a PhD, but no job and a very limited

academic record (4 journal articles)

Commencing collaborations• However, once I went to USA, I developed the travel bug.• So I went to conferences and gave seminars in Milwaukee WI,

Iowa City IA, Birmingham AL, San Antonio TX, Davis CA, Lincoln NE, San Francisco CA, Denver CO, Cincinnati OH, Plattsburgh NY, NYC NY.

• I also developed the donesire to attend international conferences: Szeged Hungary, Darmstadt Germany, Oxford, Lyon France, Marseille France, Antwerp Belgium

• As well as running lots of marathons, I managed to visit lots of different places, understand different cultures and university systems and develop friendships.

• But no collaborations yet!!!• Whilst living in Boston, I attended computer science courses

at MIT and Harvard.

Moving into Computer Science• Back in Melbourne I commenced study in a

Graduate Diploma in Computer Science and worked half-time as a senior tutor in Mathematics.

• By June I was offered a lectureship in computing at RMIT – teaching databases, which relies upon algebra.

• I started looking at research projects: Artificial Intelligence in Banking and travel – with my then partner.

• And started looking for research grants.

French Government Scientific Fellowship

• Through my PhD supervisor, I had become friendly with a researcher at Universite Paris 6 working on theoretical computer science.

• I decided six months in Paris would be nice and applied for a French Government Scientific Fellowship.

• One of the requirements was to be fluent in French – which I was.

• I am not sure about how much competition there was, but I received the grant.

• This allowed me to enjoy myself, meet interesting people and give me a track record.

• A track record distinguishes you from others!!!• I eventually received a tenured lectureship (soon senior

lectureship) at LA TROBE.

Developing research collaboration• Over the years 1990-1995, I ran lots of conferences

and workshops and gave seminars to build up my profile in Artificial Intelligence and Law.

• In a presentation I gave to the Victorian Society for Computers and Law, I met a young lawyer with whom I wrote a book and a dozen journal articles.

• He received a PhD from Cambridge and was a Professor at University of Melbourne and University of Pennsylvania.

• I obtained a professorship and many research grants.

Overseas Collaboration• Through running conferences and hosting overseas

visitors, I made a number of important contacts.• One of them invited me to to spend a sabbatical in

Tilburg.• I managed to get a Dutch Government Scientific

Fellowship to support our stay• I gave seminars at every Dutch Law School, and gave

seminars, attended conferences and ran marathons in Dublin, Venice, Florence, Stirling, York and Exeter.

• I also gave seminars at lots of Australian universities: Melbourne, Monash, Deakin, Swinburne, Ballarat, Charles Sturt, University of New South Wales, UTS, Newcastle, Bond, QUT, University of Queensland, University of South Australia, Murdoch and Curtin.

Publicising your research• To develop collaboration you need to advertise

your research.• Obviously publishing in prestigious journals and

in some disciplines conferences, is important.• But giving seminars at university is also an easy

and efficient way to let people know what you are doing.

• But what about using the media.

Publicising your research – Split Up• Split Up uses machine learning to advise upon the

distribution of marital property following divorce • Used by London Daily Telegraph on divorce of

Charles and Di.• ABC Law Report• Also by Boston Globe to model opinions of Chief

Justice Roberts.• See also AI am the Law in Economist.• Led to involvement of Victoria Legal Aid and

Phillips and Wilkins and a Linkage Grant

Publicising your research – Family Winner

• Family Winner uses game theory to help people in a dispute engage in trade-offs

• See New Inventors• CNN desktop divorce -

http://money.cnn.com/video/#/video/news/2007/10/12/tinker.desktop.divorce.cnnmoney

• Led to involvement of Relationships Australia Queensland and a Linkage Grant

Publicising your research – Sports Analytics

• We are developing machine learning algorithms to provide advice about strategic decision making for elite athletes in– Track cycling– Rowing– Swimming– Triathlons

• See article “Riding smart: how AI gives Olympic track cyclists an edge” in The Conversation

• http://theconversation.edu.au/riding-smart-how-ai-gives-olympic-track-cyclists-an-edge-7999

• Led to involvement of Victorian Institute of Sport and Australian Institute of Sport and a Linkage Grant

International Research Collaborations• All this hard work has led to a number of very successful research

collaborations:• 1. Uri Schild, Bar Ilan University – sentencing decision support: 3

journal articles & 5 conference articles.• 2. Arno Lodder, VU University Amsterdam – Online Dispute

Resolution Framework – 1 Cambridge University Press book, 1 Harvard Negotiation Law Review Article and 1 conference article

• 3. Paulo Novais and others at University of Minho Portugal – Modeling Emotions in Negotiation – 2 journal and 4 conference articles

• 4. Vladimir Brusic, Harvard University – 5 journal and 3 conference articles

• 5. Ruili Wang, Massey University New Zealand, 1 journal article and 1 conference article

International Research Collaborations• 6. Jim Nolan, Siena College NY – decision support using

soft computing: 1 journal article & 1 conference article.• 7. Amer Obeidi and Steven Mock, University of

Waterloo, Canada – Israel-Palestinian Dispute – 1 journal article

• 8. Berend de Vries, Tilburg, negotiation decision making, 2 conference articles

• 9. Jeroen Keppens, University College London, 2 conference articles

• 10. Tadeusz Tomaszewski, Poznan University of Economics, 1 conference article– 1 European Union Grant– 1 Linkage International grant– 3 Spanish Government Grants– 1 Dutch Government Grant

International Research Collaborations

• I directed Joseph Bell Centre for Forensic statistics and Legal Reasoning at University of Edinburgh Law School: 2001-3.

• I was on sabbatical at Bar Ilan University Israel 1998-9: also Laval University Quebec, Carleton University Ottawa, Queens University Kingston, Wayne State University Detroit, Washington University St. Louis, University of Ohio, University of Delaware, Trinity College Dublin, Queens University Belfast, Lituanian Legal Academy, University of Oslo, Universiy of Stockholm, National University of Singapore.

• I was on sabbatical at University of Massachusetts at Amherst 2007-8: also Bar Ilan University, VU University Amsterdam, University of Paris 2, European Union Institute Florence, University of Torun, Poznan University of Economics, University of Vienna.

Local Research Collaborations• 1. Andrew Stranieri, Latrobe University and University of Ballarat,

machine learning and law, 1 book, 6 journal articles, 41 conference articles, 6 book chapters

• 2. Emilia Bellucci, Latrobe University and Victoria University – game theory for trade-offs in negotiations: 3 journal articles, 26 conference articles and 3 book chapters.

• 3. Brooke Abrahams, Victoria University – ODR – 3 journal articles and 10 conference articles

• 4. Dan Hunter, University of Melbourne, AI and Law, 1 book, 7 journal articles and 10 book articles

• 5. Pam Gray, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst: 3 conference articles

• 6. Clare MacMahon and Bahador Ofoghi, Victoria University, Dan Dwyer, Deakin University and Markus Raab, German Sport University Cologne – strategic decision-making in elite sports: 5 journal articles and 2 conference articles.

FINALLY• Travel widely

• Publicise your research

• Be flexible

• In Europe, universities are strongly encouraged to collaborate.

• In Australia, we see local universities as our competitors.

Collaboration• We now have a grant from Relationships Australia

Victoria to look at using social networking to provide support services for certain groups undergoing divorce (in particular recently separated men).

• Some other mentees are working on logistics and social networking.

• In Europe, universities are strongly encouraged to collaborate.

• In Australia, we see local universities as our competitors.