interventional researcher networking

Interventional

Researcher Networking

VIVO Conference 2011 – Jeff Horon, Tony Tsai, Jennifer Hill

Science of Team Science Conference

Jeff Horon

Agenda

Why interventional networking?

How it works

What to do

(within your own organization or study)

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A [isn‟t aware of] B

C [is aware of] D

[but wouldn‟t collaborate with D yet]

Why networking at all?

To bridge informational and social gaps, e.g.:

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Why bridge information gaps?

To benefit from direct awareness effects

A [is aware of] B

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To benefit from information broker effects

A [expresses a need to] B

C

[is aware of]

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To benefit from information broker effects

A

C

B

[connects]

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Imagine a network where…

Everyone knows 1 in 20 colleagues (5%)

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To counter researcher objections, e.g.

Objection: “I already know everyone

working in my field”

Reality: Never the case in my experience!

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Why interventional networking?Evidence: University of Michigan Disease

Target Sponsored Project Network

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Why interventional networking?Evidence: University of Michigan Disease

Target Sponsored Project Network

Core group members were unaware of non-core-group researchers

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Evidence: University of Michigan Researchers

working with a family of anatomical concepts

Senior researcher listed 40 colleagues by name

Search found ~1,500 on campus working with

relevant concepts, hundreds as an area of

focus

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Another common objection:

Objection: “I only need a new collaborator every couple years and I only look for them when I need them”

Reality: This is in-the-moment thinking. Knowledge before-the-fact can be helpful, for direct connections or to help one connect others. Also, don‟t forget about serendipitous interactions.

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Recall

A

C

B

[connects]

In order to be helpful,

B had to be aware of

C by the time A

expressed a need

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Researchers don‟t know everyone working in their field

Researchers can help themselves and others through networking before there is an explicit need

But belief in these objections is pervasive and could undermine adoption of researcher networking tools

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Why interventional networking?Simply making the data available isn‟t enough

because researchers use defective networking strategies

Typical defective networking strategy: “Who should I invite to an event?” (conference, poster session, etc.)

-My department

-Maybe that other department

-People I‟ve worked with in the past

-Other people I know of

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But what about people you don‟t know?

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Variation to introduce: Intervention!

Norms that lead to defective strategies

Research networking tools should ease interventional networking

Jeff Horon

How interventional networking works

Objectively detect people working in a

field

Use data to drive better-than-chance

interactions

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Objective detection

Try to capture all relevant researchers,

based upon sponsored project,

publication, or other data

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Objective detection

Objective detection helps deal with defective

networking strategies

Tip: Don‟t disregard personal knowledge.

Use it to check your results.

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Drive better-than-chance interactions

Use data-driven approach to determine:

For awareness interactions,

Who should meet who? (and why?)

Who among that group doesn‟t know who else?

For strengthening existing connections,

Who knows who and to what degree?

Among the weaker connections, which could be strengthened? (and why?)

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What will create better-than-chance

interactions is situation specific, but

reasonable expectations are that they will

occur when researchers:

-don‟t know each other well

-have some common interest(s)

-stand to mutually benefit

Drive better-than-chance interactions

Jeff Horon

For a launch day event we strategized how to:

-Match research interests, project needs, opinions

-Shuffle existing working relationships, rank, etc.

Senior Faculty Junior Faculty

‘Pitch’ Group Mentoring Mixed

Social interaction models for different events throughout the day using a variety of survey, publication, sponsored project, HR, and other data

Case Study: Launching an Institute

Equals

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Data Sources:

Registration Survey

Co-Authorship

(Source: Scival Experts)

Project Co-Participation

(Source: Internal Awards Data)


?

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Matching was based upon the registration

survey…


?

and matched individuals with strong common interests and having reciprocalmethod „have expertise‟ / „need expertise‟ relationships

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Matches were prohibited if individuals had

previously co-authored or participated on a

sponsored project


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Individuals received „Netflix-style‟

recommendations:


Attendee, you

should meet…

(why)

(why)

(why)

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We also arranged the seating chart to

maximize the chances strong matches

would interact


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And mapped attendees according to

conceptual interest ( )


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Preliminary feedback

“I know most of the people on the list, but then again, I should know them. Anyway, there‟s no way the system would know that given that we haven‟t published together.”

“I didn‟t know that she had the same interest in this topic.”

“I like my table assignments. There were a few people I didn‟t know as well as a few that I knew from a long time ago that I could reconnect with.”

“I‟ve never heard of these people on my list. I‟ll see if I can bump into them somehow.”

“I‟ve met two people on my list. I‟ve finished my assignment for the day.”

“I guess I don‟t get one of the cool folders [with recommendations]”

(from a late registrant who missed the data cut-off for matching)


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Outcomes

We have our first set of „Who did we try to introduce to who?‟ data!

Ongoing analysis has been handed off to a research group

Other groups have expressed strong interest


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Next time, instead of:

A [go find] B

We would try:

C [knows] A & B; C [go introduce] A & B

Jeff Horon

Variation to introduce: Intervention!

Norms that lead to defective strategies

Research networking tools should ease interventional networking

Jeff Horon

Q&AJeff Horon – j.horon (at) elsevier.com – http://jeffhoron.com

Jennifer Hill – jenchill (at) umich.edu

http://jeffhoron.com/

interventional researcher networking

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