EAGER: Collaborative Research: An Experimental Approach to Formulate Transformative Research Questions

当今的社会挑战既复杂又引人注目。为了提高STEM研究在应对这些挑战方面的有效性，有必要制定适当的重要研究问题。纽约州立大学系统管理局和纽约州立大学布法罗分校的这个合作项目旨在试点一个新的平台——发芽空间——帮助研究人员构建和定义变革性的研究问题。调查人员将测试一个重复的过程，包括确定的步骤：问题制定、反思和重新定义。参与将向纽约州立大学系统的所有教职员工、博士后研究员和研究生开放。鉴于纽约州立大学在从代表性不足和服务不足的群体中招募个人进入STEM领域方面的悠久历史，这种开放的方式应该有助于不同参与者的参与。如果成功，这项研究可能会开发出一种新的方法，将导致解决关键社会挑战的变革性研究。如果该项目确定了制定开放和变革性研究问题的基本原则，其结果可以被学术机构更广泛地应用于制定战略和创新的组织和项目结构，以有效地刺激冒险和影响驱动的研究活动。要开发的平台——发芽空间——将包括一个多次迭代的过程，包括制定、反思和重新定义研究问题。研究人员将被引导检查他们的研究问题，挑战基本假设，并利用现有的知识和解决方案在其他学科，最终到达高度变革性的研究问题。来自纽约州立大学各个校区的教师和学生将被邀请参加这个项目。研究将进行，以了解制定开放和变革性研究问题的基本原则。预期这些原则将为个人提出问题的方法和有助于促进个人探索的社会和体制安排提供信息。描述潜在的原则将是有效缩放发芽空间过程的必要先决条件。

Today's societal challenges are complex and compelling. To increase the effectiveness of STEM research in addressing these challenges, it is essential to formulate appropriately significant research questions. This collaborative project from the SUNY System Administration and SUNY at Buffalo seeks to pilot a new platform -- Germination Space -- for aiding investigators to construct and define transformative research questions. The investigators will test a repetitive process with defined steps: question formulation, reflection, and redefinition. Participation will be open to all faculty members, post-doctoral fellows and graduate students in the SUNY system. This open-door approach should facilitate involvement of a diverse spectrum of participants, given SUNY's strong history in recruiting individuals from underrepresented and underserved groups into STEM fields. If successful, this study may develop a new approach that will lead to transformative research to address key societal challenges. If this project identifies underlying principles for formulating open and transformative research questions, the results could be applied more broadly by academic institutions to formulate strategies and innovative organizational and program structures to effectively stimulate risk-taking and impact-driven research activities.The platform to be developed -- Germination Space -- will consist of a multiple-iteration process including formulating, reflecting upon, and redefining research questions. Researchers will be guided to examine their research questions, challenge fundamental assumptions, and leverage existing knowledge and solutions in other disciplines, ultimately arriving at highly transformative research questions. Faculty and students from across SUNY campuses will be invited to participate in this project. Research will be conducted to understand the underlying principles of formulating open and transformative research questions. It is expected that these principles will inform both individual approaches to asking questions, and the social and institutional arrangements that can serve to catalyze individual explorations. Delineating underlying principles will be an essential prerequisite for effective scaling of the Germination Space process.