Support for Research Team Seminars in Anthropology

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Although digital communication is a key component of team research, studies on the practice of collaborative science also demonstrate that face-to-face interaction is needed to successfully advance research, which can be challenging to achieve when investigators are located throughout the United States and in other countries. NSF/SAR (School for Advanced Research) research team seminars benefit the field of anthropology by providing important opportunities for in-person collaborative interdisciplinary research, given the lack of resources to bring busy scholars together for an extended time that is free of everyday professional responsibilities. Supporting both existing and new research teams of U.S. and international scholars with in-person focused, uninterrupted time to discuss, synthesize, and analyze results of their collaborative research, this project will result in plans for successful completion, expansion, and development of new projects that will benefit and enrich the field of anthropology. This project will also support the NSF's goals of building scientific infrastructure through collaboration and increasing understanding of the causes, consequences, and complexities of human social and cultural variability.This project addresses the advancement of collaborative, interdisciplinary, and international research in anthropology by an in-person team of scholars. The project also increases discovery and understanding, as well as the quality and importance of the products resulting from this type of research framework. With NSF funding, the School for Advanced Research (SAR), an advanced research center for anthropology and allied disciplines located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, will implement three years of research team seminars in cultural anthropology, biological anthropology, and archaeology. Eligible research teams will have a primary focus on a question of anthropological importance that is timely and addresses a specific need. Seminars will be selected by an expert panel of SAR staff and external scholars through an annual competition. For each seminar, NSF funding will cover domestic and international travel, lodging, meals, and other related costs for up to 10 participants (6 U.S. and 4 international scholars) to meet in the SAR Seminar House for three days. Funding will also support a portion of SAR staff salaries to administer the project and advertising of the research team opportunity. Organizers of the research team seminars are expected to develop a meeting schedule in advance and provide SAR with a report after the seminar concludes that describes activities and results, including plans for new research, publications in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes, and conference presentations.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.