Collaborative Research: AccelNet: An International Network of Networks for Well-being in the Built Environment (IN2WIBE)

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This AccelNet Catalytic level project will facilitate collaborative research, education, and outreach through an International Network of Networks for Well-being In the Built Environment (IN2WIBE). At the core of IN2WIBE is a shared understanding that well-being is strongly dependent on the links between the built environment and the personal, cultural, economic, and social forces that drive health, productivity, satisfaction, and comfort. Research networks on well-being in the built environment exist, however, they are shaped by their institutional, regional, or social contexts and are mostly locally convergent. Well-being in the built environment is a broad research area, and there exist myriad approaches and solutions that emerge from different disciplinary perspectives. These efforts need to be integrated to foster effective, robust, and widely-applicable solutions. IN2WIBE will connect and educate future building scholars on well-being in buildings while informing better building design, construction, operation, and use. This will be achieved through leveraging resources from 34 existing networks and partners in 5 continents (N. America, Africa, Europe, Australia, and Asia), comprising a total of 17 countries. Through strategically designed activities, IN2WIBE will cultivate and foster connections through the development of community consensus. IN2WIBE provides an opportunity to unite disciplinarily, culturally, and geographically diverse networks around the world. Four objectives of IN2WIBE are to: 1) facilitate new forms of collaborations by integrating disciplines and networks in building and health fields; 2) engage networks at multiple stages and scales, including networks in South Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East; 3) promote innovative human-centric building design and operation strategies that will benefit the larger community of scholars and practitioners; and 4) prepare next generation building professionals with a diverse background. Led by multidisciplinary teams, IN2WIBE will foster collaborative research opportunities by coordinating the networks through a series of focused, cross-disciplinary global activities, including roundtable discussions, scholarly retreats, industry showcases, hackathons, TEDx talks, design charrettes, and research workshops and conferences with focused themes. IN2WIBE is targeted to benefit users by improving productivity, cognition, convenience, comfort, health, and energy conservation. Ultimately, this network of networks will promote awareness of healthy, resilient, and sustainable environments. IN2WIBE outcomes will be disseminated via peer-reviewed publications and international talks. The IN2WIBE team, led by female PIs, will empower future researchers with knowledge in building engineering and science, information science, social science, and public health through an interdisciplinary educational program that includes a student exchange program and a career development roundtable. IN2WIBE will also leverage various outreach activities to facilitate minority student recruitment and retention and to engage existing K-12 education and community outreaching programs.The Accelerating Research through International Network-to-Network Collaborations (AccelNet) program is designed to accelerate the process of scientific discovery and prepare the next generation of U.S. researchers for multiteam international collaborations. The AccelNet program supports strategic linkages among U.S. research networks and complementary networks abroad that will leverage research and educational resources to tackle grand scientific challenges that require significant coordinated international efforts. This project is co-funded by the Environmental Sustainability (ENG/CBET) program.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.