CoLab Workshop Roundtable Discussion

UF Water Institute Facilitates First Collaborative Workshop

On March 22, the UF Water Institute hosted a Collaborative Workshop for 22 Water Institute Affiliate Faculty. The purpose of the workshop was to provide an opportunity for faculty from various disciplines to quickly meet each other, reveal shared research interests, and ultimately to facilitate formation of interdisciplinary faculty teams to prepare research proposals for the 2019 Water Institute Graduate Fellows (WIGF) program.

Participating Affiliate Faculty benefitted from the opportunity to quickly meet and network with faculty outside of their discipline. The first activity in the workshop consisted of about an hour of back-to-back, three-minute speed meetings, during which participants discussed each other’s research interests and specialties. Following lunch, faculty rotated through three 20-minute Idea Tables to discuss in more detail shared areas of research interest.

Once the group’s areas of shared research interest were revealed and discussed, the workshop’s facilitator, Dr. Carol Lippincott, led a group discussion to focus shared interests into potential research proposal themes. Participants then assigned themselves to research themes of interest, and the Water Institute is initiating meetings of those potential proposal teams.

This was the first time the UF Water Institute facilitated such a workshop, which focused exclusively on collaboration and provided an opportunity for its Affiliate Faculty to quickly meet many faculty from other disciplines and explore shared interests. Due to interest expressed by participants, the Water Institute plans to other Collaborative Workshops in the future.

If you are interested in participating in a future Collaborative Workshop, please contact Carol Lippincott, Research Coordinator III with the UF Water Institute.