Description:

1.) Gray et al. (1989) defined collaboration as “a process through which parties who see different aspects of a problem can constructively explore their differences and search for solutions that go beyond their own limited vision of what is possible.” This definition provides an idealized end-state of what to work toward when collaborating with others. It does not, however, describe the nonlinear process, back and forth iteration, and challenges that often arise as individuals with different backgrounds develop and work toward a common goal. This is especially prevalent in the Research to Operations, Applications, Commercialization, Utilization, and other uses (R2X) context, as many researchers work alongside operational entities and practitioners during research and development. These groups share differences in available time and resources, governance processes, organizational culture, perspectives, and communication practices, which make collaboration challenging yet necessary for the benefit of society.

This session seeks abstracts that will feature stories from both researchers and operational practitioners about their R2X collaboration experiences, the challenges and/or obstacles they faced during their collaboration journey, and best practices learned along the way in order to make future collaborations more successful.

2.) Current R2O practices may be overemphasizing technology transfers and underemphasizing the other unique aspects of R&D outputs, such as the transfer of knowledge. Technology transfer is indeed an important priority to NOAA, especially as outlined in the Joint Technology Transfer Initiative as described in the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017. Given the importance of knowledge transfer, we seek abstracts that will feature stories from both physical and social science researchers that have experience and/or are currently in the process of transitioning knowledge to NOAA operations.