INFORMS Open Forum

I have been asked a couple of times for advice on finding research collaborations, so I thought I would provide a few things that have worked for me and invite others to chime in as well (I am interested to hear what other advice people have).  To keep things concise I am limiting to five points...

• Choose collaborators first, and collaborations second: I have found WHO you work with is more important than WHAT you work on.  Having the right people to work with makes research a joy.  
• Be out there: Talk to people -- academics and practitioners -- about your work and their work.  This is how you will find out if you have common interests, and also get an idea about what the person and their working style might be like.
• Be explicit: Before a project starts be clear on who is going to do what, how much time everyone plans to spend, timelines, outlets, authorship, etc.  
• Be picky: You may have to say no to some attractive projects in order to do justice to the collaborations (and collaborators) you already have.
• Have fun!  (Duh.) 

Alan

------------------------------
Alan Scheller-Wolf
Professor
Tepper School of Business
Pittsburgh PA
------------------------------

I would agree with these for the most part, but serendipity also plays a role. One of my best collaborations (both in terms of results and fun) began when I reviewed a paper for a conference and then attended the presentation. Afterward, I introduced myself to the presenter and suggested a possible extension of the work. This might be construed as a violation of the first point (I did not scout the collaborator beyond sitting through the session), but it worked out great.

Working with that person in turn led me to a chance meeting with another person whose work I knew from the lit review for an earlier project in which I was involved. I mentioned I was working in the same area, the other person expressed interest, and a new collaboration was born on short notice.

In both cases, a key was my having an interest in work the other person had done, and being willing to explore it with a stranger.

------------------------------
Paul Rubin
Professor Emeritus
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI
------------------------------

Hi Paul:

Yes, I definitely agree -- we often have to be willing to take a chance with strangers (we all start out as strangers, after all).  

A

------------------------------
Alan Scheller-Wolf
Professor
Tepper School of Business
Pittsburgh PA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 07-13-2023 10:53
From: Paul Rubin
Subject: Finding Collaborators

I would agree with these for the most part, but serendipity also plays a role. One of my best collaborations (both in terms of results and fun) began when I reviewed a paper for a conference and then attended the presentation. Afterward, I introduced myself to the presenter and suggested a possible extension of the work. This might be construed as a violation of the first point (I did not scout the collaborator beyond sitting through the session), but it worked out great.

Working with that person in turn led me to a chance meeting with another person whose work I knew from the lit review for an earlier project in which I was involved. I mentioned I was working in the same area, the other person expressed interest, and a new collaboration was born on short notice.

In both cases, a key was my having an interest in work the other person had done, and being willing to explore it with a stranger.

------------------------------
Paul Rubin
Professor Emeritus
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI
------------------------------

In addition to the ideas mentioned here, I have often sought out people who know some methodology or application that I think is important for what I want to do, but I don't know that methodology or application very well myself. Sometimes this just ends with a conversation and some references, but many times it leads to a collaboration.  I have frequently used this approach for creating (what I think are much stronger) grant proposals.

A related topic is what to do when you are approached about collaborating, a point about which Alan hints above. 

------------------------------
Barry Nelson
Walter P. Murphy Professor
Northwestern University
Evanston IL
------------------------------

Agreed on the points above.

        Attending conferences is a great way to meet potential collaborators. Present your work (even two presentations when permitted) and attend talks of others. Try to chat with people after the session, either during breaks between sessions, but having lunch (or dinner) with them is better.

       Writing to people whose work matches your interests is another approach. This worked well for me when I was the writer (who wrote with an idea of how someone may extend their work) and as the recipient of an email who followed up with a phone conversation on how a collaboration may work.

       Although it can be difficult to do with strangers, at some point in the relationship, you'll come to an understanding of which strengths/interests of yours balance well with theirs. For instance, I most enjoy identifying improvement opportunities and designing new methods (e.g. algorithms) for solving them; meanwhile, computer programming, debugging, and output analysis are relative weaknesses of mine. I can conduct literature reviews with OK competence, but if a collaborator takes the lead on the lit review and initial writeup, then I'm happy with that. I'm a reasonably good writer and usually improve on the initial drafts of my favorite collaborators who did not learn English as early in life as I did. If you consider all the tasks on a research collaboration, you want to assign them based on the respective strengths, skills, and interests of each person.

------------------------------
John Milne
Clarkson University
Potsdam, NY
jmilne@clarkson.edu
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 07-14-2023 09:52
From: Barry Nelson
Subject: Finding Collaborators

In addition to the ideas mentioned here, I have often sought out people who know some methodology or application that I think is important for what I want to do, but I don't know that methodology or application very well myself. Sometimes this just ends with a conversation and some references, but many times it leads to a collaboration.  I have frequently used this approach for creating (what I think are much stronger) grant proposals.

A related topic is what to do when you are approached about collaborating, a point about which Alan hints above. 

------------------------------
Barry Nelson
Walter P. Murphy Professor
Northwestern University
Evanston IL
------------------------------

Great list, much obliged for writing this down.

------------------------------
Ken Fordyce
director analytics without borders
Arkieva
Wilmington DE
------------------------------

Thank you, Alan! Great recommendations everyone and such an important topic. I would like to add that it is very important for the collaborators to have similar goals. For example when do you approximately need the paper to be ready and what type of journals do you need to publish in. Two assistant professors mights work much more efficiently together since they are both on a tenure clock.

------------------------------
Banafsheh Behzad
Associate Professor
College of Business
California State University, Long Beach
------------------------------

I worked for a collaborative research company for 10 years - Electric Power Research Institute. One piece of advice I'd give is to find people willing to collaborate first - look out for those that want to avoid working with other people. I totally agree with your first bullet point in that order!

------------------------------
Aaron Hussey
Founder & CEO
Integral Analytics, LLC
Concord NC
------------------------------