Replication and translation of co-innovation: The influence of institutional context in large international participatory research projects

The 4thInternational Polar Year featured a range of large international research projects and included a focus on Education and Public Outreach (EPO). ANDRILL (the ANtarctic geological DRILLing Project) was a large international (USA, New Zealand, Italy, Germany) multidisciplinary research project investigating the sedimentary record of Cenozoic ice sheet dynamics that brought approximately 160 scientists to McMurdo Station in the 2006 and 2007 field seasons, during which two > 1000 m sediment cores were successfully retrieved from the floor of the Ross Sea. ARISE (ANDRILL Research Immersion for Science Educators), the EPO arm of ANDRILL, deployed an international team of six to eight educators each season to Antarctica and embedded them with science teams. ARISE was unique in the EPO spectrum because it deployed ateamof international educators together with an EPO coordinator, offered an on-ice geoscience course for the educators, and supported educator participation at both pre-ice and post-ice meetings. Conservative estimates indicate that at least 314,700 individuals have been reached directly through the wide range of ARISE EPO endeavours.Educator field research immersion is a small subset of educator professional development (PD) opportunities, with little quantitative or qualitative evaluation of polar immersion experiences having been reported. Here, surveys of ARISE educators and scientists are used to evaluate the efficacy of the ARISE program as PD in the context of research on educator PD. Persistent and recurring themes emerging from the surveys are: (1) the positive and reinforcing impact of deployment as a team; (2) the importance of access to scientists across an extended period of time and venues; (3) the importance of ‘doing science’ as a means of learning; and (4) recognition of the senses of excitement, engagement and inspiration displayed by both educators and scientists − about drilling progress, core interpretation, and outreach plans – and the EPO audience. Key components of the program are shown to be (1) deployment of a multi-educator team; and (2) guidance and support of the EPO coordinator at all phases of the ARISE experience.

The global market for production organizations is becoming increasingly dynamic and complex. To address this development, production organizations develop strategies to become smarter in their operations, aiming at more flexibility and just-in-time mechanisms. These strategies imply advanced levels of digitization of the tactical decision making for and operational control of the primary production processes, both within individual organizations and at the level of supply networks. To embody this digitization, a spectrum of advanced digital technologies is available, such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, end-to-end process control, internet-of-things, and augmented reality. The realization of the strategies through digitization with these technologies is, however, severely hindered by two typical problems. Firstly, a large gap often exists between the high-level, abstract intentions formulated in strategies and the detailed, concrete embodiment in digital technology. Secondly, classes of digital technologies often are considered in isolation in projects resulting from a digital strategy, making synergies between technologies almost impossible and thus heavily reducing the added value of digitization efforts. This short commentary paper argues that the effective use of digital architecture in smart production system design is the path to effectively addressing these two problems. The observations and suggested architecture approach are illustrated by experiences with large international research and development projects in the smart production domain.

Improving National and Homeland Security Through a Proposed Laboratory for Information Globalization and Harmonization Technologies (LIGHT)

Laboratory for Information Globalization and Harmonization Technologies: A New Research Initiative

Energy-efficiency has become a hot topic in networking research. Several large international research projects have been activated in recent years on this subject. Examples are GreenTouch [1], conceived at Alcatel Lucent Bell Labs, TREND, EARTH, ECONET, C2POWER, CHRON, STRONGEST, Fit4Green, COST IC 804 [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9], all funded by the European Commission through its 7th Framework Programme, and many national research projects, such as COOL SILICON in Germany and EFFICIENT in Italy. In addition, most equipment manufacturers feature their own internal research projects on this topic, such as GREAT in Huawei. The objective of all these research efforts consists in the reduction of the energy consumption of data networks, but their targets vary, from the 20% saving in today's networks quite realistically claimed by TREND, to the reduction by a factor 1000 in future networks somewhat optimistically foreseen by GreenTouch.

PURPOSE: This article examines how knowledge production creates and maintains colonial dominance and unequal power relations between the Global North and the Global South, with a focus on the context of international inclusive education. It questions how participatory research approaches can methodologically manage these power relations in international practice settings. Dominant Eurocentric scholarship and knowledge have created processes of Othering to justify the supposed superiority of knowledge and practices from the Global North and the assumed inferiority of knowledge from the South. Thus, it is important to understand how the production of knowledge, in the colonial past and contemporary neocolonial world, is shaped by power dynamics and relations. Inclusive education can play a significant role to help these colonial dynamics and their impact on practices that affect marginalized social groups. These power imbalances influence intercultural and international research projects, especially in the field of inclusion and disability. Despite extensive knowledge about disability in the Global South, Eurocentric and Western knowledge production is largely dominated by the Global North. METHOD: The article offers a dialogue on the extent to which participatory research can methodologically help manage these power relations in international comparative research on disability and inclusion. The paper also discusses limitations and challenges faced by inclusive education researchers navigating global power dynamics and realities. The paper offer recommendations on how to decolonize inclusive education research informed participatory research informed by postcolonial thinking and Ubuntu World views. RESULTS: The theoretical dialogue shows that participatory research, with its ontological and epistemological foundations, is able to decolonize research in the international research context on disability. CONCLUSION: The conclusion of this work is that a foundation of postcolonial theories, participatory research and disability/inclusive education provides a solid ground for initiating a paradigm shift.

In response to the call for papers for this special issue and the questions it poses, the authors show how the ontological posthumanist shift of agential realism does not erase but keeps the child human of colour in play, despite the inclusion of the other-than-(Adult)human in its methodologies. Through a montaging technique, the authors explore the philosophical complexity of ‘decentering without erasure’ by re-turning to data from a large international research project – Children, Technology and Play (2019–2020). Through an agential realist reading of interview data ‘of’ ‘seven-year-old’ Henry when visiting him at home in an informal settlement in Cape Town, they show what else is going on, and the politically radical and subtle philosophical difference this makes for reconfiguring child subjectivity. To do more justice to the complexity of reality, the analysis bounces around like Henry's sack ball and zooms in on the role apparatuses such as GoPros play in research. The authors ‘follow the child’ literally but differently, without excluding or erasing the more-than-(Adult)human. In meeting Henry, they also meet Eshal, who introduces the GoPro(blem). By diffractively reading Karen Barad's scholarship through visual and aural texts, the authors respond to the question of how posthumanist research makes a difference to childhood studies. They show how the agential realist move(ment) from Object and Subject to Phenomenon explodes ageist, ableist, racist, extractive and settler-colonial logics in education research.

Agriculture is the backbone of Central Asia’s (CA) economy providing economic and social stability in the region. Sustainable use of agricultural land is therefore of critical importance to economic growth, human well-being and social equity, and ecosystem services. However, severe land degradation through salinization, erosion and desertification is evident and respective impacts on human health and ecosystem services are suspected. This paper aims to analyze current research on agricultural land use in CA through applying the Land Use Functions framework. In particular, it examines the type and relative shares of environmental, economic and social aspects of agricultural land use addressed in existing scientific literature. This study analyzed scientific publications dealing with agricultural land use in five CA countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. A systematic database search of international peer-reviewed articles was conducted using the ISI Web of Science. We selected the English-language articles that were published between 2008 and 2013. After the analysis of paper titles, abstracts and keywords, we found 362 articles relevant to agricultural land use in CA. The analysis indicated that publications concentrating on environmental and economic dimensions of land use functions were primary focus of land use scientists. By contrast, social aspects of land use functions, such as employment, human health and recreational services, and landscape aesthetics received far less importance by international scholars. Interestingly, large portion of articles focused on issues of agricultural land use in Uzbekistan. This is due to the fact that the country extensively benefited from large international research projects in the last decade. By applying the Land Use Functions framework, we identified international research focus and knowledge gaps that future scientists can contribute to the sustainability of agricultural land use in CA.

During spray drying, agglomerates of powder particles are formed, which determine the instant properties of the powder. Between 2001 and 2004 a large international research and technological development project was carried out with the aim of developing an industrially validated (computer) model, using CFD technology, to predict agglomeration processes in spray drying machines. Stickiness of the powder particles is an essential input parameter for the model. In this paper we, therefore, pay special attention to stickiness measurements. A recently developed new method to measure dynamic stickypoints is introduced. Experimental results are shown and compared to the results of static and dynamic stickiness tests using conventional approaches.

How do we prepare young people to understand the complex problems confronting our society and their place as citizens in shaping solutions? Until 1997, the contribution of schools to these challenges was ad hoc and uncoordinated, but with the introduction of citizenship education into the National Curriculum in England a new political project began. Between 2002 and 2012, England has become a leading player in the debate about how to induct young people into democracy. Jerome explores the connections between the values promoted by the government and the forms of citizenship promoted through the National Curriculum and considers: What did the politicians want the policy to achieve? What kinds of citizens were teachers trying to create? What kind of citizens do the young people feel that they have become? To answer these questions this book considers a range of evidence from large scale national and international research projects to single school case studies, conducted with student co-researchers. The study illustrates the complexity of policy making and reveals the gap between curriculum policy and implementation.

Purpose – Aims to examine effective and ineffective leader behaviors from direct participant observations in several cases of a large multiyear cross-industry international research project to prove the hypothesis that effective team performance management requires strong transformational leadership. Design/methodology/approach – Transformational and charismatic leadership theories are briefly discussed from management science to explain how their principles can apply to and be analyzed in the project domain and other fields. Several popular and proven group leader behavior measurement constructs are discussed to show how they can be applied for assessing group leader behavior in any field. Two flexible taxonomies are built for assisting in quantitatively and qualitatively explaining stakeholder perceptions of group leader behaviors and team performance. Four theoretically sampled case studies are analyzed. The taxonomies are analyzed quantitatively and the results are qualitatively evaluated. Findings – The structured research illuminated that both effective and absent transformational leadership behaviors were practiced (idealized influence, inspirational motivation, individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation), which can go unnoticed and un-reflected in the everyday pandemonium of busy project schedules, competing values, and organizational crises, yet in retrospect, these results show that passive or absent leadership is noticed by the team members and sponsors; moreover it negatively impacts on both project effectiveness and stakeholder satisfaction! Research limitations/implications – Leaders, team members, stakeholders, and managers benefit from understanding transformational leadership, since it supports better human relations and organizational change. These cases show that effective team performance can result in minimal application of transformational leadership behaviors as long as they are not absent when required, and positive (not negative such as micro-management). Originality/value – This research suggests that leader behavior is complex since it is situational, supported by multiple and concurrent leadership and trait theories, as well as partly driven by dominant personality.

Background: Participation is presented as a key principle of caring communities. Participatory research directly includes communities and through co-producing knowledge, it would foster sustainable change that matches with local communities' needs. However, in practice, participatory approaches are challenging, and theoretical principles are not always easy to translate in practice. Aim: The goal of this workshop is to jointly advance our understanding of participatory research in relation to caring communities, and to discuss and exchange the challenges and pitfalls related to this type of research. Participants: The workshop is for everyone who is interested in developing, understanding, or evaluating caring communities or wants to be an active part of it. Both people with and without experience in the subject are welcome. Methods: Brainstorm about participatory research in relation to caring communities. What is meant by participation in participatory research? Who ‘should’ participate? (10min) Presenting three case studies using participatory research methods within different community settings (i.e., an urban neighborhood, a municipality, and a higher educational institution) and with different community members (i.e., inhabitants and users of the neighborhood, socioeconomically disadvantaged adults, university students and staff). Each case will present 3 challenges faced within the process. (30min) - Suzannah D’Hooghe studies the role of the perceived local environment in health-promoting behaviors among socioeconomically disadvantaged adults in two peri-urban municipalities in Flanders. Community-based participatory approaches such as walk-along interviews, photovoice, and focus groups were used to i) identify environmental factors affecting eating behavior and recreational walking, and ii) identify actions to promote healthy eating and stimulate recreational walking. - Octavia Kint is involved in a co-creative research project on caring communities in two neighborhoods in Brussels. 80% of the neighborhood-built surface is not used for housing, and is characterized by a large presence of ‘atypical’ neighborhood users: musea, public institutions, companies, shops, commuters,... Together with a group of neighborhood co-researchers we investigated and experimented with how a caring community could be built together with these ‘atypical’ neighborhood users. - Hanne Bakelants studies the development of a Compassionate University in one university setting in Brussels. A participatory action research approach is used in which staff and students i) share challenges they encounter when confronted with serious illness, death, and bereavement, ii) co-define objectives for developing a compassionate initiative within the university context, and iii) co-create and execute an implementation plan in collaboration with the research team. Interactive part: Reflections on case studies: pitfalls, challenges, and opportunities (30 min) - What are the limits of participation for community stakeholders and researchers? - How can we increase community support and involve new stakeholders? - How to deal with power relations? Participants will be divided into groups to discuss these questions related to their practice, followed by a collective discussion. Closing: Plenary ‘sharing’ session (20 min) End goal: People will go home having an example of what participatory research can look like in different contexts and the challenges and opportunities that appear in its practical application.

Drivers of the ecosystem services approach in Poland and perception by practitioners

The extent and reach of commercial cheating opportunities is ever present; thousands of websites promote differing business models offering assignments in multiple languages and currencies. In addition to commercial companies, students are known to outsource their assignments from friends and family. Assignment outsourcing and contract cheating are not a new problem, yet research to-date has been conducted utilising different survey tools and in different locations, thereby alluding accurate comparisons. This paper reports on a large international research project which utilised the same survey tool across multiple countries. Respondents most commonly reported outsourcing assignments from friends and family, and peer-sharing sites, as compared to essay mills. Large differences were found in the self-reported outsourcing behaviours between countries. Due to the differing outsourcing methods used, a new definition is offered for these behaviours: assignment outsourcing.

There is an increasing need for cross-cultural qualitative studies in an era of globalization. A focus group of five researchers, who were involved in a large international research project, identified effective strategies and challenges associated with five key domains of qualitative research with key informants: identification, recruitment, preparation, conducting the interview, and follow-up. Content analysis revealed nuanced tactics related to effective strategies and challenges associated with each domain. Examples of effective strategies include interview preparation to understand the specific expertise of the interviewee and allowing the informant to offer additional information beyond the questions asked. Challenges included technical difficulties with virtual platforms and scheduling interviews in multiple time zones. These findings provide practical guidelines for researchers conducting virtual interviews with international key informants.