Joint Research Agenda Research Articles

Pathways for an Interdisciplinary Analysis: Legal and Political Dimensions of the European Union’s Position in Global Multilateral Governance

In recent years, the European Union (EU) has increasingly been perceived as an important actor in multilateral institutions at the global level, both within and beyond the United Nations (UN) system. Research on this new topic of EU and global multilateral governance has been conducted by both legal scholars and political scientists, predominantly from the perspective of their respective disciplines. This has resulted in parallel, often unrelated research agendas. This paper sets out to bridge this interdisciplinary divide by bringing these parallel research tracks together to enhance the overall understanding of the EU’s position in global multilateral governance. To this end, a genuinely interdisciplinary framework of analysis is conceived and tested out on three distinct cases of EU participation in the UN system, thus demonstrating the value added, but also the limits, of interdisciplinary research on this topic. The paper concludes by mapping out a future joint research agenda: building on a number of cross-cutting research questions, it offers some possible pathways of how to conduct the type of interdisciplinary research needed to fully understand and explain the EU’s contribution to global multilateral governance.

Patient-expert partnerships in research: how to stimulate inclusion of patient perspectives.

OBJECTIVE To gain more insight into exclusion mechanisms and inclusion strategies in patient-expert partnerships. BACKGROUND Patient participation in health research, on the level of 'partnerships with experts' is a growing phenomenon. However, little research is conducted whether exclusion mechanisms take place and to what extent patients' perspectives are included in the final outcomes of these partnerships. Case study A dialogue meeting attended by experts, patients and patient representatives to develop a joint research agenda. Different inclusion strategies were applied during the dialogue meeting to avoid possible exclusion. METHOD Data were collected by the means of audio and video recordings, observations, document analysis and evaluative interviews. The data are clustered using a framework that divides exclusion mechanisms in three categories: circumstances, behaviour and verbal communication. The data are analysed focusing on the experiences of participants, observation of occurrence of exclusion and difference between input and outcome of the dialogue meeting. RESULTS The circumstances of the dialogue and the behaviour of the participants were experienced as mainly inclusive. Some exclusion was observed particularly with respect to verbal communication. The input of the patients was less visible in the outcome of the dialogue meeting compared to the input of the experts. CONCLUSION This case study reveals that exclusion of patients' perspective occurred during a dialogue meeting with experts, despite the fact that inclusion strategies were used and patients experienced the dialogue meeting as inclusive. To realize a more effective patient-expert partnership, more attention should be paid to the application of some additional inclusion strategies.

DOE Bioenergy Center Special Issue. The Bioenergy Sciences Center (BESC)

This issue of BioEnergy Research is the first of three special issues to feature work from the US Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Centers. In June 2006, the DOE's Genomes to Life Program published a report, entitled “Breaking the biological barriers to cellulosic ethanol: a joint research agenda,” that outlined research areas requiring significant investment in order to meet the target of making cellulosic ethanol cost-competitive by 2012. Words were converted to action in June 2007 when Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman announced the establishment of three new Bioenergy Research Centers. Each center was to receive $135 million over 5 years. The successful competitors for this funding were the Bioenergy Sciences Center (BESC) coordinated from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee, the Joint Bio-Energy Institute coordinated from the DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, and the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center coordinated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The concurrent provision of a $500 million grant from British Petroleum to fund the Energy Biosciences Institute, involving the University of California at Berkeley, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the University of Illinois, completed this unprecedented response to addressing the political, economic, and environmental challenges associated with moving away from an oil-based economy. As outlined in the following article by Davison et al. (pp. 177–178), BESC is multi-institutional consortium with a highly focused set of goals centered around overcoming the recalcitrance of lignocellulosic biomass to enzymatic and microbial saccharification. These goals will be achieved through multidisciplinary approaches, targeted toward gaining an understanding of how cell wall structure impacts saccharification efficiency, to the development of single microbes, or microbial consortia with improved abilities for biomass deconstruction. Central to BESC's research plan is the deployment of state-of-the-art, high-throughput biomass characterization platforms. The two plant species most studied by BESC, poplar (Populus) and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), both have a long history with ORNL as target bioenergy crops. Switchgrass received further publicity through being mentioned in President George W. Bush's 2006 State of the Union address. The papers in this volume all come from the biomass improvement and characterization teams within BESC and provide a progress report of early, baseline work primarily on the above two species. The review by Decker et al. (pp. 179–192) describes the problems associated with high-throughput characterization of biomass, and some of the approaches that BESC is taking to develop a pipeline for the analysis of large plant populations such as used in association mapping studies. The following paper by Foston et al. (pp. 193–197) R. A. Dixon Plant Biology Division, Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, 2510 Sam Noble Parkway, Ardmore, OK 73401, USA

Involving burn survivors in agenda setting on burn research: An added value?

Background and aim The role of burn survivors in burn research is usually restricted to being objects of study and beneficiaries of research results, while decision-making on research is traditionally the domain of a small group of experts, mainly scientists. In this article we compare the research priorities of burn survivors and professionals and investigate to what extent it is possible to come to a joint research agenda. Methodology The project followed the Dialogue Model for research agenda setting. Initially burn survivors and professionals were consulted separately and group-specific lists of research priorities were established, using a literature survey, exploratory interviews ( n = 10), focus groups ( n = 58), a questionnaire ( n = 224) and Delphi rounds ( n = 12). Subsequently, in a dialogue meeting burn survivors and professionals presented and discussed their priorities, developed one integrated list, and prioritized the 15 most important topics on this list. Results Considerable overlap was observed between the research priorities of burn survivors and professionals, particularly with respect to biomedical and clinical research on wound healing and scar management. However, differences were also observed, e.g. treatment of itching and oedema on scars and donor places. Conclusion The model proved useful in eliciting research priorities from both professionals and burn survivors, and in stimulating a meaningful dialogue between these groups. The involvement of burn survivors identified burn research areas that are currently not the focus of research in The Netherlands.

Modeling an irrigation ditch opens up the world. Hydrology and hydraulics of an ancient irrigation system in Peru

Ancient Peruvian irrigation systems have been studied extensively, but much remains unknown about technical and hydrological aspects of these irrigation systems. The Pampa de Chaparrí irrigation system in Peru is used as an example to show how modeling approaches for hydrological and hydraulic features of irrigation can yield results to improve our understanding of irrigation in the area. Analysis focuses on water availability compared demand, the way available water may have been applied to crops and whether the water needed could be delivered through the canal system. Results suggest that on the Pampa some 2500 hectares may have been cultivated within certain security limits for acceptable yields. The rhythm with which the irrigation requirement was applied to crops most likely influenced yields and thus food security. Furthermore, the influence of groundwater on crop growth may have been considerable. The hydraulic behavior of the irrigation system suggests that it should not be taken for granted that theoretically required water flows could actually be diverted and/or distributed to water users. The many questions coming out of the results define important items for a joint research agenda of archeologists and irrigation scientists.

Patients as Partners in a Health Research Agenda Setting

This article deals with the participation of patients in setting the agenda of health research that potentially directly affects their lives. The focus is on the communication problems encountered between lay people and medical professionals in developing a joint research agenda. The author argues that a participatory methodology can address these problems and thereby give patients "a say" in the types of health research that have the greatest chance of affecting them personally. The article uses a case example of people with spinal cord injuries participating in research to support the importance and value of patient participation. The case example also helps to rethink appropriate methodologies or at least to modify existing approaches by paying more attention to required social conditions, diversity, and the life world of patients to foster meaningful participation.

A future for entertainment-defense research collaboration

In 1997, the National Research Council (NRC) issued a report that specified a joint research agenda for defense and entertainment modeling and simulation. This report showed the excellent opportunities for synergy between the entertainment and defense industries. For years, they have been solving similar problems for very different application areas. While those two communities' opposing cultures have been difficult to reconcile, recent efforts have proven promising. The looming question is whether the military sector can follow the leaping technological pace in the entertainment sector. That pace indicates tremendous growth in the entertainment industry, which will be coupled with continued technological innovation. The article shows how those advances will be equally vital for future defense applications, thereby demonstrating the importance of continued and increased defense-entertainment collaboration.

Humanisation and education: Issues for school reform

The ‘humanisation’ of education is one of the three leitmotifs in a recent Soviet planning document A Conception of General Education. It is suggested that Western education systems also need to be humanised, although not so radically as the Soviet, by the removal of obstacles to educating pupils as members of a liberal democratic society. A future joint research agenda between East and West should concentrate on (a) improving mutual understanding of this goal, (b) clarifying conceptual obstacles, and (c) reflecting on means of realising it. Specific proposals are put forward under all three headings.