This project supports three years of research team seminars in cultural anthropology, biological anthropology, and archaeology that will be hosted by the School for Advanced Research (SAR), an advanced research center for anthropology and allied disciplines. The program will support at least two seminars each year for research teams that need focused time together to discuss, synthesize, and analyze the results of their collaborative research and to develop plans for successful completion of their projects. Eligible research teams will be those in which the primary focus is on a question of anthropological importance, but the teams may be interdisciplinary and international in scope. Seminars will be selected through biannual competitions held in March and September. Transportation to and from SAR and all food and lodging will be provided for the research team to meet in SAR's Seminar House for no more than four days.
The project addresses recent studies on the state of U.S. and international scientific inquiry, which identify a trend towards increased collaborative, interdisciplinary, and international research and the increased quality and importance of the products resulting from this research framework. However, studies on the practice of collaborative science also demonstrate that, while digital communication is an important component of team research, face-to-face interaction is also needed to successfully advance the research, which can be a challenge to achieve when the investigators are scattered across the U.S. and in other countries. This program addresses this need and advances collaborative scientific inquiry by providing the opportunity for at least 6 research teams consisting of approximately 10 participants each to assemble at SAR from 2013-2016.
