In our global world, researchers are often collaborating in large research projects. This poses several challenges, i.e. how efficient communication can be ensured although researchers live in different corners of the globe and work on different research topics.
There are very large research projects in Brazil, involving dozens of centers and researchers, spread throughout the country. They are the National Institutes of Science and Technology (Institutos Nacionais de Ciência e Tecnologia in the national language), which serve the interests of the country and which have won fierce public bids. There is a leader by INCT who coordinates the work of everyone else, being free to travel and / or promote group meetings.
In my opinion, these are some ideas that could help researchers working in different institutions and countries to collaborate effectively in large projects:
1- The project should have a clear plan for its implementation with well-defined objectives and outcome to be achieved, and all necessary tasks and activities to be implemented by each institution participating in the project. The project should have the resources required to ensure its complete implementation.
2- The institutions involved should be the leaders in the sector with the appropriate experience and professional workforces available to carry out all tasks and activities approved for the whole project.
3- All research methods used during the implementation of the different tasks and activities included in the project’s plan should be well-defined and approved by the project leader.
4- The distribution of tasks and activities among the institution’s participants should be very clear with defined objectives and outcomes to be achieved in each of them and by whom.
5- To ensure effective communication among different institutions’ participants all of them should use a common working language.
6- A project leader for the whole project should be designated and accepted by all participants. In each of the participant’s institution, a project leader should be appointed to coordinate the implementation of the plan approved within each institution and serve as a focal point for the whole project.
7- The project’s plan should include regular meetings among the project leaders to check how the project’s plan is implemented, to agree to introduce the necessary corrections to the plan approved, and to adopt any other decision to ensure the full implementation of the mentioned plan.
Communication-Contribution-Cooperation-Coordination are four pillars of collaboration. A collaborative must design all the four pillars comprehensively to achieve the common goal of a collaborative research
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