Description:

November 15-17 Northwestern Buffett will host its inaugural Idea Incubation Workshop, and we hope you will be able to join us for interactive opening and closing plenaries. 

One of the goals of the workshop, and of Northwestern Buffett more broadly, is to encourage faculty to work beyond their usual academic communities to build innovative collaborations to develop impactful questions for research and plans for action. Over the course of the three-day workshop, three “Idea Streams,” or thematic groups addressing critical global challenges, will develop a specific plan for collaborative research, identify target audiences for research outputs, and define post-research action steps necessary to ensure that the results achieve social impact, culminating in a pitch competition to an audience of faculty peers and global experts. Groups with the strongest ideas and associated research and action plans coming out of the workshop will be invited to continue their collaborative work for two years with Northwestern Buffett administrative and funding support. We invite you to join us on this journey from idea incubation to action!

Often academics work over and over with the same kinds of people: within the ‘safety zone’ provided by already familiar communities. In this interactive plenary, participants will map their own safety zones and will envisage opportunities for collaboration beyond them. We will consider institutional barriers to unorthodox collaborations, and explore the reforms and strategies necessary for collaboration to flourish beyond the safety zone. Panelists include:

·  Kathleen Bickford Berzock, Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs, The Block Museum of Art 

·  Kristian Hammond, Professor of Computer Science, McCormick School of Engineering 

·  Annelise Riles, Executive Director, Northwestern Buffett Institute for Global Affairs, and Associate Provost for Global Affairs

If you are interested in attending, please RSVP here.