Programme 2017

The Grand Challenges Research Summer School Programme will take participants from securing funding for their cross-disciplinary research idea, to creating impact from their research projects. Along the way participants will learn from successful cross-disciplinary research projects.

The 2017 Summer School will include:

• Cross-disciplinarity, the research councils and funding after the PhD (Cat Mora, BEAMS)
• Nature Inspired Engineering (Marc-Olivier Coppens)
• The Acoustic City (Kate Jones, Genetics, Evolution and Environment)
• Healthy Cities: the Research Challenges (Yvonne Rydin, Bartlett School of Planning)
• A fully facilitated sandpit to develop a research proposal

The summer school features the chance to work with research students from different disciplines in a research sandpit to develop your own Grand Challenges research proposal.

Download the Summer School Programme

Day 1—Tuesday 23^rd May

10.00	Welcome (Yvonne Rydin)The UCL Grand Challenges & 2034 Agenda (Ian Scott, OVPR)
10.30	Introducing Cross-Disciplinarity (Yvonne Rydin)
11.30	TEA/COFFEE
11.45	Cross-disciplinarity, the Research Councils & funding after the PhD (Cat Mora, OVPR)
12.30	BREAK FOR LUNCH
1.30	UCL Academics’ cross-disciplinary research experiences ·        Prof. Marc-Olivier Coppens Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering ·        Prof. Kate Jones The Acoustic City ·        Dr Jeff Bezemer Video-ethnography in Hospitals
3.00	TEA/COFFEE
3.15	Healthy Cities: the research challenge for the sandpit (Yvonne Rydin)

 

Day 2—Wednesday 24^th May

10.00	Addressing Policy Challenges through Cross-disciplinary Research (Katherine Welch, UCL Public Policy, OVPR)
10.30	Sandpit begins Welcome & Setting up for Success Preparing for working together, objectives, contract, roles & responsibilities, design and method and warm up.
11.30	TEA/COFFEE
11.45	The Research Questions & Challenges Sharing current or emerging research questions, themes and challenges for joint exploration – defining, clarifying and agreeing the problem statements or developing insight into the statements
12.30	BREAK FOR LUNCH
13.30	Contagious Creativity – Round 1 Generating ideas through original and creative connections
15.00	TEA/COFFEE
15.15	Emerging Themes and Looking Ahead to Day 2 What we have, what we need and what next….
16.00	Networking, Continuing Conversations & Close of Day 1

Day 2 Objectives

• To understand the challenges and opportunities presented by cross disciplinary research
• To set up for working together – the objectives, roles, connecting with the challenge and with each other
• To describe research challenges as problems for exploration
• To create, develop and build on ideas to solve them

Day 3—Thursday 25^th May

9.30	Overnight Reflections & Provocation To capture any light-bulb moments, ideas and provocations to support day 3
10.00	Contagious Creativity Round 2 Tools, prompts and stimulus to support ideation
10.45	TEA/COFFEE
11.00	Convergence & Identifying Key Areas for Development Using convergence tools to hone in on areas of interest and opportunity Identifying research themes and project teams
11.30	Preparing a Cross Disciplinary Research Proposal (JP) Understanding the characteristics of a great proposal
12.00	BREAK FOR LUNCH
12.45	Project Development Time to develop the research ideas and develop a project proposal for presentation to the panel
15.00	TEA/COFFEE
15.15	Presentation of Proposals Bringing the ideas to life and opportunity for feedback from the expert panel
15.45	Review of the Day and Next Steps Reflection on the Grand Challenge Summer School and looking ahead.
16.00	Summer School Closes

 

Day 3 Objectives

• To create, develop and converge on key ideas
• To develop project teams to develop the ideas
• To describe key characteristics of a best in class research proposal
• To prepare a presentation based on your group’s proposal
• To agree next steps and review the summer school

Download the Summer School Programme