Are we building a better connected community?

Abstract

Building large, international collaborations is not a trivial matter. Although there is a significant correlation between productivity and collaboration, scientists have been shown to preferentially continue existing collaborations rather than form new links. Motivations for establishing new collaborations are varied, but external incentives for collaboration are only weakly correlated with collaboration frequency. This raises the question of whether funding specifically dedicated to fostering international collaboration can be effective. Scientific collaboration can be seen as a self-organizing system where co-authorship serves as links in a communication network between scientists. Network analysis methods can then be used to discover the operating dynamics of this system. Here, we evaluate the potential of Knowledge Hubs to build community cohesion by comparing the network of links between partners in the pilot Knowledge Hub MACSUR (Modelling European Agriculture with Climate Change for Food Security) before and during the project period. We aim to evaluate the effectiveness of the Knowledge Hub for increasing collaboration and connectedness between all project partners, and between partners within the separate project themes. We also wish to evaluate whether the Knowledge Hub has a greater effect on network development in the more disparate livestock modelling community relative to the relatively established community of crop modellers.