As the world faces increasingly global and complex problems, research is key to finding solutions that are affordable and attainable for everyone. Unfortunately, the resources allotted to research endeavors are scarce, and precious funds are spent debating the merits of scientific discovery rather than new research. On top of this, conducting research can be particularly challenging for junior researchers, graduate students, researchers with limited time or funding, and researchers looking to branch into new fields of study or work on in new regions. By simplifying the process of finding collaborators, SCICOL hopes to make research more inclusive and beneficial for everyone.
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Using SCICOL's online database, researchers can contact prospective collaborators directly - whether you need help with a particular project or you have expertise to offer on a variety of collaborative research, SCICOL provides a meeting place for you to find researchers outside of your personal network. Click here to get started!
RELEVANCE
SCICOL can be utilized by any researcher, but is particularly useful for:
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Finding research collaborators quickly and efficiently
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Researchers who have limited time and/or funding to attend conferences
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Junior researchers who are building their collaborative networks
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Industry and academic professionals to connect
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Researchers looking to enter a new multidisciplinary field
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Scientists often face delays of months (or even years) because they are struggling to find the right collaborator. We founded SCICOL aiming to make finding research collaborations easier, and in particular more accessible, interdisciplinary, and international.
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Accessible: SCICOL is available to anyone with an internet connection, and can be used fully with little to no money. Skip the airfare, hotels, and high fees of conferences so you can focus your time & money on the research. All posts are free through 2018, as the database grows there will be a small fee for posts to cover the cost of maintaining the site.
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Interdisciplinary: we want researchers to think outside the box and explore collaborations in new fields. Even for well-funded and experienced researchers, interdisciplinary collaboration is difficult to initiate since spheres of influence are often limited to their current area of expertise, as are conferences and most journals. However, interdisciplinary research is invaluable in transforming scientific theories and concepts into real-world solutions, and has limitless potential.
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International: more than ever before we are working on problems that face all of humanity - the more we can collaborate with partners overseas, the sooner we will develop lasting solutions to worldwide problems.
MISSION & GOALS
SCICOL aims to provide a meeting place for scientists and researchers of all different backgrounds and disciplines to find new research collaborators. We hope this tool will allow scientists to expand their research and expedite results, and make research more accessible and equitable for all researchers.
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Our primary goal for 2018 is to grow the database - SCICOL will be most attractive to users when there are many posts to search. To do this we are working on increasing our funding for marketing endeavors, and we've made the site 100% free through 2018 to entice new users. We are showcasing the site at conferences and other events, and are speaking with researchers from all backgrounds to get feedback on how to make the site as beneficial as possible to the researchers who need it most.