An ad hoc study committee will use a workshop-based study approach to examine how collaborative platforms addressing multidisciplinary questions in food and agriculture can be constructed in ways that deepen the impact of the Land-Grant system in generating knowledge and its applications. The study will identify the essential ingredients of platforms that support high-quality science, permit broad participation and that give equitable access to platform resources to participants across the Land-Grant college and university system, including historically Black colleges and universities and other institutions.
Building on the work of the National Academies' Committee to Enhance Coordination and Collaboration among Land-Grant Colleges and Universities, the study will examine examples of existing multi-institutional collaborative platforms to define platform elements that are conducive to producing broad impacts and that enhance team science, asset sharing, capacity building, and the generation of translational knowledge. The committee will also explore specific ways that collaborative platforms explicitly connect education, research, and extension, and examine what is needed to effectively assess, capture and articulate the impacts of the platform and its work, including economic impacts, to public and private stakeholders.
The committee will organize a multi-day workshop highlighting the essential ingredients found in different existing collaborative platforms and engage stakeholders in an exercise to envision the design of new platforms to address key problems in the food and agricultural system. Based on its preliminary work and stakeholder discussions at the workshop, the committee will prepare a brief report recommending concerted strategies for constructing collaborative platforms to maximize their benefits and impact.