Welcome to the new academic year, and a new and hopefully helpful way of dealing with many research-related services across the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory (GFL) and the College of Global Futures (CGF).
First, I’d like to introduce myself (for those of you who don’t know me) and my vision for research and discovery in GFL and CGF. I’ve been at ASU for nearly 17 years now, and prior to that I was 10 years at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. I’m a political scientist by training, but my work on the democratic governance of science & technology owes only a modest amount to that discipline. I’ve collaborated deeply with scientists and engineers, particularly through the NSF-funded Center for Nanotechnology in Society at ASU, which I directed from 2005 to 2016. In 2015, I became the founding director of the School for the Future of Innovation in Society (SFIS), and with the creation of CGF I also assumed the position of Associate Vice Provost for Discovery, Engagement and Outcomes (AVP/DEO) in GFL. In this position, which is my focus now that I have stepped down from directing SFIS, I function as the associate dean for research within CGF, but I have broad responsibility for the discovery, or research, space across GFL.
My vision for the discovery space within GFL is for it to become a university-wide and cross-disciplinary intellectual community with strong use-inspiration that supports crucial outcomes (globally, nationally, regionally, locally) and serves its members’ aspirations for achievement, collaboration, and transformational change.
In the future, I’ll be writing more about the discovery space and the other GFL “spaces” – learning, engagement, networks and solutions. But for now, the news is how GFL is organizing to “serve its members’ aspirations for achievement, collaboration, and transformational change” through supporting their ability to conceive, develop, operate and communicate sponsored research.
One way that is beginning is through GFORS.
GFORS is the Global Futures Office of Research Services – a portal into the variety of services you might need to support research success. These services range from the research development activities and strategies to make your research more competitive, to the fundamentals of research advancement to support the actual proposals you are submitting, to the events, communication and HR and business activities that follow on from your research successes.
If you look at the top menu bar of the GFL and GIOSI websites, you’ll see the GFORS acronym (it’s also on the footer of GFL and GIOSI pages and the footers of the homepages of CGS and of its component schools. It’s also under the pull-down menu bars at the top of the college and school pages under “research” or “about”). It links to a page that provides a bit more information about research services and, from there, one click on the button for the appropriate research service will take you to an intake inform or email to the responsible person. You’ll be hearing more about GFORS and research services as we ramp up capacity and begin to socialize these opportunities for faculty. In the meantime, please familiarize yourself with the site, use the intake forms when you have need for research services, and provide me with any feedback you might have.