Research problem exploration

Once your core partners are in place, it is time to explore the various angles of the research problem from your concept note or the funding call you identified. A diversity of research fields at this stage is essential to gain a 360-degree, holistic understanding of the problem. You gain this by running Workshop 3 with your new research consortium.

In the workshop you identify the key critical issues of your research problem to clarify your priorities going forward. You investigate all angles of the problem to understand it fully and to identify where you, as a core consortium, can address it.

You will inevitably run into assumptions about the research problem, the funding strategy, the potential impact, your ability to finish everything, and so on. Start tracking them so you can turn them into knowledge. Assumptions are the mother of all mess-ups. It is also a good exercise in figuring out what you know, what you think you know and what you don't know.

“It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.” (Mark Twain)