One of the ACCIS North American participants had some questions regarding the upcoming meeting.
Since they were so generic I am posting the questions and answers to everyone.
The following is addressed to North American ACCIS participants since the research will not be in their geographic region. Nevertheless Chilean participants may have similar questions so I'm sending this to everyone.
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Our participant wrote the following (I made small editorial changes):
1. As the time of the ACCIS meeting next March is getting closer and closer, I am finding myself asking tougher questions about what my role in the programme is supposed to be, and what I will contribute to and obtain from this programme as it goes ahead.
2. Since I am not a PI on the grant, what will you PI's ask us to do? How will we participate?
3. If there is to be money for doing science down the road, or for exchanging faculty or students, will I have access to these funds?
4. If my role is largely to obtain a little travel money each year to go to some meetings to talk about my work, then I will have to question severely if I will really gain much from the programme.
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The overall objective of the workshop is to write a proposal regarding the formation of an IAI Research Center focusing on the Chilean Inland Sea area. This area was chosen because of some early collaborations between North American groups and scientists in Chile and the vision that the Inland Sea area both needs research and is a natural laboratory.
The Research Center will be a 'virtual center' facilitating interdisciplinary research in the region.
We will be writing a proposal to define what the Research Center will do.
What will the Center's lines of research will be?
What kind of infrastructure is required?
How the Center should work to insure good science addressing relevant environmental and human response issues?
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What will my role be, what will I contribute?
The group we selected to participate in the workshop were carefully selected to represent many disciplines and experience. Everyone is an outstanding researcher, everyone has direct experience in areas related to Inland Sea problems, and everyone was thought to add a critical increment to the overall workshop goals.
North American participants in particular may question why they should participate. The reasons might vary from the very altruistic to the opposite.
If you believe that helping nations such as Chile better deal with their environmental problems you should participate. Your expertise is critically needed to have a successful workshop and to create a successful proposal.
If you want to form collaborations with colleagues in Chile you should participate. The workshop will be an excellent opportunity to meet the growing group of scientists in Chile who are studying the Inland Sea area.
Your contribution will be to identify key areas of research. This will be based on your knowledge of comparable systems in North America and what you learn from presentations by Chileans at the workshop. You were selected because you have knowledge of processes in North America that are similar to ones in Chile.
Some of you may be asked to give talks summarizing some area of research. This won't be an onerous task as it will be on the topic you are expert in .
Most of you will be asked to just listen and help develop the proposal in writing sessions.
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What will I get out of this?
As noted above you can either get a good feeling for having helped create an excellent research center in Chile or you might wish to participate in the research should the Center be funded.
No one is wired into this. We the PI's receive nothing for doing this. We got $50k to support the meeting, period.
If the proposal is accepted and funded you and anyone would have the opportunity to do research under the ACCIS banner. Presumably having developed collegial relationships in Chile as a result of this meeting and having written the charter for the Center you would have a good chance at getting funding.
You won't be asked to return each year and give a talk. Your participation could end after the meeting or could continue as you see appropriate.
The typical funding opportunity will probably vary from students and research exchanges , to training technicians, to elaborate field work.
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To me the real opportunity is to foster science in Chile. The country is emerging, the scientists are excellent, and they are ambitious. An opportunity such as IAI and ACCIS will allow them to make a quantum step in research support. They may be able to do the research that is needed and will benefit from collaborations with scientists from North America that have worked on comparable systems.
ACCIS is not designed to facilitate North American scientists getting more funding to work in a new locale: Chile. It is designed to facilitate Chilean scientists working in Chile with organized, supported collaborations via IAI/ACCIS if they want and need them.
Larry Atkinson