The convergent research that comes from two new hiring and grant programs “may help solve some of the most complex challenges of our time,” according to President Melissa Gilliam and Provost Colin Duckett.

Convergent Research

Boston University Announces New Convergent Research Programs

New funding opportunities and a cluster hiring push are the first projects to emerge from Task Force on Convergent Research and Education’s recommendations

Boston University is launching two new programs to support convergent research across its numerous schools, colleges, and research centers. The programs, which are the result of a yearlong process by the University’s Task Force on Convergent Research and Education, feature new funding opportunities for research faculty and a strategic hiring push over the next year.

In an August 12 letter to faculty and staff, BU President Melissa Gilliam and Provost Colin Duckett called the launch of these new programs “a major milestone” for convergent research at the University. 

“Together, we are building a Boston University that is a beacon of collaboration—a home for people who reach across boundaries and disciplines, who are curious about the world and seek to improve it, who help our students move seamlessly from classroom to community, and who look for opportunities to engage with partners for a greater good,” reads the letter.

In March, after gathering input from deans, department chairs, center directors, hospital partners, and more than 200 research-active faculty across BU’s campuses, members of the task force submitted their recommendations for fostering convergent research to University leaders. The two new programs are expected to be the first of more projects to come from those recommendations. 

“These new programs create an exciting foundation for the next chapter of high-impact research at Boston University,” says Kenneth Lutchen, vice president and associate provost for research and one of two cochairs on the task force. 

“New funding opportunities and cluster hiring will help bring together exceptional faculty from across disciplines, creating the conditions for new collaborations that address our society’s most pressing challenges,” he says. “Just as importantly, these commitments will strengthen our ability to compete for major research funding and position BU for success in a changing research landscape.” 

Convergent research and education is a central pillar of Charting Our Future, the University’s strategic framework, and a core part of Gilliam’s North Star vision for BU’s future.

“Convergent research draws on a long tradition at Boston University and is made possible by our shared commitments to strong disciplines,” Gilliam and Duckett write in their letter. “Success requires removing barriers and creating opportunities for greater collaboration within the University and with outside partners.”

Grants to Propel Research

The programs include two new types of grants supported by the University. The first, seed grants, are for research teams with mature research concepts who are ready to build the partnerships, infrastructure, and preliminary work they’d need to compete for major external funding within one to two years. Teams can receive up to $200,000 for two years. The second, planning grants, are for teams exploring new research directions, piloting collaborative approaches, and developing innovative ideas before defining a full research program. Research teams can receive between $25,000 and $50,000 for one year. 

“In a challenging federal research funding environment, these grants are innovative ways to internally fund and propel research. They show that we’re really going for it, and I think that shows a lot of boldness, innovation, and attention to making an impact for the next generation,” says Darrell Kotton, a BU Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine professor of medicine and director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine, a joint effort between BU and Boston Medical Center. He was also a cochair of the task force.

To learn more about the available seed and planning grants, researchers can watch either of two virtual information sessions hosted by the Office of Research. (The sessions—which were held on Tuesday, August 18, and Thursday, September 3—covered program goals, eligibility, application process, proposal expectations, and timelines; both were recorded and can be watched on the Office of Research website.) Application information was also sent to faculty by Lutchen. The deadline for seed grant proposals is September 10; the deadline for planning grant proposals is October 1.

Strengthening a Research Ecosystem

In addition to the new grants, the University announced a cluster hiring plan, by which schools and colleges will recruit faculty whose work aligns with convergent research themes identified by the task force. To start, the hiring will focus on two themes: health across the lifespan and urban development and resilience. The other themes are: AI, data science, and computing; arts, humanities, and the human condition; childhood and adolescent well-being and K–12 education; global sustainability; social and economic opportunity; and infection, inflammatory, and immune disorders.

Among those excited by the new programs is Deborah Carr, director of the BU Center for Innovation in Social Science and a College of Arts & Sciences distinguished professor of sociology. She recently put together a proposal that harnessed the strengths of nine different departments to study aging and aging well. 

“The question of who gets to age well is not just a question for social scientists. It’s also biology and neuroscience, law—what kind of elder laws are in place? Is there discrimination against older workers? It’s a business question, too: How, for instance, do you make sure that health insurance plans are accessible? It can also be a communications question: How is it that you teach older adults to be literate in information about their health?” says Carr.

She also served on the task force and says an unexpected benefit was the opportunity to spend time with so many faculty in so many schools and colleges outside of her own. At a large research institution such as BU, she says, it can be difficult to learn about all the different work happening at once—never mind finding the researchers whose work may dovetail with your own. 

The University’s Research on Tap series is a critical bridge for this kind of discovery, adds Lucy Hutyra, a CAS distinguished professor and chair of Earth and environment. The events bring faculty together for lightning talks on a single theme—AI for life sciences, global security, cancer—and she says they’re a prime example of the research ecosystem these new programs seek to strengthen. 

“In some ways, I think this is building from that,” Hutyra says of the new programs. “If I were to look at this across a spectrum, Research on Tap is a step one, the planning grants are a step two of continuing that conversation around a theme, and the seed grants, step three, are large enough to do real science that would set you up for establishing something that could be externally funded and sustained over many years.”

Even as these programs provide better scaffolding for convergent research at BU, Carr, Kotton, Hutyra, and other University leaders emphasize the importance of traditional disciplinary research, too. 

“Something we talked about quite a bit on the task force is that convergent research is not for everyone, nor should it be,” Carr says. “People who work in the humanities might write sole-author books. We need that, too. Convergence is great for those who want it and need it, but not everybody does.”

As Lutchen notes, “convergence leverages disciplinary excellence, it does not replace it.”

In their letter, Gilliam and Duckett conclude that the “research that emerges from these efforts may help solve some of the most complex challenges of our time. Let’s dive in.”