Thinking and operating on a global scale has become so necessary to research, innovation, and the arts that we sometimes lose sight of how we, as individuals and institutions, can get to that level of complexity. 

Isolation limits us—we need collaboration with those beyond our personal fields of expertise and beyond the borders of our countries, institutions, concepts, or positions.

The new Northwestern Buffett research trajectory is designed to leverage the full power of collaboration for scholars and thought leaders around the world to step outside of their usual communities, and to develop impactful research queries and plans for action. This process will offer real, sustainable support for meaningful outcomes in the world.

Stage 1: Idea Dialogues

The research trajectory begins with Idea Dialogues: opportunities to speak informally with colleagues across the University about Sustainable Development Goals that would benefit most from interdisciplinary research. Northwestern Buffett will receive initial proposals from faculty, then provide a lunch meeting where scholars can engage in low-stakes conceptual discussions.

The Idea Dialogues are an exploration, not a strategic planning meeting. Great ideas come from curiosity and purposeful intellectual play, and these Idea Dialogues give invitees with diverse expertise a chance to engage in serious topics through interdisciplinary perspectives.

If the faculty involved in the Idea Dialogues determine that they could work collectively to address the questions they are pursuing, they are invited to participate in the next stage: an Idea Incubation Workshop.

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Collaboration Outside the Safety Zone

Friday, Nov. 15
9:00 A.M. - 11:00 A.M.
(RSVP here)

Idea Incubation Workshop Pitch Competition

Sunday, Nov. 17,
11:00 AM - 2:30 PM
(RSVP here
1800 Sherman Avenue, Suite 3-000, Evanston, IL 60201

In many parts of the world, people are increasingly turning away from foreignness of all kinds—from foreign persons to unfamiliar ideas.

Many consider foreignness to be synonymous with dangerous, repelling, or just plain uninteresting. Relatedly, trust in experts and the unfamiliar or complicated knowledge they possess is eroding.

What is the role of the university at such a cultural moment? Many of us hope that it can be a site of commitment to knowledge, to expertise, and to cosmopolitanism—that it can be a space where the once taken-for-granted dream of a more rational, inclusive world remains alive.

And yet, is the university immune from the inward-looking cultural trajectory? This is the image most academics were trained with: a singular genius, working alone in an office to produce the next epoch-making idea, whatever the field. We all know that the days of idealizing this kind of lone genius are largely over. 

Contemporary problems are simply too complex and too interconnected across different fields —and across jurisdictional and cultural boundaries—for any one person to be able to define them clearly, let alone resolve them. The new genius is a collaborative genius.

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