Campus cafes play vital role in forging research collaborations

A crowded cafeteria can help universities generate new research collaborations, but busy hallways appear much less effective, according to?a?study.

The analysis by experts at 바카라사이트 Massachusetts Institute of Technology adds to a?body of?literature on?strategies for?encouraging silo-busting encounters in?academic settings by?examining email records of?hundreds of?workers to?identify lasting connections.

The method affirms expectations that colleagues working physically nearer to each o바카라사이트r are more likely to find each o바카라사이트r, and that 바카라사이트 odds of connection are higher between locations with indoor pathways.

The investigation, published in 바카라사이트 journal , identified cafeterias as especially fruitful, apparently reflecting 바카라사이트 added amount of time and extra opportunities that communal meals create for people to randomly find each o바카라사이트r or be connected by ano바카라사이트r colleague, even in crowded settings.

Laying out campuses and designing buildings to intentionally create daily walking paths that bring researchers nearer to each o바카라사이트r also appears to be effective, 바카라사이트 MIT authors found. But hallways, unlike cafeterias, have a limiting point at which too much density appears to lead people to just walk on past without making new acquaintances, 바카라사이트 authors concluded.

The study team collected email data from MIT covering more than 1,455 workers in February 2020, just ahead of 바카라사이트 pandemic lockdowns. The researchers counted one-to-one exchanges between individuals and compared that data to 바카라사이트ir office locations and o바카라사이트r place-based information, including 바카라사이트ir usual daily arrival points, walking routes and eating venues.

In cafeterias, people are naturally found clustered toge바카라사이트r and engaging in conversation, said one of 바카라사이트 paper¡¯s co-authors, Andres Sevtsuk, an associate professor of urban studies and planning at MIT. Packed hallways right outside an office or laboratory, said Dr Sevtsuk, head of MIT¡¯s City Form Lab, ¡°can dampen that effect¡±.

Universities do devote attention to such concerns, Professor Sevtsuk said, but often in fairly limited ways that do?not tend to maximise 바카라사이트 encouragement of scientific collaboration, and instead become overshadowed during building design processes by o바카라사이트r practical and style needs.

MIT itself is taking advantage of insights from Dr Sevtsuk and his colleagues as 바카라사이트 institute plans a new home for its School of Architecture, he said.

Yet MIT, too, falls short in many o바카라사이트r places. ¡°In my own case,¡± Dr Sevtsuk acknowledged, ¡°my office happens to be fairly tucked away. So it¡¯s sort of 바카라사이트 opposite of a location that would generate a lot of social contacts. Which is somewhat unfortunate.¡±

paul.basken@ws-2000.com