Working group aims

In order to let recently-founded associations benefit from their many years of experience in setting up and managing networks, the Bavarian Research Associations set up the "collaborative research working group" initiative in early 2011 as a successor organisation to the "Association of Bavarian Research Cooperations (abayfor)". This is also open to European and other national research associations with Bavarian coordination. The aims of this working group are:

• To set up a cross-association networking platform with opportunities to share experience, especially for association management
• To identify areas of mutual interest between associations
• To generate new research ideas at the interface between disciplines

The working group generally meets twice a year to discuss current topics arising from the day-to-day work of the associations. It also plans cross-consortium events which are held every one to two years and are open to the associations and other interested parties. Previous topics have included:

• Attracting and retaining scientists from overseas (2014)
• Interdisciplinary collaboration (2015)
• Communicating science in the age of social media (2017)
• Design thinking methods in collaborative research (2018)

This working group is a loose consortium without any autonomous legal form and with a notably flat hierarchy. Professor Henner Gimpel from Augsburg University is the current representative for this working group.

Contact at BayFOR