Partner with Us

A core part of our approach is working in partnership with foundations, government agencies, nonprofits, and other scientific institutions to enhance the capacity and impact of solutions-oriented science. 

We build partnerships in the following ways:

Joint projects

We collaborate with scientists, foundations, government agencies, nonprofits, or consortiums with research questions that could benefit from our approach, align with our mission, and have a high potential for impact on scientific understanding, policy, and/or management.

Facility use

We occasionally make our facility in Santa Barbara available for hosting already-funded workshops or working groups that closely align with our mission. Our facility can serve as a “neutral” location that nurtures group creativity and productivity. However, given our limited personnel capacity, we cannot accommodate all requests.

If we do agree to host your group, we ask for a nominal fee to cover the technical and logistical support of your meeting. 

Trainings

The NCEAS Learning Hub supports environmental scientists throughout their data science journey. We teach cutting-edge data science curriculum, facilitate collaborative learning, and promote best practices in open science. We empower data scientists to more efficiently answer environmental questions. Specific training opportunities include:

• 5-Day Environmental Data Science and Team Collaboration Training (coreR Training). A five-day immersion in R programming for environmental data science. Researchers gain experience with essential data science tools and best practices to increase their capacity as collaborators, reproducible coders, and open scientists.
• Open Science for Synthesis course. This hybrid course integrates data science learning with hands-on application of skills in the development of synthesis research, enabling participants to work with data in a peer-supported, facilitated environment. The course is run in three, one-week blocks spread out over time, with potential for in-person or virtual convenings. The course focuses on techniques for data management, synthetic analysis, and collaboration techniques through the use of open-source, community-supported tools. 
• Customized trainings. NCEAS has been providing data support and teaching collaborative data science for 29 years and counting. We have developed a plethora of resources including guides, trainings, and hands-on computing support for a wide range of collaborative science needs from intro to git and github, to coding collaboratively, running a successful working group, facilitation and more. NCEAS offers trainings for groups that can be custom built to fit specific needs and are founded on team science principles. Training can be delivered on-site or virtually. For more information and examples of curriculum we have developed for these training sessions previously, visit our Modular Data Science Curriculum page. 

Working groups

Collaborative Working Groups. NCEAS facilitates scientific collaborations between researchers from across disciplines and the globe through collaborative working groups. Working groups are typically composed of 12 to 18 experts from a range of disciplines, sectors, career stages, and institutions. They come together for short periods of time, at our research center in downtown Santa Barbara, to tackle large-scale questions in basic and/or applied science, using the synthesis approach. Each participant brings their data, methods, experiences, and perspectives, while NCEAS offers facilitation, logistical, and technical support to catalyze their innovation. By integrating diverse perspectives and data sources, our working groups can connect dots, discover gaps in knowledge, and reveal untapped insights. In fact, research has shown the diversity of participants in our working groups is key to enabling greater productivity and problem-solving capacity (see Hampton and Parker, 2011 and Campbell et al., 2013).

The effectiveness and impacts of these groups is well documented. NCEAS pioneered the working group model and we continue to innovate, having supported nearly 500 groups over the past 30 years. Groups are highly cost-effective ways to accelerate and diversify research, and are thus a great complement to other typical research models for projects.

Data Management and Archiving Support

Data management, storage, and sharing with DataONE. NCEAS can support research groups with dedicated data repository solutions for all types of data. Our DataONE program allows research groups and institutions to bring the products of their research lab, field station, or library together in a centralized location for efficient sharing, access, and reuse. We can also help with the development of custom, branded portals for research topics or lab groups that span other repositories in the DataONE network. Branded portals provide a convenient, readily customized way to communicate your science, your team, your data, and related data to the research community and beyond.

Postdoctoral Scholars at NCEAS

NCEAS houses a diverse and growing cohort of interdisciplinary postdoctoral scholars. Housing a postdoc at NCEAS allows for significant opportunities for collaboration, networking, career growth, and access to training and collaboration resources as part of a cohort and community of fellow postdocs and researchers. Few departments have the density and direct access to as large a postdoc community; they are usually dispersed across labs and even buildings. The NCEAS peer-community of dynamic, diverse, highly-skilled postdocs has proven an invaluable resource to postdocs, as it helps expand the scope and impact of their individual research and provides great opportunities for peer- to-peer mentoring. 

Project Support and Running Grants through NCEAS

Any of the opportunities above can be written into grants with NCEAS as a subaward. When a significant portion of activities fit into the NCEAS mode of research and are based at NCEAS, there is also the possibility of running grants through our center. 

Want to chat more?

If you are interested in partnering with us, please contact Ben Halpern, NCEAS executive director.