GROW Urban Ag

Can a charrette be used to develop a research proposal? Yes, it can!

Since NCI came to Michigan State University in 2016, we’ve been experimenting with what kinds of products a charrette can produce. There is a long history of charrettes supporting development and redevelopment work and even strategic planning for organizations. Since 2017, we’ve used charrettes to develop an education and outreach plan for wildlife disease, strategic plans for nonprofits, and research teams to develop a proposal.

Last month, we tried something new and completed a twist on the research proposal development charrette by hosting it in a conference-like format. Back in November, we hosted an urban, indoor, and emerging (UIE) agriculture conference for three days with a goal of helping researchers, practitioners, and growers to explore ideas with each other and form research teams.

Out of the roughly 80 people who attended that meeting in a virtual space called Gather, we were able to support six teams in finding each other and developing research ideas. In January, some of those research teams reconvened to pitch their ideas to a panel of reviewers to get valuable feedback to improve their research ideas and proposals. Some of these research teams started from scratch, some were previously formed and just needed a boost.

This process highlights that it is possible to bring people from across the nation together to talk about interdisciplinary topics that they are passionate about, to make connections and develop research proposals for funding, all within a charrette.

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