Shared Decision-Making: A Catalyst for Real-World Research Solutions

The Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable (GUIRR), in collaboration with the HIBAR Research Alliance (HRA), convened a webinar to discuss how cross-sectoral leadership teams can collaborate in shared decision-making when working on use-inspired basic research. The term HIBAR (Highly Integrative Basic and Responsive) was introduced in 2017 to name a specific category of research projects that had previously lacked a clear definition. HIBAR research projects bring together diverse leadership teams, both from research fields (often in academia) and from practical sectors (commercial and/or non-profit). They collectively make the key decisions that hybridize fundamental research with real-world problem-solving to yield significant benefits.

During this webinar, Lorne Whitehead, Director for HRA and Professor at University of British Columbia, provided a short overview and purpose of HIBAR Research Alliance. A panel of experts then discussed the thoughtful approach to shared decision-making in cross-sectoral research projects, from different perspectives. The goal of the webinar was to share actionable advice that can be replicated or adapted to other contexts.