A consortium project requires a high degree of process competence on the part of the project coordinator in every phase. The Dialogue Platform can work on process optimization with the project coordinator. This can take place as a one-time meeting or by assisting the process over a longer period of time. Project coordinators thus receive an individual assessment of their current status and can structure and approach upcoming tasks in a targeted manner. The tool enables a joint evaluation of the extent to which the conditions for a successful project process are fulfilled, including in regard to the selection of participants, common goals and questions in the group, the coordination and networking of the sub-projects, and regarding the synthesis building and organization of work in the group.

See Call [1]

In consortium research, networking of the individual sub-projects is an important requirement for achieving the consortium’s overarching objectives. Finding a good balance between the objectives of each individual project and synthesis building is one of the key tasks of a research group project. In the overall process, it is extremely important to link the individual projects and continually coordinate them. For this purpose, the Dialogue Platform offers a methods-based workshop each April and September to assist a selected consortium project with networking.

The application of creative methods is especially helpful in the early phases of projects in order to develop ideas with participants from various subject areas and make decisions capable of consensus. The Dialogue Platform therefore offers a one-day methods workshop during which the participants can get an overview of how the idea-generating processes work and become familiar with selected methods. The methods workshop is offered once each semester for professors and postdocs who would like to initiate research alliance projects or will carry out these types of projects with process responsibilities.

See Call [2]

Once every other year, the Dialogue Platform invites university members to a three-day conference of ideas. Before the conference, an interdisciplinary research question is formulated that is related to the TU Berlin’s plan for the future. At the conference, leading international scientists first give their input. After that, various methods and groups - including those from institutions outside of the TU Berlin - provide the basis for new research ideas and plans. The goal is that at the end of the conference there are new research ideas to pursue with specific research outlines and core cooperation partners.

A key step in initiating an interdisciplinary research project is developing and determining a common object of research. On the path to this goal, various questions typically need to be answered: Which problem is to be researched? Which aspects of the problem are to be the focus? How can the research question be outlined as a joint object of research? The one-day idea workshop by the Dialogue Platform supports groups of professors who want to cooperate in answering these questions in an innovative way capable of reaching consensus. With the targeted use of moderation and creativity techniques, specific opportunities to start a research group initiative are found.

See Call [3]