Building competency in collaborative science (L. Michelle Bennett and Stephen Fiore)

This video features L. Michelle Bennett from L.M. Bennett Consulting and Stephen Fiore from the University of Central Florida, both in the USA. In the webinar “(i2)Insights on Building Competency in Collaborative Science” they reflect on how successful teamwork requires the deliberate development of collaboration skills and capacities at both the individual and team level, as well as how these capabilities can be cultivated and sustained within research and problem-solving teams. Drawing on their Integration and Implementation Insights (i2Insights) contributions, they emphasise that collaboration is a learnable skill set supported by intentional structures, training, and community. Michelle drew on her practitioner experience to explore collaborative mindset, collaboration agreements, psychological safety, and the challenge of moving teams from knowing what effective collaboration looks like to doing it under pressure. Steve offered a cognitive science lens, addressing the ABCs of interdisciplinarity and the distinction between teamwork and task work. This is the sixth webinar in the 2025-26 series celebrating the 10th birthday of Integration and Implementation Insights (i2Insights; https://i2Insights.org). Michelle and Steve begin by each giving a 10-15 minute reflection on the topic, then engage in a dialogue, after which the conversation is opened to attendees. Moderated by: Alison Deviney The webinar was broadcast and recorded on 7 April 2026. The webinar series is a project of the Interdisciplinary Integration Research Careers Hub (Intereach) at https://www.intereach.org/, which provides mechanisms for communication, education, and collaboration among those interested in a community of practice around the interdisciplinary and integrative functions critical to team science research. Intereach is a special interest group of the International Network of the Science of Team Science. The i2Insights contributions mentioned are: • Mindset matters for interdisciplinary teams: Choose a collaborative one by L. Michelle Bennett https://i2insights.org/2024/07/23/col... • Collaboration agreement template by L. Michelle Bennett, Edgar Cardenas and Michael O’Rourke https://i2insights.org/2022/07/19/col... • Confidentiality and anonymity in teams by Edgar Cardenas, L. Michelle Bennett, and Michael O’Rourke https://i2insights.org/2023/11/21/con... • Writing confidentiality and anonymity into collaboration agreements by Edgar Cardenas, L. Michelle Bennett, and Michael O’Rourke https://i2insights.org/2023/11/21/con... • The “ABC’s” of interdisciplinarity by Stephen Fiore https://i2insights.org/2020/11/10/int... • Three “must have” steps to improve education for collaborative problem solving by Stephen Fiore https://i2insights.org/2019/01/22/edu... • A tool for developing shared awareness of team member research interests and expertise by Melanie Bauer, Joshua Roney and Stephen M. Fiore https://i2insights.org/2025/07/22/sha...