Scientific workshops usually focus on bringing together experts in particular fields to develop new approaches to important problems. However, this method only works if there is a relatively clear, and shared understanding of the underlying question. Increasingly, we are faced with challenges that either meet the definition of a ‘Wicked Problem’ – one in which we lack a clear definition of the problem, let alone the solution; or we are faced with new possibilities – such as AI and Large Language Models – where there is no consensus as to how we should exploit the opportunity in any particular context. In these cases organizers might find it appropriate to run a scoping session, prior to initiating any other events.
What is a scoping session?
In its simplest form, a scoping session is a short workshop, typically lasting between 1 to 3 days. The duration depends upon the number of participants, and complexity of the topic. During the event, a diverse community of participants explore a broad topic, in order to generate new, intriguing questions. These questions will usually live at the intersection of different disciplines, and should help to identify a wide range of perspectives on the initial topic. While the question generation process is not exhaustive, it is reasonable to assume that by the end of a scoping session the organizers should feel confident that they have a good overview of the different ways in which the participants frame the topic.
How do you know if you need to run a scoping session?
A scoping session is appropriate if any of the following are true:
- The problem seems overwhelming, and there is no clear starting point. Alternatively, the opportunities offered by new breakthroughs seem to point in too many directions at once.
- The organizers have a sense that there could be exciting opportunities in the ‘dark spaces’ that exist between communities that have historically had little interaction.
- It’s not clear who should attend a more focused session. This is often the case when a question spans many boundaries, and the organizers are not familiar with the researchers in these other fields.
- The organizers are uncertain whether potential participants will find the topic intriguing, and they would like to engage with a large group of participants in order to identify participants for subsequent events.
In this situation, a scoping session can help to bring clarity by engaging with a broad community, and facilitating the participants to identify intriguing questions.
How might the organizers use the output from a scoping session?
Occasionally, an organizing committee will find that the themes which emerge from a scoping session are enough in themselves to move forward with the creation of a funding opportunity. However, often one or more of the questions will act as the starting point for an Ideas Lab. The question – which will probably have been reformulated by the organizers, in order to capture several different perspectives – allows for the Ideas Lab to focus on the development of potential research proposals.
How is a scoping session organized?
The key output of a scoping session is a broad range of intriguing questions. In order to achieve this goal it is essential to recruit a diverse group of participants. So, whereas an Ideas Lab might have 25-35 carefully selected participants, a scoping session might have 150-200 participants from across a wide range of disciplines.
A key challenge for the organizers is therefore to attract participants from ‘the fringe’. These will be people who are not regular participants in the core of whatever topic the event is focused on, but who can help to illuminate different questions, which are often highly influential in shaping the final outcome. It is therefore essential that the organizers engage in broad recruitment in order to attract the most interesting participants.
Having attracted a suitable number of participants, there is usually a need to provide background reading so that participants can have a shared understanding of the basic challenge. We usually find it is enough to provide one, or two introductory papers or recorded talks for each of the main perspectives inherent in the topic. Participants then pick the reading that will be most helpful to them.
During the event, the vast majority of the time will be spent with the participants working in small, diverse groups, in order to understand each other’s perspectives, and to use that understanding to frame new questions.
Finally, the participants converge on the most interesting themes and questions. It is important at this stage to ensure that outliner perspectives are not lost, and the convergence process is therefore non-destructive, and only provides gentle nudges.
Example
The faculty of Public Health at an east coast research university wanted to advance their research around air pollution and public health. In order to do this they needed to engage faculty from many different departments. However, the topic of air pollution was seen as too broad, and they were failing to attract suitable participants for an Ideas Lab.
In an effort to address the lack of engagement they ran a short scoping session, which attracted participants from a range of schools. The event generated an interesting collection of questions, which the organizers eventually boiled down to “How to improve the health of infants in the Global South during their first 1,000 days of life”. This question proved to be remarkably effective at engaging faculty because:
- it was easy for non-public health experts to understand, and imagine how they might be able to contribute,
- didn’t contain any prescription as to how it should be solved, and was therefore seen as intriguing to many different disciplines,
- has an obvious emotional appeal, which helped to motivate applications.
Ultimately, the question was then taken directly into an Ideas Lab.