The Program Model

The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Initiative for Macular Research is modeled on the innovative and successful National Academies Keck Futures Initiative.

The National Academies Keck Futures Initiative (NAKFI) builds on three pillars of vital and sustained research: 

• interdisciplinary encounters that counterbalance specialization and isolation,
• the asking of new questions, and,
• communication bridging languages, cultures, habits of thought, and institutions.

The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Initiative for Macular Research (BIMR) is adapting this model, which addresses a single topic at each of a series of annual conferences, to a multi-year effort on a single topic: atrophic macular degeneration.

Stimulating interdisciplinary research 

In 2003, the National Academy of Sciences, through a grant from the W. M. Keck Foundation, established the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative, a 15-year effort to catalyze interdisciplinary inquiry and communication among researchers, funding organizations, universities, and the general public to enhance the climate for conducting interdisciplinary research, and to break down related institutional and systemic barriers. 

During the first 18 months of the Initiative, the Academies undertook a study on facilitating interdisciplinary research.  Released in 2005, the study examines current interdisciplinary research efforts and recommends ways to stimulate and support such research. 

NAKFI conferences

In this pursuit of vital and sustained research, the leaders of the NAKFI program have developed extraordinarily successful processes and effective methodologies for exploring interdisciplinary connections.

Each year, more than 100 outstanding researchers are invited to a conference to discuss ideas related to a single cross-disciplinary theme. Themes have included signaling, nanoscience, genetics, smart prosthetics, health span, and complexity.

The NAKFI format includes significant pre-conference preparation, including webcast tutorials to introduce topics and to familiarize participants with the language of the other disciplines, ensuring that their time at the conference will be optimally productive and professionally meaningful.

During the conference, sub-sets of participants from varied disciplines and backgrounds form task groups which interact separately to work on particular topics. Mid-way through the conference, task groups report to the full group and exchange ideas. On the last day of the conference, each task group makes a final report, which includes recommendations for future action on their topic. Following the conference, the task groups submit follow-up reports and individuals submit seed grant applications. Funding for grants is awarded on a competitive basis.

In addition to formal sessions, refreshment breaks, receptions, and meals provide a wealth of opportunities to build relationships, exchange ideas, and share new perspectives. Thus, the conference is not simply a traditional meeting; it is part of a larger process leading to powerful results.

Our appreciation 

We are very fortunate to have the encouragement of the presidents of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine, as well as the expert advice others who have been instrumental in developing the successful NAKFI model. Not only have they allowed the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Initiative for Macular Research to follow their model, but they have been extraordinarily generous in sharing their time and expertise.