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3 scenarios for the future of research – which is most likely?

March 20, 2019 | 11 min read

By Alison Bert, DMA

Experts at AAAS weigh in on the new Research Futures study by Elsevier and Ipsos MORI

Caption: Experts debate the future of research at an interactive panel at the AAAS Annual Meeting in Washington, DC (from left): Dr. Peter Tindemans, Secretary General of EuroScience; Mary Woolley, President and CEO of Research!America; Prof. Sir Peter Gluckman, President Elect of the International Science Council; Dr. Joanne Tornow, Assistant Director for Biological Sciences at the National Science Foundation and, at the podium, Adrian Mulligan, Research Director for Customer Insights at Elsevier. (Photos by Alison Bert)

Imagine yourself 10 years from now. It’s 2029, and the world of research has changed – dramatically for some of you. But how?

Where will your research funding come from? Will your collaborators be academics or colleagues at a tech company?

Will you use artificial intelligence to determine your research hypothesis – and will journals use AI to decide whether to accept your paper? Will that “paper” even look like the manuscript you’re used to submitting?

If you’re a professor, will your students come to the university or study from afar?

These are just a few of the questions the new  Research Futures  scenario-planning study delves into. To forecast how research might be created and exchanged 10 years from now, investigators from Elsevier and Isos MORI examined the literature and market drivers, interviewed over 50 funders, futurists, publishers and technology experts and surveyed more than 2,000 researchers.

From the analysis, key themes emerged. The investigators then held creative workshops, and participants used this knowledge to develop three plausible scenarios    of the future:

Brave open world considers the rise of open science.

Tech titans looks at the growing influence of technology.

Eastern ascendance considers the role the East – and China in particular – might play.

Elsevier colleagues initially conceived this project to gain insights into how they could collaborate with the research community to build a better information system supporting research.

“We needed some information to inform our own decisions as an information analytics provider,” said Hannfried von Hindenburg, SVP of Global Communications, in introducing the panel. “But we felt we should make it public so that all of you could make your decisions based on this research.

“It’s meant to stimulate a discussion, and it’s meant to stimulate decision-making.”

That conversation continued when the report was released at the  Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) opens in new tab/window  in Washington, DC. A panel of research leaders – along with researchers in the audience – weighed in on which scenarios seemed most likely.

“Since we’re envisioning the future, there are no wrong answers,” said moderator Dr. Brad Fenwick, SVP of Global Strategic Alliances at Elsevier.

Hannfried von Hindenburg, SVP of Global Communications at Elsevier, introduces the report and panel at AAAS.

Exploring the future through a 3D lens

Adrian Mulligan summarizes key themes and scenarios in the report before seeking input from the panel and audience.

In his introduction to the report, lead investigator  Adrian Mulligan opens in new tab/window , Director of Research for Customer Insights at Elsevier, summarized the key points – starting with the “three dimensions” the experts  used to contemplate the future.

Three dimensions were used to contemplate the future: the progress of technology (blue); the degree of openness and sharing of research (orange); and those who support research and whether they would be aligned or fragmented (grey).

Blue represents the world of technology. “On one extreme, technology is revolutionary and drastically alters the way science is done,” Mulligan explained. “On the other, evolutionary tech is just like it is now, steadily progressing.”

Orange, meanwhile, represents the exchange of research and data and the degree to which it will be open or controlled, and gray represents whether organizations or nation states are aligned or fragmented.

Each of these elements combines with the others in a distinct way in the three future scenarios.

Scenario 1: Brave open world

In the Brave open world scenario, various factors converge for open collaboration.

“Brave open world” is characterized by open sharing of research, revolutionary technology and more convergence among stakeholders, Mulligan explained. For example, big tech partners with funders and research institutes to develop interoperable machine learning tools and platforms.

“In this scenario, all the actors and funders … come together to create an open platform in which science is shared,” he said. “Research articles are all open access, and the research article moves on from the current format to a more dynamic ‘notebook’ style that is more atomized and broken up.”

In addition, AI accelerates the speed and volume of research, and researchers are rewarded by a range of measures, including interdisciplinary collaboration, data dissemination and social impact.

Trust in science has increased because the public has greater access to published science, and researchers are expected present their work in a way that’s understandable to the lay person.

Scenario 2: Tech titans

In the Tech titans scenario, big tech companies take charge of the research landscape.

The “Tech titans” scenario is characterized by revolutionary technology, with the large tech companies becoming the main supporters, curators and distributors of knowledge. “The big technology companies step in and play a key role in the communication of science and the funding of research,” Mulligan said. “There are massive advances in AI in this world. Here, we see AI play such an important role that it changes society in essential ways. There are lots of job losses … in research as well.”

Much of research has become automated, driven by AI and data mining, and AI enables data-driven hypothesis generation – a practice we’re already experimenting with. Researchers often work closely with industry as independent consultants for large corporations.

Data sharing and machine learning have supported successful commercial breakthroughs, and the platforms the tech companies create have lowered the cost of doing research. However, there are concerns about data being held by private companies and not being made public – or medical advances not being evenly distributed. That competitive drive would likely spill onto the global stage.

“A number of countries are competing to deploy artificial intelligence, keeping it close to their chests in terms of the knowledge they have acquired in developing of new products,” Mulligan said. “And we find some countries struggling to adapt to making use of these new technologies.”

Meanwhile, it’s a politically fragmented world; state funding for research has been reduced, and industry and philanthropic organizations have stepped in to fill the gap, investing in challenge-led science.

Scenario 3: Eastern ascendance

In the Eastern ascendance scenario, China’s desire to transform into a knowledge-based economy has led to heavy public investment in R&D.

The third scenario – Eastern ascendance – is also a fragmented world, with a sharp division between the United States and China. “China has invested massively into research and development, and it’s really paying dividends for them,” Mulligan said. “In the West, we’re unable to keep up with what China is doing, and as a consequence, the sheer volume of that investment is really shaping the way research is being communicated and the advances that are being made.

“Actually, the world changes so much that China becomes a magnet for western researchers. So rather than Western researchers going to Oxford or MIT or the top universities in Europe, they’re heading towards China.

“Open science is embraced in this world,” he continued, “but only partly embraced because it’s quite a fragmented world. People are trying to take commercial advantage of the data and science that’s been communicated, so there’s a lack of global alignment on research projects. Everyone’s trying to do things in their own way.”

As a result, products like self-driving cars, or developments in personalized medicine, are not universally available.

In publishing, the Impact Factor continues to prevail and the subscription model plays a role. Meanwhile, big tech companies form  partnerships with publishers  to provide AI-enabled workflow and publishing tools.

Researchers or technology: which will drive new knowledge?

For the rest of the workshop, Dr. Fenwick posted questions from the survey, and audience members used their smart phones to register their answers in  Menti opens in new tab/window . For example:

Question:  “In 10 years, the creative force   driving forward new knowledge will be …”

Answer:  Researchers – Technology – Either equally likely

Mulligan started by alluding to the “robust intelligence of the ‘tech titan’ world” and the expanding role of AI in driving research: Could AI become so advanced that it could create new science? “We had a number of experts say that much of the hypotheses being generated will be coming from machines rather than humans,” he said. “The role of technology has the the potential to transform research.”

Two panelists challenged the question itself.

"The real idea underlying this statement is that AI will replace researchers completely, and this will not be the case," said Dr. Peter Tindemans, founding member and Secretary General of  EuroScience opens in new tab/window .

“I think it depends how you look at this,” said  Prof. Sir Peter Gluckman opens in new tab/window , President Elect of the  International Science Council opens in new tab/window  and former Chief Science Advisor for the Prime Minister of New Zealand. He referred to Prof.  Dan Sarewitz’s 2016 essay “Saving Science” in  The New Atlantis opens in new tab/window :

As Dan Sarewitz suggests … science is driven by technological development. Until the microscope was invented, you couldn’t look at the cell – etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. … Always new technologies allow new questions to be answered. So by definition, much science is driven ultimately by technological possibilities.

Dr.  Joanne Tornow opens in new tab/window , Assistant Director for Biological Sciences at the  National Science Foundation opens in new tab/window , countered with a vote for the researcher:

Technology by itself doesn’t answer the questions. It’s the researcher. … You have to have the technology – I agree. And technology is as disruptive and as transformational as an aha moment in understanding. But it doesn’t in and of itself solve a problem.

Dr. Fenwick then asked: “Where will the new idea to do the research come from? Where will the idea for the hypothesis come from? (How will it be decided whether) it’s worth researching? Will this be  in silico opens in new tab/window  or will it still be the PI that comes up with the idea?”

Dr. Tornow responded with still another question: “Where does new technology come from? New technology comes from ideas that researchers have. It’s kind of a virtuous cycle.”

Dr. Fenwick agreed that technology is often developed to meet the needs of science: “You wouldn’t build a collider if you didn’t have the scientific community saying I need this tool to answer this question.”

Then he played devil’s advocate: “On the other hand, I could make an argument that if we can’t digest all the science, but a machine can through machine learning, what if a machine came up with a question or hypothesis or a question worth asking and answering? Would we accept it?”

Not only would we accept it; researchers who enable their questions to be generated by AI would have a competitive advantage, Prof. Gluckman said. “Those researchers who do big data and use big-data tools tend to write papers that get into high impact journals,” he said. “And funders love big-data-based, meta-analysis type research.”

As the “chicken-and-egg” aspect of this conundrum became increasingly apparent, a woman in the audience aptly pointed out, “Someone had to write the algorithm.”

Ultimately, the panelists as well as the audience voted more in favor of researchers.

In the  Research Futures  survey of researchers, the most popular response was ‘researchers.’

Will students actually  go  to universities?

The next question dealt with the rising trend of distance learning in higher education:

Question:  “In 10 years, university student will be educated …

Answer:  Mostly on campus – Mostly remotely – Either equally likely.

Dr. Tindemans said there are pressing reasons for students to be on campus:

Students go to a university not just to learn something. Secondly, in many areas of study, you need to work together with your professors by doing experiments (and) other things together, and that is very difficult to organize another way. And the third thing is simply the status: a diploma is a link to what university and not just to a collection of exams you have passed online.

Mary Woolley opens in new tab/window , President and CEO of  Research!America opens in new tab/window , said the answer depends on the university and subjects being studied:

I would say there’s a context … of elite vs non-elite university and college institutions and education. For the elite, students would be more likely on campus. But for all the rest, which is a much higher percentage, I would think it would be increasingly remotely.

Dr. Fenwick pointed out that more elite universities in the US are “making a bet that they can do more distance learning.” As an example, he mentioned a university that bought a large education company, using Elsevier to create their learning platform.

Prof. Gluckman agreed that university education is likely to change, with a rise in interdisciplinary and team-based research, but added that other as yet uncertain factors would also impact these future scenarios. Prof. Gluckman foresees the probability of a more focused investment of government funding in a smaller proportion of research-intensive universities, with the other universities becoming more education-focused and offering more distance-learning options for current and continuing education. However, it’s not clear what form “lifelong re-learning and retraining” will take for many people, he said, “and I think we’re still a decade away from understanding how that’s going to evolve.”

Woolley mentioned “competing pressures” that could turn the tide either way: “the move toward interdisciplinary work and team science that really does require (in-person) interaction” versus the fact that “we’re getting much, much better at connecting remotely.” Ultimately, she said, it would depend on what fields people are studying, some of which will still require a presence on campus.

Similar to the panel’s responses, the audience’s were equally divided, as were those of the researchers who took the survey:

In the  Research Futures  survey of researchers, responses were divided almost equally.

“The best way to influence the future …”

In reflecting on the topic and what was learned from the study, Mulligan said: “You can think about the future, but the best way to influence the future is to create the future.”

Download the report and supporting material

The report  Research Futures: drivers and scenarios for the next decade  is freely available.

Download the summary report (including scenarios) opens in new tab/window

Download the full report (including the scenarios and essays) opens in new tab/window

Download the monitoring framework opens in new tab/window

Elements of the underlying study data are also freely available:

Visit Mendeley to view the list of references used for the literature review opens in new tab/window

View the full results and charts for the researcher survey opens in new tab/window

Find the results of the researcher survey on Mendeley Data opens in new tab/window

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Alison Bert, DMA

Executive Editor, Global Communications

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Home » Future Research – Thesis Guide

Future Research – Thesis Guide

Table of Contents

Future Research

Definition:

Future research refers to investigations and studies that are yet to be conducted, and are aimed at expanding our understanding of a particular subject or area of interest. Future research is typically based on the current state of knowledge and seeks to address unanswered questions, gaps in knowledge, and new areas of inquiry.

How to Write Future Research in Thesis

Here are some steps to help you write effectively about future research in your thesis :

• Identify a research gap: Before you start writing about future research, identify the areas that need further investigation. Look for research gaps and inconsistencies in the literature , and note them down.
• Specify research questions : Once you have identified a research gap, create a list of research questions that you would like to explore in future research. These research questions should be specific, measurable, and relevant to your thesis.
• Discuss limitations: Be sure to discuss any limitations of your research that may require further exploration. This will help to highlight the need for future research and provide a basis for further investigation.
• Suggest methodologies: Provide suggestions for methodologies that could be used to explore the research questions you have identified. Discuss the pros and cons of each methodology and how they would be suitable for your research.
• Explain significance: Explain the significance of the research you have proposed, and how it will contribute to the field. This will help to justify the need for future research and provide a basis for further investigation.
• Provide a timeline : Provide a timeline for the proposed research , indicating when each stage of the research would be conducted. This will help to give a sense of the practicalities involved in conducting the research.
• Conclusion : Summarize the key points you have made about future research and emphasize the importance of exploring the research questions you have identified.

Examples of Future Research in Thesis

SomeExamples of Future Research in Thesis are as follows:

Future Research:

Although this study provides valuable insights into the effects of social media on self-esteem, there are several avenues for future research that could build upon our findings. Firstly, our sample consisted solely of college students, so it would be beneficial to extend this research to other age groups and demographics. Additionally, our study focused only on the impact of social media use on self-esteem, but there are likely other factors that influence how social media affects individuals, such as personality traits and social support. Future research could examine these factors in greater depth. Lastly, while our study looked at the short-term effects of social media use on self-esteem, it would be interesting to explore the long-term effects over time. This could involve conducting longitudinal studies that follow individuals over a period of several years to assess changes in self-esteem and social media use.

While this study provides important insights into the relationship between sleep patterns and academic performance among college students, there are several avenues for future research that could further advance our understanding of this topic.

• This study relied on self-reported sleep patterns, which may be subject to reporting biases. Future research could benefit from using objective measures of sleep, such as actigraphy or polysomnography, to more accurately assess sleep duration and quality.
• This study focused on academic performance as the outcome variable, but there may be other important outcomes to consider, such as mental health or well-being. Future research could explore the relationship between sleep patterns and these other outcomes.
• This study only included college students, and it is unclear if these findings generalize to other populations, such as high school students or working adults. Future research could investigate whether the relationship between sleep patterns and academic performance varies across different populations.
• Fourth, this study did not explore the potential mechanisms underlying the relationship between sleep patterns and academic performance. Future research could investigate the role of factors such as cognitive functioning, motivation, and stress in this relationship.

Overall, there is a need for continued research on the relationship between sleep patterns and academic performance, as this has important implications for the health and well-being of students.

Further research could investigate the long-term effects of mindfulness-based interventions on mental health outcomes among individuals with chronic pain. A longitudinal study could be conducted to examine the sustainability of mindfulness practices in reducing pain-related distress and improving psychological well-being over time. The study could also explore the potential mediating and moderating factors that influence the relationship between mindfulness and mental health outcomes, such as emotional regulation, pain catastrophizing, and social support.

Purpose of Future Research in Thesis

Here are some general purposes of future research that you might consider including in your thesis:

• To address limitations: Your research may have limitations or unanswered questions that could be addressed by future studies. Identify these limitations and suggest potential areas for further research.
• To extend the research : You may have found interesting results in your research, but future studies could help to extend or replicate your findings. Identify these areas where future research could help to build on your work.
• To explore related topics : Your research may have uncovered related topics that were outside the scope of your study. Suggest areas where future research could explore these related topics in more depth.
• To compare different approaches : Your research may have used a particular methodology or approach, but there may be other approaches that could be compared to your approach. Identify these other approaches and suggest areas where future research could compare and contrast them.
• To test hypotheses : Your research may have generated hypotheses that could be tested in future studies. Identify these hypotheses and suggest areas where future research could test them.
• To address practical implications : Your research may have practical implications that could be explored in future studies. Identify these practical implications and suggest areas where future research could investigate how to apply them in practice.

Applications of Future Research

Some examples of applications of future research that you could include in your thesis are:

• Development of new technologies or methods: If your research involves the development of new technologies or methods, you could discuss potential applications of these innovations in future research or practical settings. For example, if you have developed a new drug delivery system, you could speculate about how it might be used in the treatment of other diseases or conditions.
• Extension of your research: If your research only scratches the surface of a particular topic, you could suggest potential avenues for future research that could build upon your findings. For example, if you have studied the effects of a particular drug on a specific population, you could suggest future research that explores the drug’s effects on different populations or in combination with other treatments.
• Investigation of related topics: If your research is part of a larger field or area of inquiry, you could suggest potential research topics that are related to your work. For example, if you have studied the effects of climate change on a particular species, you could suggest future research that explores the impacts of climate change on other species or ecosystems.
• Testing of hypotheses: If your research has generated hypotheses or theories, you could suggest potential experiments or studies that could test these hypotheses in future research. For example, if you have proposed a new theory about the mechanisms of a particular disease, you could suggest experiments that could test this theory in other populations or in different disease contexts.

Advantage of Future Research

Including future research in a thesis has several advantages:

• Demonstrates critical thinking: Including future research shows that the author has thought deeply about the topic and recognizes its limitations. It also demonstrates that the author is interested in advancing the field and is not satisfied with only providing a narrow analysis of the issue at hand.
• Provides a roadmap for future research : Including future research can help guide researchers in the field by suggesting areas that require further investigation. This can help to prevent researchers from repeating the same work and can lead to more efficient use of resources.
• Shows engagement with the field : By including future research, the author demonstrates their engagement with the field and their understanding of ongoing debates and discussions. This can be especially important for students who are just entering the field and want to show their commitment to ongoing research.
• I ncreases the impact of the thesis : Including future research can help to increase the impact of the thesis by highlighting its potential implications for future research and practical applications. This can help to generate interest in the work and attract attention from researchers and practitioners in the field.

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

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• GETTING STARTED
• Introduction
• FUNDAMENTALS
• Acknowledgements
• Research questions & hypotheses
• Concepts, constructs & variables
• Research limitations
• Getting started
• Sampling Strategy
• Research Quality
• Research Ethics
• Data Analysis

FUTURE RESEARCH

Types of future research suggestion.

The Future Research section of your dissertation is often combined with the Research Limitations section of your final, Conclusions chapter. This is because your future research suggestions generally arise out of the research limitations you have identified in your own dissertation. In this article, we discuss six types of future research suggestion. These include: (1) building on a particular finding in your research; (2) addressing a flaw in your research; examining (or testing) a theory (framework or model) either (3) for the first time or (4) in a new context, location and/or culture; (5) re-evaluating and (6) expanding a theory (framework or model). The goal of the article is to help you think about the potential types of future research suggestion that you may want to include in your dissertation.

Before we discuss each of these types of future research suggestion, we should explain why we use the word examining and then put or testing in brackets. This is simply because the word examining may be considered more appropriate when students use a qualitative research design; whereas the word testing fits better with dissertations drawing on a quantitative research design. We also put the words framework or model in brackets after the word theory . We do this because a theory , framework and model are not the same things. In the sections that follow, we discuss six types of future research suggestion.

Addressing research limitations in your dissertation

Building on a particular finding or aspect of your research, examining a conceptual framework (or testing a theoretical model) for the first time, examining a conceptual framework (or testing a theoretical model) in a new context, location and/or culture.

• Expanding a conceptual framework (or testing a theoretical model)

Re-evaluating a conceptual framework (or theoretical model)

In the Research Limitations section of your Conclusions chapter, you will have inevitably detailed the potential flaws (i.e., research limitations) of your dissertation. These may include:

An inability to answer your research questions

Theoretical and conceptual problems

Limitations of your research strategy

Problems of research quality

Identifying what these research limitations were and proposing future research suggestions that address them is arguably the easiest and quickest ways to complete the Future Research section of your Conclusions chapter.

Often, the findings from your dissertation research will highlight a number of new avenues that could be explored in future studies. These can be grouped into two categories:

Your dissertation will inevitably lead to findings that you did not anticipate from the start. These are useful when making future research suggestions because they can lead to entirely new avenues to explore in future studies. If this was the case, it is worth (a) briefly describing what these unanticipated findings were and (b) suggesting a research strategy that could be used to explore such findings in future.

Sometimes, dissertations manage to address all aspects of the research questions that were set. However, this is seldom the case. Typically, there will be aspects of your research questions that could not be answered. This is not necessarily a flaw in your research strategy, but may simply reflect that fact that the findings did not provide all the answers you hoped for. If this was the case, it is worth (a) briefly describing what aspects of your research questions were not answered and (b) suggesting a research strategy that could be used to explore such aspects in future.

You may want to recommend that future research examines the conceptual framework (or tests the theoretical model) that you developed. This is based on the assumption that the primary goal of your dissertation was to set out a conceptual framework (or build a theoretical model). It is also based on the assumption that whilst such a conceptual framework (or theoretical model) was presented, your dissertation did not attempt to examine (or test) it in the field . The focus of your dissertations was most likely a review of the literature rather than something that involved you conducting primary research.

Whilst it is quite rare for dissertations at the undergraduate and master's level to be primarily theoretical in nature like this, it is not unknown. If this was the case, you should think about how the conceptual framework (or theoretical model) that you have presented could be best examined (or tested) in the field . In understanding the how , you should think about two factors in particular:

What is the context, location and/or culture that would best lend itself to my conceptual framework (or theoretical model) if it were to be examined (or tested) in the field?

What research strategy is most appropriate to examine my conceptual framework (or test my theoretical model)?

If the future research suggestion that you want to make is based on examining your conceptual framework (or testing your theoretical model) in the field , you need to suggest the best scenario for doing so.

More often than not, you will not only have set out a conceptual framework (or theoretical model), as described in the previous section, but you will also have examined (or tested) it in the field . When you do this, focus is typically placed on a specific context, location and/or culture.

If this is the case, the obvious future research suggestion that you could propose would be to examine your conceptual framework (or test the theoretical model) in a new context, location and/or culture. For example, perhaps you focused on consumers (rather than businesses), or Canada (rather than the United Kingdom), or a more individualistic culture like the United States (rather than a more collectivist culture like China).

When you propose a new context, location and/or culture as your future research suggestion, make sure you justify the choice that you make. For example, there may be little value in future studies looking at different cultures if culture is not an important component underlying your conceptual framework (or theoretical model). If you are not sure whether a new context, location or culture is more appropriate, or what new context, location or culture you should select, a review the literature will often help clarify where you focus should be.

Expanding a conceptual framework (or theoretical model)

Assuming that you have set out a conceptual framework (or theoretical model) and examined (or tested) it in the field , another series of future research suggestions comes out of expanding that conceptual framework (or theoretical model).

We talk about a series of future research suggestions because there are so many ways that you can expand on your conceptual framework (or theoretical model). For example, you can do this by:

Examining constructs (or variables) that were included in your conceptual framework (or theoretical model) but were not focused.

Looking at a particular relationship aspect of your conceptual framework (or theoretical model) further.

Adding new constructs (or variables) to the conceptual framework (or theoretical model) you set out (if justified by the literature).

It would be possible to include one or a number of these as future research suggestions. Again, make sure that any suggestions you make have are justified , either by your findings or the literature.

With the dissertation process at the undergraduate and master's level lasting between 3 and 9 months, a lot a can happen in between. For example, a specific event (e.g., 9/11, the economic crisis) or some new theory or evidence that undermines (or questions) the literature (theory) and assumptions underpinning your conceptual framework (or theoretical model). Clearly, there is little you can do about this. However, if this happens, reflecting on it and re-evaluating your conceptual framework (or theoretical model), as well as your findings, is an obvious source of future research suggestions.

More From Forbes

The future of ai: 5 things to expect in the next 10 years.

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Gaurav Tewari, Omega Venture Partners.

There has been no better time to be in the world of artificial intelligence than now. AI has achieved an inflection point and is poised to transform every industry. Much has already been written about specific applications of AI. In this article, I take a step back to consider how artificial intelligence is poised to fundamentally restructure broader swaths of our economy and society over the next decade with five bold predictions that are informed by my expertise and immersion in the field.

1. AI and ML will transform the scientific method.

Important science—think large-scale clinical trials or building particle colliders—is expensive and time-consuming. In recent decades there has been considerable, well-deserved concern about scientific progress slowing down . Scientists may no longer be experiencing the golden age of discovery.

With AI and machine learning (ML), we can expect to see orders of magnitude of improvement in what can be accomplished. There's a certain set of ideas that humans can computationally explore. There’s a broader set of ideas that humans with computers can address. And there’s a much bigger set of ideas that humans with computers, plus AI, can successfully tackle. AI enables an unprecedented ability to analyze enormous data sets and computationally discover complex relationships and patterns. AI, augmenting human intelligence, is primed to transform the scientific research process, unleashing a new golden age of scientific discovery in the coming years.

2. AI will become a pillar of foreign policy.

We are likely to see serious government investment in AI. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III has publicly embraced the importance of partnering with innovative AI technology companies to maintain and strengthen global U.S. competitiveness.

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The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence has created detailed recommendations , concluding that the U.S. government needs to greatly accelerate AI innovation. There’s little doubt that AI will be imperative to the continuing economic resilience and geopolitical leadership of the United States.

3. AI will enable next-gen consumer experiences.

Next-generation consumer experiences like the metaverse and cryptocurrencies have garnered much buzz. These experiences and others like them will be critically enabled by AI. The metaverse is inherently an AI problem because humans lack the sort of perception needed to overlay digital objects on physical contexts or to understand the range of human actions and their corresponding effects in a metaverse setting.

More and more of our life takes place at the intersection of the world of bits and the world of atoms. AI algorithms have the potential to learn much more quickly in a digital world (e.g., virtual driving to train autonomous vehicles). These are natural catalysts for AI to bridge the feedback loops between the digital and physical realms. For instance, blockchain, cryptocurrency and distributed finance, at their core, are all about integrating frictionless capitalism into the economy. But to make this vision real, distributed applications and smart contracts will require a deeper understanding of how capital activities interact with the real world, which is an AI and ML problem.

4. Addressing the climate crisis will require AI.

As a society we have much to do in mitigating the socioeconomic threats posed by climate change. Carbon pricing policies, still in their infancy, are of questionable effectiveness .

Many promising emerging ideas require AI to be feasible. One potential new approach involves prediction markets powered by AI that can tie policy to impact, taking a holistic view of environmental information and interdependence. This would likely be powered by digital "twin Earth" simulations that would require staggering amounts of real-time data and computation to detect nuanced trends imperceptible to human senses. Other new technologies such as carbon dioxide sequestration cannot succeed without AI-powered risk modeling, downstream effect prediction and the ability to anticipate unintended consequences.

5. AI will enable truly personalized medicine.

Personalized medicine has been an aspiration since the decoding of the human genome. But tragically it remains an aspiration. One compelling emerging application of AI involves synthesizing individualized therapies for patients. Moreover, AI has the potential to one day synthesize and predict personalized treatment modalities in near real-time—no clinical trials required.

Simply put, AI is uniquely suited to construct and analyze "digital twin" rubrics of individual biology and is able to do so in the context of the communities an individual lives in. The human body is mind-boggling in its complexity, and it is shocking how little we know about how drugs work (paywall). Without AI, it is impossible to make sense of the massive datasets from an individual’s physiology, let alone the effects on individual health outcomes from environment, lifestyle and diet. AI solutions have the potential not only to improve the state of the art in healthcare, but also to play a major role in reducing persistent health inequities.

Final Thoughts

The applications of artificial intelligence are likely to impact critical facets of our economy and society over the coming decade. We are in the early innings of what many credible experts view as the most promising era in technology innovation and value creation for the foreseeable future.

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Futures Research Methodology — Version 3.0

Editors: Jerome C. Glenn and Theodore J. Gordon

• CD-ROM: 1300 pages
• Publisher: The Millennium Project; 3.0 edition (April 30, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0981894119
• ISBN-13: 978-0981894119
• Downloadable or CD-ROM

The largest, most comprehensive collection of internationally peer-reviewed handbook on methods and tools to explore future possibilities ever assembled in one resource.

Over half of the chapters were written by the inventor of the method or by a significant contributor to the method’s evolution.

The electronic download- contains 39 chapters totaling about 1,300 pages. Each method is treated in a separate file in word (.doc) and PDF format.

The series begins with an introductory chapter to futures research and concludes with a synthesis of methods and speculation about the future of futures research methods. The other 37 chapters cover one specific method (e.g. Futures Wheel, Scenarios) or category of methods (e.g. Systems Perspectives, Normative Forecasting).

Each of the 37 chapters contains:

• an executive overview of each method’s history,
• description of the method
• primary and alternative usages,
• strengths and weaknesses,
• uses in combination with other methods, and
• speculation about future evolution of the method.
• Some also contain appendixes with applications, links to software, and sources for further information.

Version 3.0 has not only added new chapters, it has also updated and improved the editing of the previous chapters making this version a significant improvement on the previous one.

Electronic Edition (downloadable zip file)

Price: $49.50 US dollars

Price: $49.50 US dollars + shipping

FRM 3.0 Table of Contents

1. Introduction to Futures Research Jerome C. Glenn 2. Environmental Scanning Theodore J. Gordon and Jerome C. Glenn 3. Text Mining for Technology Foresight Alan L. Porter 4. Delphi Theodore J. Gordon 5. Real-Time Delphi Theodore J. Gordon 6. The Futures Wheel Jerome C. Glenn 7. The Futures Polygon Antonio Pacinelli 8. Trend Impact Analysis Theodore J. Gordon 9. Cross-Impact Analysis Theodore J. Gordon 10. Wild Cards John Petersen and Karlheintz Steinmueller 11. Structural Analysis Jacques Arcade, Michel Godet, Francis Meunier, Fabrice Roubelat 12. The Systems Perspectives Allenna Leonard with Stafford Beer 13. Decision Modeling The Futures Group International

14. Substitution Analysis Theodore J. Gordon 15. Statistical Modeling Antonio Pacinelli 16. Technology Sequence Analysis Theodore J. Gordon 17. Morphological Analysis Tom Ritchey 18. Relevance Trees The Futures Group International and Theodore J. Gordon 19. Scenarios Jerome C. Glenn and The Futures Group International 20. A Toolbox for Scenario Planning Michel Godet 21. Interactive Scenarios Theodore J. Gordon 22. Robust Decisionmaking Robert Lempert, Steven Popper, Steve Bankes (RAND Corporation) 23. Participatory Methods Jerome C. Glenn 24. Simulation and Games Erwin Rausch with additions from Frank Catanzaro 25. Genius Forecasting, Intuition, and Vision Jerome C. Glenn 26. Prediction Markets Justin Wolfers and Eric Zitzewitz

27. Using Vision in Futures Clem Bezold 28. Normative Forecasting Joe Coates and Jerome C. Glenn 29. S&T Road Mapping Theodore J. Gordon 30. Field Anomaly Relaxation (FAR) R. Geoffrey Coyle 31. Agent Modeling (demo software) Theodore J. Gordon 32. Chaos and Non-Linear Dynamics Theodore Gordon 33. Multiple Perspective Concept Harold Linstone 34. Heuristics Modeling Sam Cole 35. Causal Layered Analysis Sohail Inayatullah 36. Personal Futures Verne Wheelwright 37. State of the Future Index Theodore J. Gordon 38. SOFI Software System Peter Yim 39. Integration, Comparisons, and Frontiers of Futures Research Methods Theodore J. Gordon and Jerome C. Glenn

10 recent scientific breakthroughs

From cell reparation to reef restoration

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1. Finding the root cause of lupus

2. restoring brain cells, 3. menstrual blood as a diagnostic tool, 4. cell therapy for melanoma, 5. rhino ivf, 6. pristine configuration, 7. restoring reefs, 8. ai to find aliens, 9. inverse vaccines, 10. sequencing the y-chromosome.

Scientists in many fields received little recognition for the last couple of years, as the world focused on the emergency push to develop vaccines and treatments for Covid-19. But that doesn't mean they weren't still busy researching a dizzying series of developments that are now being reported as major discoveries and achievements.

Scientists have discovered a cause of lupus and a possible way to reverse it. A study published in the journal Nature points to abnormalities in the immune system of  lupus patients that is caused by a molecular abnormality. "What we found was this fundamental imbalance in the types of T cells that patients with lupus make," Deepak Rao, one of the study authors, said to NBC News . Specifically, "people with lupus have too much of a particular T cell associated with damage in healthy cells and too little of another T cell associated with repair," NBC News said.

The good news is that this could be reversed. A protein called interferon is mainly to blame for the T-cell imbalance. Too much interferon blocks another protein called the aryl hydrocarbon receptor, which helps regulate how the body responds to bacteria or environmental pollutants. In turn, too many T-cells are produced that attack the body itself. "The study found that giving people with lupus anifrolumab, a drug that blocks interferon, prevented the T-cell imbalance that likely leads to the disease," said NBC News.

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Scientists have found a way to repair brain cells impaired by a rare genetic disorder. A study published in the journal Nature found that a drug called antisense oligonucleotide allowed human neurons to develop normally despite carrying a mutation due to a genetic disorder called Timothy syndrome. "It's the beginning of a new era for many of these diseases that we first thought were untreatable," Dr. Huda Zoghbi, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine, said to NPR . 

Timothy syndrome is caused by a mutation of a single gene in a person's DNA. The new drug develops an "antisense nucleotide, a small piece of synthetic genetic material that alters the proteins made by a cell," said NPR. The antisense nucleotide for Timothy syndrome was designed to replace a defective protein with a healthy version — "in effect counteracting the mutation responsible for the disorder." This same approach could potentially be used to treat other genetic disorders, "including some that cause schizophrenia, epilepsy, ADHD and autism spectrum disorder."

Menstrual blood can potentially be used to measure blood sugar. In early 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new diagnostic menstrual pad called the Q-Pad and A1C Test by the biotechnology research company Qvin. The Q-Pad is an organic cotton period pad that "collects the blood, which a laboratory then uses to analyze the individual's average blood sugar over three weeks through the A1C biomarker," said Forbes .

"There is a lot of clinically relevant information in this bodily fluid that comes every month," Sara Naseri, the CEO and co-founder of Qvin, said to Axios . "We've built a way for women to get insights about their health regularly. Non-invasively, using blood that comes every month, the menstrual blood." Diagnostic capabilities can potentially be extended to diagnose HPV or endometriosis. 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first cellular therapy for aggressive forms of melanoma. The treatment, called Amtagvi, is "designed to fight off advanced forms of melanoma by extracting and replicating T cells derived from a patient's tumor," said NPR . These cells are also called tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL). T cells are integral in the immune system but can become "dysfunctional inside tumors." 

"The approval of Amtagvi represents the culmination of scientific and clinical research efforts leading to a novel T cell immunotherapy for patients with limited treatment options," Dr. Peter Marks, the director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a statement . The treatment won't work for everyone, but research by the National Institutes of Health showed a "56% response rate among patients with melanoma, and 24% of patients had a complete disappearance of their melanoma, regardless of where it was," Axios said. "This is the tip of the iceberg of what TIL can bring to the future of medicine," Patrick Hwu, CEO of Moffitt Cancer Center, said to Axios .

Scientists were able to impregnate a southern white rhino using in-vitro fertilization (IVF).  Researchers in Kenya implanted a southern white rhino embryo into another of the same species using the technique in September 2023, resulting in a successful pregnancy. The technique could be used to save the northern white rhino from total extinction. "We achieved together something which was not believed to be possible," Thomas Hildebrandt , head of the reproduction management department at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, said in a press conference. 

There are two species of white rhinos: northern and southern. The northern white rhino is on the verge of extinction due to poaching, with only two females remaining. Luckily, scientists have sperm preserved from the last male rhino, which could be combined with an egg from the female and implanted into a southern white rhino female to act as a surrogate. Using a white rhino embryo to test the procedure was a "proof of concept" which is a "milestone to allow us to produce northern white rhino calves in the next two, two and a half years," Hildebrandt said.

Scientists discovered six exoplanets that revolve around a star in a rare pattern called orbital resonance, said a study published in the journal Nature . This means that "for every six orbits completed by planet b, the closest planet to the star, the outermost planet g completes one," CNN said, adding that "as planet c makes three revolutions around the star, planet d does two, and when planet e completes four orbits, planet f does three."

The system was deemed a "rare fossil" by Rafael Luque, a postdoctoral scholar in the University of Chicago's Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics. "We think only about one percent of all systems stay in resonance," Luque said in a statement . "It shows us the pristine configuration of a planetary system that has survived untouched." The discovery could help further the study of sub-Neptunes, which are planets larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune. They are not present in our solar system. "There is little agreement among astronomers about how these planets form and what they're made of — so an entire system consisting of sub-Neptunes could help scientists determine more about their origin," Luque said.

Coral bleaching has been a rapidly growing problem as climate change worsens. Without intervention, the reefs will continue to deteriorate. To counter this, scientists have explored the idea of a "coral gym," essentially a "laboratory to make corals stronger," NPR said. The goal is to "train" coral to survive more extreme conditions.

Warming oceans and rising temperatures are the largest contributors to coral degradation. "One of the things that we do in this lab is subject them to different environmental conditions and evaluate who's a little bit stronger," Ian Enochs, lead of the Coral Program at the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said to NPR. Researchers created a "complex matrix of aquariums" where they can "subject different types of corals to different environments and not only understand how they might survive, but perhaps help them to do so."

Scientists have created an artificial intelligence model that can detect alien life , said a study published in the journal PNAS . The algorithm can "distinguish between samples of biological and nonbiological origin 90% of the time," after being "trained using living cells, fossils, meteorites and lab-made chemicals," Live Science said. "Put another way, the method should be able to detect alien biochemistries, as well as Earth life," Robert Hazen, co-author of the study, said in a statement .

The AI "does not involve a machine having to look for specific things," but rather "looks for differences between samples," BBC said. "These results mean that we may be able to find a lifeform from another planet, another biosphere, even if it is very different from the life we know on Earth," Hazen said. "And, if we do find signs of life elsewhere, we can tell if life on Earth and other planets derived from a common or different origin."

Scientists may have found a way to calm immune responses for those with autoimmune disorders using an " inverse vaccine ," said a study published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering . The immune system responds to specific identifying markers on invaders like viruses and bacteria called antigens, "but some immune cells react to self-antigens," which are "molecules from our own cells," said Science . "In autoimmune diseases, these misguided immune cells turn against patients' own tissues."

The new research worked by "directing potential self-antigens to the liver," where "immune cells there pick up self-antigens and then stifle T cells that could target these molecules." The experiment was performed on mice. "The method they use is promising and potentially can induce better tolerance," neurologist and neuroimmunologist A.M. Rostami said to Science, adding that "we don't know" whether this approach is "applicable to human disease in which we don't know the antigen."

Scientists have finally sequenced the entire Y chromosome, one of the human sex chromosomes present in those assigned male at birth. The feat has been "notoriously difficult" because of the Y chromosome's "complex repeat structure," said a research paper published in the journal Nature .

"Just a few years ago, half of the human Y chromosome was missing" from knowledge of the human genome, Monika Cechova, co-lead author on the paper, said to CNN . "I would credit new sequencing technologies and computational methods for this," Arang Rhie, who also worked on the paper, said to Reuters . The X chromosome was fully sequenced back in 2020.

Understanding the Y chromosome can help with a number of health issues, including fertility. Genes have also "been shown to be required for the prevention of cancer and cardiovascular disease," Kenneth Walsh, a professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, said to CNN.

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 Devika Rao has worked as a staff writer at The Week since 2022, covering science, the environment, climate and business. She previously worked as a policy associate for a nonprofit organization advocating for environmental action from a business perspective.  

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Speed Read Two astronauts are stuck on the International Space Station due to problems with Boeing’s Starliner

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Today's Big Question People could be living in lunar 'houses' by 2040, says Nasa

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Suggestions for Future Research

Your dissertation needs to include suggestions for future research. Depending on requirements of your university, suggestions for future research can be either integrated into Research Limitations section or it can be a separate section.

You will need to propose 4-5 suggestions for future studies and these can include the following:

1. Building upon findings of your research . These may relate to findings of your study that you did not anticipate. Moreover, you may suggest future research to address unanswered aspects of your research problem.

2. Addressing limitations of your research . Your research will not be free from limitations and these may relate to formulation of research aim and objectives, application of data collection method, sample size, scope of discussions and analysis etc. You can propose future research suggestions that address the limitations of your study.

3. Constructing the same research in a new context, location and/or culture . It is most likely that you have addressed your research problem within the settings of specific context, location and/or culture. Accordingly, you can propose future studies that can address the same research problem in a different settings, context, location and/or culture.

4. Re-assessing and expanding theory, framework or model you have addressed in your research . Future studies can address the effects of specific event, emergence of a new theory or evidence and/or other recent phenomenon on your research problem.

My e-book,  The Ultimate Guide to Writing a Dissertation in Business Studies: a step by step assistance  offers practical assistance to complete a dissertation with minimum or no stress. The e-book covers all stages of writing a dissertation starting from the selection to the research area to submitting the completed version of the work within the deadline. John Dudovskiy

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Conclusions wrap up what you have been discussing in your paper. After moving from general to specific information in the introduction and body paragraphs, your conclusion should begin pulling back into more general information that restates the main points of your argument. Conclusions may also call for action or overview future possible research. The following outline may help you conclude your paper:

In a general way,

• Restate your topic and why it is important,
• Restate your thesis/claim,
• Address opposing viewpoints and explain why readers should align with your position,
• Call for action or overview future research possibilities.

Remember that once you accomplish these tasks, unless otherwise directed by your instructor, you are finished. Done. Complete. Don't try to bring in new points or end with a whiz bang(!) conclusion or try to solve world hunger in the final sentence of your conclusion. Simplicity is best for a clear, convincing message.

The preacher's maxim is one of the most effective formulas to follow for argument papers:

Tell what you're going to tell them (introduction).

Tell them (body).

Tell them what you told them (conclusion).

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Data Analytics & Information Systems Faculty Publications

Information technology and the search for organizational agility: a systematic review with future research possibilities.

Paul P. Tallon , Loyola University Magno Queiroz , Utah State University Follow Tim Coltman , University of Waikato, New Zealand Rajeev Sharma , University of Waikato, New Zealand

Document Type

Journal/book title/conference.

The Journal of Strategic Information Systems

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Creative commons license.

Organizations are increasingly turning to information technology (IT) to help them respond to unanticipated environmental threats and opportunities. In this paper, we introduce a systematic review of the literature on IT-enabled agility, helping to establish the boundary between what we know and what we don’t know. We base our review on a wide body of literature drawn from the AIS Basket of Eight IT journals, a cross-section of non-Basket journals, IT practitioner outlets, and premier international IS conferences. We review the use of different theoretical lenses used to investigate the relationship between IT and organizational agility and how the literature has conceptualized agility, its antecedents, and consequences. We also map the evolution of the literature through a series of stages that highlight how researchers have built on previous work. Lastly, we discuss opportunities for future research in an effort to close important gaps in our understanding.

Recommended Citation

Tallon, Paul P., Quieroz, Magno, Coltman, Timothy, and Sharma, Rajeev. “Information Technology and the Search for Organizational Agility: A Systematic Review with Future Research Possibilities.” The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 2018, pp. 1-46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsis.2018.12.002

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Evans D, Coad J, Cottrell K, et al. Public involvement in research: assessing impact through a realist evaluation. Southampton (UK): NIHR Journals Library; 2014 Oct. (Health Services and Delivery Research, No. 2.36.)

Public involvement in research: assessing impact through a realist evaluation.

Chapter 9 conclusions and recommendations for future research.

• How well have we achieved our original aim and objectives?

The initially stated overarching aim of this research was to identify the contextual factors and mechanisms that are regularly associated with effective and cost-effective public involvement in research. While recognising the limitations of our analysis, we believe we have largely achieved this in our revised theory of public involvement in research set out in Chapter 8 . We have developed and tested this theory of public involvement in research in eight diverse case studies; this has highlighted important contextual factors, in particular PI leadership, which had not previously been prominent in the literature. We have identified how this critical contextual factor shapes key mechanisms of public involvement, including the identification of a senior lead for involvement, resource allocation for involvement and facilitation of research partners. These mechanisms then lead to specific outcomes in improving the quality of research, notably recruitment strategies and materials and data collection tools and methods. We have identified a ‘virtuous circle’ of feedback to research partners on their contribution leading to their improved confidence and motivation, which facilitates their continued contribution. Following feedback from the HS&DR Board on our original application we did not seek to assess the cost-effectiveness of different mechanisms of public involvement but we did cost the different types of public involvement as discussed in Chapter 7 . A key finding is that many research projects undercost public involvement.

In our original proposal we emphasised our desire to include case studies involving young people and families with children in the research process. We recruited two studies involving parents of young children aged under 5 years, and two projects involving ‘older’ young people in the 18- to 25-years age group. We recognise that in doing this we missed studies involving children and young people aged under 18 years; in principle we would have liked to have included studies involving such children and young people, but, given the resources at our disposal and the additional resource, ethical and governance issues this would have entailed, we regretfully concluded that this would not be feasible for our study. In terms of the four studies with parental and young persons’ involvement that we did include, we have not done a separate analysis of their data, but the themes emerging from those case studies were consistent with our other case studies and contributed to our overall analysis.

In terms of the initial objectives, we successfully recruited the sample of eight diverse case studies and collected and analysed data from them (objective 1). As intended, we identified the outcomes of involvement from multiple stakeholders‘ perspectives, although we did not get as many research partners‘ perspectives as we would have liked – see limitations below (objective 2). It was more difficult than expected to track the impact of public involvement from project inception through to completion (objective 3), as all of our projects turned out to have longer time scales than our own. Even to track involvement over a stage of a case study research project proved difficult, as the research usually did not fall into neatly staged time periods and one study had no involvement activity over the study period.

Nevertheless, we were able to track seven of the eight case studies prospectively and in real time over time periods of up to 9 months, giving us an unusual window on involvement processes that have previously mainly been observed retrospectively. We were successful in comparing the contextual factors, mechanisms and outcomes associated with public involvement from different stakeholders‘ perspectives and costing the different mechanisms for public involvement (objective 4). We only partly achieved our final objective of undertaking a consensus exercise among stakeholders to assess the merits of the realist evaluation approach and our approach to the measurement and valuation of economic costs of public involvement in research (objective 5). A final consensus event was held, where very useful discussion and amendment of our theory of public involvement took place, and the economic approach was discussed and helpfully critiqued by participants. However, as our earlier discussions developed more fully than expected, we decided to let them continue rather than interrupt them in order to run the final exercise to assess the merits of the realist evaluation approach. We did, however, test our analysis with all our case study participants by sending a draft of this final report for comment. We received a number of helpful comments and corrections but no disagreement with our overall analysis.

• What were the limitations of our study?

Realist evaluation is a relatively new approach and we recognise that there were a number of limitations to our study. We sought to follow the approach recommended by Pawson, but we acknowledge that we were not always able to do so. In particular, our theory of public involvement in research evolved over time and initially was not as tightly framed in terms of a testable hypothesis as Pawson recommends. In his latest book Pawson strongly recommends that outcomes should be measured with quantitative data, 17 but we did not do so; we were not aware of the existence of quantitative data or tools that would enable us to collect such data to answer our research questions. Even in terms of qualitative data, we did not capture as much information on outcomes as we initially envisaged. There were several reasons for this. The most important was that capturing outcomes in public involvement is easier the more operational the focus of involvement, and more difficult the more strategic the involvement. Thus, it was relatively easy to see the impact of a patient panel on the redesign of a recruitment leaflet but harder to capture the impact of research partners in a multidisciplinary team discussion of research design.

We also found it was sometimes more difficult to engage research partners as participants in our research than researchers or research managers. On reflection this is not surprising. Research partners are generally motivated to take part in research relevant to their lived experience of a health condition or situation, whereas our research was quite detached from their lived experience; in addition people had many constraints on their time, so getting involved in our research as well as their own was likely to be a burden too far for some. Researchers clearly also face significant time pressures but they had a more direct interest in our research, as they are obliged to engage with public involvement to satisfy research funders such as the NIHR. Moreover, researchers were being paid by their employers for their time during interviews with us, while research partners were not paid by us and usually not paid by their research teams. Whatever the reasons, we had less response from research partners than researchers or research managers, particularly for the third round of data collection; thus we have fewer data on outcomes from research partners‘ perspectives and we need to be aware of a possible selection bias towards more engaged research partners. Such a bias could have implications for our findings; for example payment might have been a more important motivating factor for less engaged advisory group members.

There were a number of practical difficulties we encountered. One challenge was when to recruit the case studies. We recruited four of our eight case studies prior to the full application, but this was more than 1 year before our project started and 15 months or more before data collection began. In this intervening period, we found that the time scales of some of the case studies were no longer ideal for our project and we faced the choice of whether to continue with them, although this timing was not ideal, or seek at a late moment to recruit alternative ones. One of our case studies ultimately undertook no involvement activity over the study period, so we obtained fewer data from it, and it contributed relatively little to our analysis. Similarly, one of the four case studies we recruited later experienced some delays itself in beginning and so we had a more limited period for data collection than initially envisaged. Research governance approvals took much longer than expected, particularly as we had to take three of our research partners, who were going to collect data within NHS projects, through the research passport process, which essentially truncated our data collection period from 1 year to 9 months. Even if we had had the full year initially envisaged for data collection, our conclusion with hindsight was that this was insufficiently long. To compare initial plans and intentions for involvement with the reality of what actually happened required a longer time period than a year for most of our case studies.

In the light of the importance we have placed on the commitment of PIs, there is an issue of potential selection bias in the recruitment of our sample. As our sampling strategy explicitly involved a networking approach to PIs of projects where we thought some significant public involvement was taking place, we were likely (as we did) to recruit enthusiasts and, at worst, those non-committed who were at least open to the potential value of public involvement. There were, unsurprisingly, no highly sceptical PIs in our sample. We have no data therefore on how public involvement may work in research where the PI is sceptical but may feel compelled to undertake involvement because of funder requirements or other factors.

• What would we do differently next time?

If we were to design this study again, there are a number of changes we would make. Most importantly we would go for a longer time period to be able to capture involvement through the whole research process from initial design through to dissemination. We would seek to recruit far more potential case studies in principle, so that we had greater choice of which to proceed with once our study began in earnest. We would include case studies from the application stage to capture the important early involvement of research partners in the initial design period. It might be preferable to research a smaller number of case studies, allowing a more in-depth ethnographic approach. Although challenging, it would be very informative to seek to sample sceptical PIs. This might require a brief screening exercise of a larger group of PIs on their attitudes to and experience of public involvement.

The economic evaluation was challenging in a number of ways, particularly in seeking to obtain completed resource logs from case study research partners. Having a 2-week data collection period was also problematic in a field such as public involvement, where activity may be very episodic and infrequent. Thus, collecting economic data alongside other case study data in a more integrated way, and particularly with interviews and more ethnographic observation of case study activities, might be advantageous. The new budgeting tool developed by INVOLVE and the MHRN may provide a useful resource for future economic evaluations. 23

We have learned much from the involvement of research partners in our research team and, although many aspects of our approach worked well, there are some things we would do differently in future. Even though we included substantial resources for research partner involvement in all aspects of our study, we underestimated how time-consuming such full involvement would be. We were perhaps overambitious in trying to ensure such full involvement with the number of research partners and the number and complexity of the case studies. We were also perhaps naive in expecting all the research partners to play the same role in the team; different research partners came with different experiences and skills, and, like most of our case studies, we might have been better to be less prescriptive and allow the roles to develop more organically within the project.

• Implications for research practice and funding

If one of the objectives of R&D policy is to increase the extent and effectiveness of public involvement in research, then a key implication of this research is the importance of influencing PIs to value public involvement in research or to delegate to other senior colleagues in leading on involvement in their research. Training is unlikely to be the key mechanism here; senior researchers are much more likely to be influenced by peers or by their personal experience of the benefits of public involvement. Early career researchers may be shaped by training but again peer learning and culture may be more influential. For those researchers sceptical or agnostic about public involvement, the requirement of funders is a key factor that is likely to make them engage with the involvement agenda. Therefore, funders need to scrutinise the track record of research teams on public involvement to ascertain whether there is any evidence of commitment or leadership on involvement.

One of the findings of the economic analysis was that PIs have consistently underestimated the costs of public involvement in their grant applications. Clearly the field will benefit from the guidance and budgeting tool recently disseminated by MHRN and INVOLVE. It was also notable that there was a degree of variation in the real costs of public involvement and that effective involvement is not necessarily costly. Different models of involvement incur different costs and researchers need to be made aware of the costs and benefits of these different options.

One methodological lesson we learned was the impact that conducting this research had on some participants’ reflection on the impact of public involvement. Particularly for research staff, the questions we asked sometimes made them reflect upon what they were doing and change aspects of their approach to involvement. Thus, the more the NIHR and other funders can build reporting, audit and other forms of evaluation on the impact of public involvement directly into their processes with PIs, the more likely such questioning might stimulate similar reflection.

• Recommendations for further research

There are a number of gaps in our knowledge around public involvement in research that follow from our findings, and would benefit from further research, including realist evaluation to extend and further test the theory we have developed here:

• In-depth exploration of how PIs become committed to public involvement and how to influence agnostic or sceptical PIs would be very helpful. Further research might compare, for example, training with peer-influencing strategies in engendering PI commitment. Research could explore the leadership role of other research team members, including research partners, and how collective leadership might support effective public involvement.
• More methodological work is needed on how to robustly capture the impact and outcomes of public involvement in research (building as well on the PiiAF work of Popay et al. 51 ), including further economic analysis and exploration of impact when research partners are integral to research teams.
• Research to develop approaches and carry out a full cost–benefit analysis of public involvement in research would be beneficial. Although methodologically challenging, it would be very useful to conduct some longer-term studies which sought to quantify the impact of public involvement on such key indicators as participant recruitment and retention in clinical trials.
• It would also be helpful to capture qualitatively the experiences and perspectives of research partners who have had mixed or negative experiences, since they may be less likely than enthusiasts to volunteer to participate in studies of involvement in research such as ours. Similarly, further research might explore the (relatively rare) experiences of marginalised and seldom-heard groups involved in research.
• Payment for public involvement in research remains a contested issue with strongly held positions for and against; it would be helpful to further explore the value research partners and researchers place on payment and its effectiveness for enhancing involvement in and impact on research.
• A final relatively narrow but important question that we identified after data collection had finished is: what is the impact of the long periods of relative non-involvement following initial periods of more intense involvement for research partners in some types of research, particularly clinical trials?

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• Cite this Page Evans D, Coad J, Cottrell K, et al. Public involvement in research: assessing impact through a realist evaluation. Southampton (UK): NIHR Journals Library; 2014 Oct. (Health Services and Delivery Research, No. 2.36.) Chapter 9, Conclusions and recommendations for future research.
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Car-T Cell Therapy: Current Advances and Future Research Possibilities https://doi.org/10.47631/jsrmbs.v2i2.234

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Purpose: The aim is to review the current advances in designing safer and more efficient CAR-T cells and discuss the future research possibilities for the treatment of both hematological malignancies and solid tumors.

Study Design: An extensive review was carried out on the basic structure of CARS, current advances to design safer and more efficient CAR-T cells, and future research possibilities for the treatment of both hematological malignancies and solid tumors.

Results: Encouragement of chimeric antigen receptor-T (CAR-T) cell therapy as one of adoptive immunotherapy is increasingly important in recent years. Its preparation is based on the genetic modification of individual T cells. The innovation of the functional intracellular signaling domain is a critical part of the genetically modified T cells and requires a long journey of development that has resulted in several improvements in the safety and effectiveness of CAR-T cells. CAR-T cell therapy can be modified rapidly and has great and strong application potential according to a large number of global clinical trials. This article briefly describes the basic structure and design of CARs and discusses current trends in the development of safer and more efficient CAR-T cells for the treatment of both hematological and solid malignancies and looks forward to future research possibilities.

Conclusion : It is concluded that conclude that the prospect of this technology lies in CAR-T cell engineering which can overcome aggressive TMEs and recruiting an endogenous tumor response. The final task for researchers in this field is to carry out clinical trials and secure the funding needed to complete their clinical trials. This immunotherapy continues to progress and more records of successful malignancy eradication occur.

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• 12 July 2024
• Correction 18 July 2024

Bird flu could become a human pandemic. How are countries preparing?

• Smriti Mallapaty

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Highly pathogenic avian influenza has been detected in 145 cattle herds in the United States. Credit: Matthew Ludak for The Washington Post via Getty

As cases of avian influenza continue to rise in cattle in the United States, countries are preparing for the possibility that the virus could start spreading in people. Many nations are ramping up surveillance, as well as purchasing vaccines or developing new ones.

“This virus in its current state does not look like it has the characteristics of causing a pandemic. But with influenza viruses, that equation could entirely change with a single mutation,” says Scott Hensley, an immunologist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

The highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 has so far been detected in 145 cattle herds and 4 farm workers in a dozen states across the United States. Researchers say many more cases in cows and people have probably gone undetected . The chances of quashing the outbreak get “more slim by the day”, says Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada.

Studies suggest that the virus is spreading between cows through contaminated milking equipment 1 , 2 , rather than airborne particles. The biggest risk is that it could evolve to infect mammals more effectively, including through the respiratory system, which would make it more difficult to contain. Given the close and regular contact that cows have with people, airborne transmission could spark a pandemic.

Efforts to prepare for that possibility include risk assessments, modelling and outbreak predictions. “There is loads of planning and preparedness going on internationally,” says Michelle Wille, a virus ecologist at the University of Melbourne in Australia.

Nicole Lurie, who heads preparedness and response at the Oslo-based Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), says the coalition’s approach “for the moment is one of ‘calm urgency’” — “like putting our shoes on in case we need to start running”.

Vaccinating people

A key focus of pandemic preparedness efforts is vaccines, which would protect people from getting ill should the virus spread more widely. Vaccinating people would also reduce the risk of H5N1 mixing with seasonal influenza viruses that are already well-adapted to spread in humans.

In May, the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, initiated a review of available influenza candidate vaccines, and confirmed that they would work against the H5N1 virus circulating in cattle. “Although the current public health risk is low, WHO is operating in a constant state of readiness for a potential influenza pandemic,” says Maria Van Kerkhove, who heads epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention at the WHO.

Last month, the European Commission purchased roughly 700,000 doses of a flu vaccine manufactured by CSL Seqirus, in Maidenhead, UK, with the option to buy another 40 million. The vaccine protects against H5 strains of influenza A. Also in June, Finland began vaccinating people against avian influenza, focusing on high-risk workers at fur and poultry farms.

Other countries, especially the United States, should also consider vaccinating high-risk workers, says Rasmussen. In May, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) purchased almost five million more doses of the CSL Seqirus influenza vaccine for its stockpile.

Most available vaccines rely on inactivated strains of viruses grown in chicken eggs, which are cheap, but slow, to produce. Researchers are also developing vaccines using mRNA technology ; these are more expensive but quicker to manufacture, and their formulation can be updated to target emerging strains. “It really is a game-changer,” says Hensley, who has developed an H5 mRNA vaccine candidate and tested it in ferrets 3 . “In the case of a pandemic, you can expect that these vaccines will be used widely.”

Last week, the HHS announced that it had provided the pharmaceutical company Moderna, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with US$176 million to develop an mRNA-based vaccine against H5 influenza.

CEPI is working to ensure that the response is equitable worldwide. Half of existing vaccine supplies are already tied up in contracts or export controls, says Lurie, and it’s important to make sure that the remaining doses reach the people who need them. “As we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic, low- and middle-income countries could once again be pushed to the back of the queue.”

Doses for cows

Countries including the United States are investigating the possibility of vaccinating cattle to reduce transmission. “This could be a phenomenal mitigation effort” and would be practical to implement as part of existing drives to vaccinate livestock, says Jenna Guthmiller, an immunologist at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora.

Several research teams are in the early stages of developing vaccines for cattle. But there are challenges to overcome. Studies suggest that the virus spreading in cattle finds safe harbour in the mammary glands and epithelial cells 2 of the udder. This could be a challenging site in which to elicit a protective immune response, says Diego Diel, a virologist at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, who is developing candidate vaccines against highly pathogenic avian influenza that use harmless DNA viruses to deliver genetic material. Hensley is currently testing his mRNA vaccine in cattle and swine.

But one concern is that vaccines could cover up symptoms in animals that are still infectious, which would increase the risk to people, says Thomas Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London.

Vaccines should be seen as a measure of last resort, after implementing all other layers of containment, says Martin Beer, a virologist at the Federal Research Institute for Animal Health in Greifswald, Germany. They protect against “a worst-case scenario”.

Surveillance

To stay ahead of the virus, countries are also tracking its spread through increased testing of people and animals. Before the US outbreak, researchers didn’t think cattle could be infected with avian influenza. They are now scrambling to develop tests specific to this host.

Isabella Monne, who studies the molecular epidemiology of animal viruses at the Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Venice in Legnaro, Italy, is developing and evaluating tools to help laboratories across Europe to detect viral particles and antibodies, which are evidence of past infection, in cow blood and milk. Groups across Europe, Canada and the United States have started testing cow blood or bulk milk samples.

Researchers are also monitoring sequences of the virus’s genome for changes that would improve its ability to infect cells found in the upper airways. These mutations would increase the risk to people.

One group has created 4 a library of every possible amino-acid mutation on the haemagglutinin protein, which the virus uses to enter cells. The researchers tested in human cells how well the mutated proteins bind to upper-airway receptors, and their stability in acidic environments — traits “known to correlate with viruses going from avian to mammalian hosts, and becoming pandemics”, says Peacock, a co-author of the study, which has not been peer reviewed. Scanning for those mutations could allow real-time risk prediction, he says.

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02237-4

Updates & Corrections

Correction 18 July 2024 : A previous version of this story misstated how some H5N1 vaccines are made.

Le Sage, V. et al. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.05.22.595317 (2024).

Caserta, L. C. et al. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/content/10.1101/2024.05.22.595317 (2024).

Furey, C. et al. Nature Commun. 15, 4350 (2024).

Article   Google Scholar  

Dadonaite, B. et al. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.05.23.595634 (2024).

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Hearing loss and oxidative stress: a comprehensive review.

1. Introduction

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Maniaci, A.; La Via, L.; Lechien, J.R.; Sangiorgio, G.; Iannella, G.; Magliulo, G.; Pace, A.; Mat, Q.; Lavalle, S.; Lentini, M. Hearing Loss and Oxidative Stress: A Comprehensive Review. Antioxidants 2024 , 13 , 842. https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox13070842

Maniaci A, La Via L, Lechien JR, Sangiorgio G, Iannella G, Magliulo G, Pace A, Mat Q, Lavalle S, Lentini M. Hearing Loss and Oxidative Stress: A Comprehensive Review. Antioxidants . 2024; 13(7):842. https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox13070842

Maniaci, A., L. La Via, J. R. Lechien, G. Sangiorgio, G. Iannella, G. Magliulo, A. Pace, Q. Mat, S. Lavalle, and M. Lentini. 2024. "Hearing Loss and Oxidative Stress: A Comprehensive Review" Antioxidants 13, no. 7: 842. https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox13070842

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Technology is transforming society, sometimes in unpredictable ways. 

In a spring quarter course taught by Stanford Professor Ban Wang , COLLEGE 113: Utopia, Dystopia, and Technology in Science Fiction, students considered some of those potential changes by using science fiction as a way to imagine what could unfold and their own responsibility and agency in that future.

Each week, students read novels, essays, and films to examine the consequences and the ethical implications of science and technology.

One featured book was The Three Body Problem by Chinese science fiction author Liu Cixin.

During a Tuesday afternoon seminar with Wang, students discussed the book’s wide-ranging topics, which include history (like the Chinese Cultural Revolution), science (such as quantum mechanics), and philosophy (including the meaning of life).

The book captures the many ways people have tried to understand their place in an ever-expanding universe, ranging from religion, faith, and mysticism, others to science, fact, and reason. The students debated these topics and more in class that day.

“What is the fundamental nature of matter is the ultimate scientific question,” Wang said to the class.

He also posed questions from the book to the students:

“Can the fundamental nature of matter really be lawlessness? Can the stability and order of the world be but a temporary dynamic equilibrium achieved in a corner of the universe, a short-lived eddy in a chaotic current?”

This prompted a conversation about the many ways to conduct science and the various methodologies, like observation and predictability, that researchers use to explain phenomena.

To read and watch

Books, short stories, and films discussed in  COLLEGE 113: Utopia, Dystopia, and Technology in Science Fiction .

📖   Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach 

📖   The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin

📖   Folding Beijing by Hao Jingfang

📖   Eternal Hospital by Hao Jingfang

📖   The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula Le Guin 

📖   The Fish of Lijiang by Chen Qiufan

📖   Between the World Ship and the Spaceship by Zhuoyi Wang

📖   Science Fiction by Sherryl Vint

🎥  Avatar by James Cameron

🎥 Snowpiercer directed by Joon-ho Bong 

🎥 Ex Machina directed by Alex Garland

🎥 The Wandering Earth directed by Frant Gwo

The COLLEGE learning experience

Wang’s seminar was one of 10 different courses offered in the spring quarter as a part of Civic, Liberal, and Global Education (COLLEGE), Stanford’s first-year requirement designed to deepen students’ critical and ethical understanding of society and the world. Each quarter, COLLEGE focuses on a different theme: in fall, students reflect on their own goals and purpose; in winter, they examine their role as engaged citizens; and in spring, they examine themselves in a global context.

“The class is about how we debate the worries and concerns, hopes and anxieties about rapid technological advances and the way technology has been impacting our society and our minds,” said Wang, the William Haas Professor in Chinese Studies in the School of Humanities and Sciences (H&S). “Students tackle the impact, good and bad, of technology on our society, on our values, human nature, and our ecology.”

Other books students read included Ernest Callenbach’s novel Ecotopia, a fictional account about an environmentally sustainable utopia in the Pacific Northwest where inhabitants live free from mass consumerism, urban sprawl, and pollution. However, dystopian themes emerge – revealing how trying to do the right thing can go wrong.

Students also watched several movies, including Wandering Earth , a Chinese film that depicts a global endeavor to preserve humanity through planetary migration, and Avatar, about a former Marine who uses technology to embody an alien form on another planet and finds himself torn between his mission and a growing bond with the local inhabitants.

Upsides and downsides 

As students learned, science fiction is a thought-provoking genre for thinking about what could happen in years to come. Current trends and emerging technologies are projected onto imaginative futures, challenging readers to consider the social, ethical, and even existential consequences of innovation.

“This class really showed me the intersection between science and technology and what it can lead to in the future, and how we have to be careful about future implementations,” said Rishi Sadanandan, ’27, who took Wang’s class this past spring.

Students also watched Joon-ho Bong’s post-apocalyptic science fiction film, Snowpiercer , which depicts how a geoengineering mistake resulted in the world becoming frozen over. The last surviving humans live on a giant train that circles the globe, battling for survival amid violent class warfare.

Sadanandan appreciated how the film captured both the upsides and downsides of technology. On the one hand, the movie highlighted the promise of technology to address climate change – a coolant had been injected into the atmosphere to stop global warming. On the other hand, it can go terribly wrong.

“That really made me think that you have to be careful with how you’re going to implement technology in the future because all technology has positive and negative effects,” Sadanandan said.

Discovering agency

Wang started teaching science fiction seven years ago while exploring the representations of technology and environmental degradation. His interest was piqued when Melissa Hosek, an avid fan of science fiction and one of his graduate students, shared how the genre envisions these impacts. Hosek, who earned her PhD in Chinese from the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, is now a COLLEGE instructor and one of the section leaders on the course. Since then, Wang’s fascination with science fiction has grown, as the genre’s scenarios increasingly mirror our reality.

In his COLLEGE course, Wang introduced students to the concept of “critical dystopias” – using science fiction to reflect on contemporary trends, problems, and issues and to consider alternatives and solutions.

“Science fiction intervenes as a debating platform,” Wang said. The genre voices both dissent and triumphalism of technology, making it a useful tool for discourse, he added. 

Wang hopes that through exposure to science fiction, students will recognize their own agency and self-determination in a rapidly changing world and consider their own role and responsibilities to protect the future.

Sadanandan feels galvanized after having taken the course.

“These movies are there to warn you that it could be like that if you don’t make the right decisions,” Sadanandan said. “We live in a time where our choices can make and change the future. I’m ready to change the future.” 

Wang’s class was one of eight sections offered in spring 2024 with COLLEGE lecturers Hosek, Ruth Averbach, and Matthew Palmer leading the other sections.

Step inside the COLLEGE classroom

In fall 2021, Stanford launched a new first-year requirement for undergraduate students that invites frosh to reflect on their own place and purpose at Stanford, in society, and in the world. The program, which is in a pilot phase through the 2025-26 academic year, replaces the Thinking Matters requirement.

The first course in the COLLEGE sequence is Why College? Your Education and the Good Life encourages students to reflect on the place and purpose of college in their lives, with the ultimate goal of preparing them for a lifetime of inquiry .

For their second course in their COLLEGE journey, frosh tackle big questions about the ideals of citizenship and democracy and how to put those values into practice.

Last year, an option for a global perspectives class in COLLEGE was a course on sustainability taught by William Barnett and Chris Field that highlighted the different types of solutions to tackle climate change and encouraged students to consider the pros and cons of each approach.