I may be about to start one. It is with someone in another country very far away. We have minimal funding to do this, but we are both starting out on the TT (or local equivalent) and are interested in the science. We have met face to face before at meetings, and this person is a well known and well liked former group mate of one of my current colleagues.
Because of the distance (and lack of funds), we are starting out just sending materials back and forth. The cost of FedEx does add up, though, especially to Far Away. We are hoping to get some nice preliminary data we can then use to get joint funding, and have more actual interactions between the groups. I am not sure how this will work out in the end, since I have never done an international collaboration like this before. For all the talk about how much "smaller" or "flatter" the world is, I really don't see it. I mean Skype is free, but transportation is not. I have done coast to coast in the US, but international shipping rates and airfares are much, much higher (even for the same distance). In the past, I have seen my collaborators from the other coast at least once a year. Not sure how an electronic only collaboration will go.
Predecessor Stressor
3 days ago
6 comments:
Long, long ago, as a postdoc I had an electronic-only collaboration that I consider one of my most fruitful ever. It resulted in two publications that have been, and continue to be, cited many, many times. Now this was a coast-to-coast thing rather than international, but this was around the time the web was born, so email was about all we had. It can work. Finding the funds to send materials back and forth is another matter...
I have colleagues who will literally carry the samples themselves to their international collaborators rather than ship them. That way you do get face time and sample transport. Now I don't know what the frequency of shipping back and forth is in your case, but one of my colleagues would do the "travel with sample" once a month.
I have done a couple of international collaborations, but of course it's easier when you don't have to hemorrhage money on Fedex or DHL... My electronic-only collaborations have in the past been very fruitful, but they were with people I knew really well... I think it is critical how well you know your collaborator and how compatible your work styles are.
Although I have not sent scientific materials to far far away, I have found DHL to be much cheaper than Fedex for packages when shipped from the US. Delivery is about equally efficient. In my country with not much fedex presence, the fedex packages get passed over to the local mail for delivery anyway.
BTW..must mention that I am an avid reader of your blog....lot of useful stuff for postdocs
Well, International collaboration is not at all a bad Idea if both collaborators have similar vision.
Are there no companies, that can supply products directly to that particular company.
If that is not the case, may be carrying them along with you while you visit them is a good Idea. The only thing that might cost you is your time. Multiple International Fedex's and your ticket cost may be same.
Thanks for the comments and advice!
I will price out DHL to Far Away--that is a good idea, Anon. ProdigalU has a contract with FedEx, but I don't know if there negotiated rates for international shipping. Glad you are enjoying the blog!
I think the collaboration is potentially a good one, especially if we can quickly get some results we can spin into joint money. Hopefully, we can make do with only 1 or 2 material transfers until we get some money.
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