CISW—The
Center for the Integrative Study of Work
in Living Systems
University of
Colorado Boulder
Now available—Work Meets Life: Exploring the Integrative
Study of Work in Living Systems (MIT Press)
Center Overview
CISW—The Center for the Integrative
Study of Work in Living Systems, at the University of Colorado Boulder, is
creating a new and unique research community. This research community is
being created by researchers from a variety of disciplines, from natural
sciences, psychological sciences, engineering, and other disciplines, from the
University of Colorado and other research organizations, and from inside and
outside the University of Colorado. Researchers are bringing their
interests and expertise together to identify topics of interest related to the
integrative study of work.
The Integrative Study of Work in Living
Systems
The integrative study of work in living
systems has three major goals:
·
To
increase the understanding of the role that work plays in living systems
·
To
increase the understanding of human work
·
To
apply that understanding to current critical problems related to work: those
that affect individuals, organizations, societies, and those that affect the
crucial interaction between human work and work in other living systems.
CISW research projects thus will develop
to cover a broad range of problems and research areas. Not all will be
connected to each other. Most, though, will utilize multidisciplinary
research teams closely related to the focus of each project. The
integrative character of the study of work will continue to develop as CISW
seeks to relate the results of individual projects to each other, and to the
understanding of the role of work in living systems. From this
integration of individual projects, better understanding and new research
topics will continue to be built.
The Work Meets
Life Project
The inaugural research focus of CISW has
been the development of an integrative investigation into specific elements of
ways that work gets done in living systems, conducted by an international group
of researchers in life sciences, engineering, and psychological sciences.
Work Meets Life Project Phase I: The Work Meets Life
volume
Building from two international working conferences,
a group of researchers connected with the University of Colorado and the
University of Cambridge have developed an inaugural volume on the integrative
study of work, Work Meets Life: Exploring the Integrative Study of
Work in Living Systems, which is being published by the MIT
Press. The volume is now available; the
volume will be released through a series of events in the 2012-13 academic year.
This “guidebook” links research from a
wide range of fields to work in living systems, including research in cellular
physiology, neurobiology, biogeochemistry, electrical and computer engineering and
multiobjective optimization, evolutionary biology,
integrative design, industrial and organizational psychology, environmental
physiology, and psychoneuroimmunology.
Published journal book reviews of Work Meets Life have praised the
innovative, integrative, and in-depth approach of both the collaborative
research effort and the volume that resulted:
“A refreshingly
new gaze.” “A genuinely integrative work.” “Provides a coherent but rich and complex narrative.” “An entirely new
way of talking about work.” (American Journal of
Human Biology)
“A quest to
develop integrative links…on work in living systems.” “Aptly describe[s] complex scientific topics.” “Provocative integrative
ideas.” “Breathtaking in its aspiration and it successfully delivers.” (BioScience)
“Work Meets Life succeeds admirably.” “Prepared with intellectual honesty.” “Work
Meets Life is an exemplary collaboration of minds.” (Metascience)
“Ambitious...” “A broad
view of work in living systems.” “Novel and thought-provoking.” (Integrative and Comparative Biology)
“A rewarding read.” “Recommended. Academic and professional audiences,
all levels.” (Choice)
Those reviews have been reflected in Work Meets Life’s placement by Library Journal on its most recent “Best Sellers in Biology” list: the top twenty best-selling books in biology to academic libraries over the past year. Work Meet Life also ranked among the top three edited volumes.
Additional information on the academic journal reviews of Work Meets
Life, as well as the contributor list, chapter list, content summary, and
links to the print and two e-book editions of Work Meets Life may be
found here.
Work Meets Life Project Phase II:
Developing Cooperative Research Relationships
CISW is now moving forward to develop
cooperative research relationships with other research organizations and
individual researchers, relationships which will focus on research that either:
1. More deeply
investigates one of the areas covered in the Work Meets Life volume;
2. Adds an
additional closely related area to the current “mosaic” of areas of inquiry;
3. Integrates
between one or more of the areas of the Work Meets Life mosaic; or most
especially,
4. Investigates in
an integrative manner the fundamental challenge posed at the end of the Work Meets Life volume: To integrate
knowledge gained in research to meet “the fundamental challenge of integrating
human work with the work of other living systems in a continuingly viable
community of life, and work, on Earth.” ((p.
226.) See the “Reflections: Moving
Forward” section in Work Meets Life, pp.
224-226.)
Research Partners
The Center for the Integrative Study of Work
in Living Systems is connecting with research partners in a wide range of
disciplines, at the University of Colorado Boulder
(CU-Boulder) and in the broader academic and nonacademic international research
communities. To further this end, the Center for the Integrative Study of
Work in Living Systems has developed under the CU-Boulder Graduate School and
the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, allowing CISW to reach across
traditional disciplinary boundaries and to draw on the longstanding CU-Boulder
tradition of interdisciplinary research institutes.
Members and Fellows
Consistent with CISW’s multidisciplinary
research mission, the Center’s members, fellows, and an international
membership of visiting members and fellows are drawn from a wide range of
disciplines, currently including sensory neurobiology, behavioral neuroscience,
animal behavior, evolutionary biology, industrial and organizational
psychology, communications, archeology, law, electrical engineering, computer
science, and human-computer interaction.
Additional Activities
CISW’s activities have to date been
directed toward projects that can readily provide direct opportunities for
researchers to work together and to identify topics and opportunities for
future research. Examples include:
·
A
research grant proposal from CISW, developed shortly after the Center’s
founding, brought together neuroscientists, industrial/organizational
psychologists, mental health clinicians, and work performance researchers from
across six institutions toward the aim of improving the understanding of
counter-productive behavior in the workplace.
·
A
CISW fellow is involved in a federally-funded, multi-disciplinary study of
medication errors among nurses from both nursing and human factors
perspectives.
·
CISW
has developed private-sector support for its activities from such organizations
as the IBM Corporation; John Wiley & Sons/Jossey-Bass
Publishers; and WorkScience/The Center for Human
Function & Work.
·
CISW
has developed and held a variety of interdisciplinary research events beyond
the Work Meets Life project.
Interdisciplinary Research Event Series
Since 2002, CISW has hosted an
interdisciplinary research event series during each academic year that provides
researchers from inside and outside of CU the opportunity to present
works-in-progress to an interdisciplinary audience of interested
participants. The nourishment at each
event comes from the opportunity to work together around the development of an
interesting concept—and from a sponsored reception.
2010 Workshop:
“Expanding Perspectives on Work and Performance,” August, 2010, Boulder,
Colorado
As another example of exploring topics
related to work and performance in cooperation with other organizations, CISW
researchers developed and held a one-day collaborative workshop, bringing
together three widely disparate topics related to (but not restricted to) human
work and performance: the role of work in living systems; the nature of
performance in modern dance; and practical problems in work and employment for
people with cognitive disabilities. The
workshop also featured a session focused on developing future collaborations. The workshop, which drew a wide range of
participants from universities, industry, and research organizations, was
titled “Expanding Perspectives on Work and Performance,”
and was held on Friday, August 13, 2010, at CU-Boulder.
Opportunities for Participation
·
University
of Colorado researchers are invited to query the Center’s director and fellows
about topics of interest and potential projects.
·
Established
researchers from other institutions are invited to query about the Center’s
programs for visiting scholars and visiting fellows.
·
Business
and organizations will find that the Center’s founding members have a long
history of work in and with the private sector. The Center is interested
in helping organizations solve critical problems, through closely specified
research and application projects, and through broader research cooperation.
·
Foundations
and funding agencies will find that CISW is able to bring together
highly-qualified and innovative teams directed toward these organizations’ most
critical long-term goals, in particular when these involve solving critical
practical issues in work and employment or involve the impact of human work on
the viability of work and life on Earth—for humans and for all living
systems.
If these opportunities for participation
match your interests and needs, the Center for the Integrative Study of Work in
Living Systems is interested in hearing from you. You can contact the
Center Director or any of the Center's Fellows:
·
Robert
A. Levin, Director and Fellow, robert.levin [at]
colorado.edu, +1 303-735-8484
·
Anne
C. Bekoff, Fellow, anne.bekoff [at] colorado.edu, +1
303-492-5114
·
Michael
R. Lightner, Fellow, michael.lightner [at]
colorado.edu, +1 303-492-5180
·
Joseph
G. Rosse, Fellow, joseph.rosse [at] colorado.edu, +1
303-492-6254
CISW—The Center for the Integrative Study of Work in Living
Systems
University of
Colorado Boulder
457 UCB
Boulder, CO 80309-0457 USA