Everything in today’s society is getting more and more complex – from problems to methods to solutions – and so is research. Getting reliable results in today’s world requires a much larger set of people, a wider range of skills and a more complex set of processes. 

Research collaboration is the combination of a variety of interfaces, made up of a group of people all speaking a unique language. Collaborators are quite independent in vision, reasoning and work techniques, yet are wholly dependent on each other to achieve results. 

Collaboration in research improves brainstorming and provides a sense of purpose as everyone works towards a set goal. Collaborating also provides an opportunity to pool talent, share knowledge and identify strengths. This helps speed up progress, increase efficiency and fast-track solutions. Hence, a problem that would have taken months to resolve by a single individual may only take a few days or hours. 

Some research questions are very complex in scope, demanding expanded capacity and a network of multidisciplinary skills. Across Africa, there are complex scientific and social challenges which require scientists to work together between disciplines and countries. Such challenges can only be addressed through collaboration.