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The art and science of collaboration in bioengineering research

Nature Reviews Bioengineering volume 3, pages 531–533 (2025)Cite this article

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Achieving effective collaboration in bioengineering is an art and a science. Here we outline strategies for building and sustaining interdisciplinary partnerships, and outline challenges, opportunities and funding options for establishing and strengthening collaborative research.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

    Nicolas H. Voelcker

  2. Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication, Victorian Node of the Australian National Fabrication Facility, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Nicolas H. Voelcker

  3. Department of Biomedical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Andy Tay

  4. Institute for Health Innovation and Technology, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Andy Tay

  5. Centre for Craniofacial and Regenerative Biology, King’s College London, London, UK

    Ciro Chiappini

  6. London Centre for Nanotechnology, King’s College London, London, UK

    Ciro Chiappini

  7. School of Medicine, Faculty of Health, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, Victoria, Australia

    Roey Elnathan

  8. The Institute for Mental and Physical Health and Clinical Translation, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia

    Roey Elnathan

Authors
  1. Nicolas H. Voelcker
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  2. Andy Tay
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  3. Ciro Chiappini
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  4. Roey Elnathan
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Contributions

R.E. and N.H.V. conceptualized the idea for this Comment. R.E. and N.H.V. drafted the initial manuscript, and C.C. and A.T. provided critical revisions and additional insights. All authors contributed to refining the manuscript and approved the final version.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roey Elnathan.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Related links

Australia-India Strategic Research Fund (Round 16): https://business.gov.au/grants-and-programs/australia-india-strategic-research-fund-round-16

Circle U: https://www.circle-u.eu/

Defining individual responsibilities and regularly revisiting these expectations as the collaboration evolves: https://www.nature.com/nature-index/news/researchers-embracing-visual-tools-contribution-matrix-give-fair-credit-authors-scientific-papers

Diversity inherently fosters creativity: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05326-3

German Academic Exchange Service: https://www.daad.de/de/

How to build trust through clear communication: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00899-y

iCURE: https://www.ukri.org/what-we-do/browse-our-areas-of-investment-and-support/bbsrc-innovation-to-commercialisation-of-university-research-icure/

PharmAlliance: https://www.pharmalliance.org/

PLuS Alliance: https://plusalliance.org/

Royal Society International Exchanges Grant: https://royalsociety.org/grants/international-exchanges/

Sparking new ideas and solutions: https://www.nature.com/nature-index/news/how-create-diversity-program-science-research-that-works-successful

Times Higher Education Interdisciplinary Science Rankings 2025: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/the-and-schmidt-work-towards-interdisciplinary-science-ranking

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Voelcker, N.H., Tay, A., Chiappini, C. et al. The art and science of collaboration in bioengineering research. Nat Rev Bioeng 3, 531–533 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44222-025-00302-9

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