About scientific collaborations .... I've compiled my thoughts on pair-wise collaborations between countries. A thread https://twitter.com/minouye271/status/1334868155680874499

A scientific collaboration only works if it benefits both (all) collaborators AND the science. 2/n

Strongest when conference calls happen on a regular schedule (every week, every second week, or every month) and of course, includes trainees. 3/n

Benefit and resource sharing - equal input from both groups on research priorities, joint authorship, shared grant writing. Best if both sides 'pay' for experiments, doesn't have to be equal, but both need skin in the game. 4/n

Trainees are comfortable with daily communication - email, slack, chat etc, especially with each other. There are no stupid questions. 5/n

In-person meetings are needed at least once a year (different 'level' of communication and trust building than phone calls). Rotate who leads the calls - needs representatives from both sides and gives trainees a chance to shine. 6/n

Be aware and sensitive to national holidays, kid pick-up times, sad cultural events/history, celebrations, time zones, regulatory/ethics differences, technology preferred. 7/n

Relationship is strengthened when trainees are willing to spend 3-6 months in collaborator's group (expenses/housing need to be covered). 8/n

Permission and discussion around every potential new collaboration or data sharing well BEFORE it happens. 9/n

We've found it works best for raw and processed data to live in both places (with login access available to collaborators) but may move more towards shared cloud computing resources. 10/n

Shared ethical responsibility to research participants, public health, scientific progress, trainee career development, and return-on-investment from funders (which requires some cultural understanding). 11/n

Not allowing problems to 'fester'. Most problems are simply misunderstandings that can be clarified or understood (a missed email, a misunderstood phrase, a motivation/problem unknown to the other side, etc.). PIs should talk these out on behalf of their trainees. 12/n

Like any good relationship, it does take time to build. And it also takes time to build collaboration & communication skill sets. We should routinely offer names of current collaborators to new collaborators so people can build trust and avoid the few bad eggs 13/n

The whole point of science is to help people. In my research world, it's to fight common diseases. That should be the primary motivation of all work. 14/n

Understand what is the metric of success in their country or career stage, as it's sometimes different and can be leveraged to provide even more benefit to both sides: institutional affiliation, vs high-profile papers, vs number of papers, first vs last author etc. /end