RED ObjectsCollaboration in Experimental Design Research 35 designing, juggling, balancing and performing: the Circus Oz Living Archive Collaboration Laurene Vaughan Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australa Abstract Increasingly within the realm of research and creative practice, collaboration, as an entity and a methodology, is being positioned as a necessity in the search for innovation. Underpinning this is the belief and expectation that the diversity and multiple perspectives that are integral to a collaboration will enable innovation and the discovery of something ‘new’ or of greater relevance in application. Enacting interdisciplinary collaborations that integrate both academic and external organisations is a complex undertaking. Designing a research program and methods for shared understanding is essential if the benefits of the collaboration is to be realised. This essay reflects on one of the strategies being utilised by the Circus Oz Living Archive project team as we work towards the collaborative realisation of the project outcome. Increasingly within the realm of research and creative practice, collaboration, as an entity and a methodology, is being positioned as a necessity in the search for innovation. Underpinning this is the belief and expectation that the diversity and multiple perspectives that are integral to a collaboration will enable innovation and the discovery of something ‘new’ or of greater relevance in application. For those of us engaged in academic research, a collaboration may take various forms. It may be a collaboration across different disciplines or between different project partners such as the academy, industry and/or community. In any form of collaboration there are many different potential issues that will influence the process and outcomes of the collaboration, as there are equally many different contexts for innovation and contribution from a project outcomes. Over the past five years I have been engaged in numerous research collaborations. Typically these have been interdisciplinary; few have been within the frame of only one discipline domain, and none have involved researchers from within the same field of practice or expertise. On a few occasions design explorations have been the central project focus, at others design has been just one disciplinary contributor as the project team has sought to explore or resolve an identified problem or proposition. My engagement in these projects has resulted in my understanding that collaboration is a much more complicated entity than many give it credit for being. Understanding and engaging with the socio-historic politics, and the pre or misconceptions, or assumptions that are present when disciplines and practitioners embark on such an undertaking is essential in the design of a collaborative project. It is also essential in the ongoing management of a research project including the communication between team members. Image 1