Developing Research
Collaborations
John Zeleznikow
School of Management and Information Systems.
Victoria University
john.zeleznikow@vu.edu.au
0432154217
ANZAM Mid-Year Doctoral Workshop- Friday 17 August 2012
My situation
• B.Sc.(Hons), Monash University 1972 –
major in pure mathematics, minors in
statistics and applied mathematics
• PhD., Monash University 1979 – abstract
algebra
• Grad Dip. Computer Science 1986 –
University of Melbourne
My PhD
• For first three years I was involved in Federal
Politics (Whitlam era)
• Did some literature survey, but little else
• Commonwealth Scholarship ran out at end of
1975
• So I took on a full-time tutorship at University
of Melbourne
• AND became a councillor (City of Caulfield)
plus started running marathons
Completing my PhD
• In 1978, my group lost control of council and I became
disillusioned with politics.
• My supervisor tried to convince me to drop my PhD and
learn computer science
• But I wanted the degree, did not like computing and
worked hard over 9 months to successfully complete a
high quality thesis of 120 pages.
• Over the 5 years of my thesis I
– never attended a conference
– never collaborated with others
– wrote two single author journal articles: another two single
author journal articles were published after I graduated
Post PhD
• By 1979, there were very few academic jobs in
Australian Mathematics departments – and I always
wanted to be an academic.
• My supervisor managed to obtain a job for me an
assistant professorship at Northern Illinois University, in
De Kalb Illinois, 100 kilometres west of Chicago
• I hated De Kalb (and NIU did not at that time have a
graduate maths program) and obtained an assistant
professorship at Michigan State University in East
Lansing. MSU was a far better and more cosmopolitain
university. I was there 1980-1983.
• By then I decided I wanted to be back in Australia, and
applied for and was accepted to undertake a law degree
at Monash University.
Back to Australia
• At that time, my prospective partner obtained a
postdoc at MIT
• She did not want me to return to Australia or
become a student.
• So Ies managed to obtain an assistant professorship
at an elite womens college, Mt. Holyoke in
Amherst MA. I was there 1983-1985.
• In 1985, we returned to Melbourne.
• At 35, I had a PhD, but no job and a very limited
academic record (4 journal articles)
Commencing collaborations
• However, once I went to USA, I developed the travel bug.
• So I went to conferences and gave seminars in Milwaukee WI,
Iowa City IA, Birmingham AL, San Antonio TX, Davis CA,
Lincoln NE, San Francisco CA, Denver CO, Cincinnati OH,
Plattsburgh NY, NYC NY.
• I also developed the donesire to attend international
conferences: Szeged Hungary, Darmstadt Germany, Oxford,
Lyon France, Marseille France, Antwerp Belgium
• As well as running lots of marathons, I managed to visit lots of
different places, understand different cultures and university
systems and develop friendships.
• But no collaborations yet!!!
• Whilst living in Boston, I attended computer science courses at
MIT and Harvard.
Moving into Computer Science
• Back in Melbourne I commenced study in a
Graduate Diploma in Computer Science and worked
half-time as a senior tutor in Mathematics.
• By June I was offered a lectureship in computing at
RMIT – teaching databases, which relies upon
algebra.
• I started looking at research projects: Artificial
Intelligence in Banking and travel – with my then
partner.
• And started looking for research grants.
French Government Scientific Fellowship
• Through my PhD supervisor, I had become friendly with a
researcher at Universite Paris 6 working on theoretical
computer science.
• I decided six months in Paris would be nice and applied for a
French Government Scientific Fellowship.
• One of the requirements was to be fluent in French – which I
was.
• I am not sure about how much competition there was, but I
received the grant.
• This allowed me to enjoy myself, meet interesting people and
give me a track record.
• A track record distinguishes you from others!!!
• I eventually received a tenured lectureship (soon senior
lectureship) at LA TROBE.
Developing research collaboration
• Over the years 1990-1995, I ran lots of conferences
and workshops and gave seminars to build up my
profile in Artificial Intelligence and Law.
• In a presentation I gave to the Victorian Society for
Computers and Law, I met a young lawyer with
whom I wrote a book and a dozen journal articles.
• He received a PhD from Cambridge and was a
Professor at University of Melbourne and University
of Pennsylvania.
• I obtained a professorship and many research grants.
Overseas Collaboration
• Through running conferences and hosting overseas
visitors, I made a number of important contacts.
• One of them invited me to to spend a sabbatical in
Tilburg.
• I managed to get a Dutch Government Scientific
Fellowship to support our stay
• I gave seminars at every Dutch Law School, and gave
seminars, attended conferences and ran marathons in
Dublin, Venice, Florence, Stirling, York and Exeter.
• I also gave seminars at lots of Australian universities:
Melbourne, Monash, Deakin, Swinburne, Ballarat,
Charles Sturt, University of New South Wales, UTS,
Newcastle, Bond, QUT, University of Queensland,
University of South Australia, Murdoch and Curtin.
Publicising your research
• To develop collaboration you need to advertise
your research.
• Obviously publishing in prestigious journals and
in some disciplines conferences, is important.
• But giving seminars at university is also an easy
and efficient way to let people know what you
are doing.
• But what about using the media.
Publicising your research – Split Up
• Split Up uses machine learning to advise upon the
distribution of marital property following divorce
• Used by London Daily Telegraph on divorce of
Charles and Di.
• ABC Law Report
• Also by Boston Globe to model opinions of Chief
Justice Roberts.
• See also AI am the Law in Economist.
• Led to involvement of Victoria Legal Aid and
Phillips and Wilkins and a Linkage Grant
Publicising your research – Family Winner
• Family Winner uses game theory to help people
in a dispute engage in trade-offs
• See New Inventors
• CNN desktop divorce http://money.cnn.com/video/#/video/news/2007
/10/12/tinker.desktop.divorce.cnnmoney
• Led to involvement of Relationships Australia
Queensland and a Linkage Grant
Publicising your research – Sports Analytics
• We are developing machine learning algorithms to
provide advice about strategic decision making for elite
athletes in
–
–
–
–
Track cycling
Rowing
Swimming
Triathlons
• See article “Riding smart: how AI gives Olympic track
cyclists an edge” in The Conversation
• http://theconversation.edu.au/riding-smart-how-aigives-olympic-track-cyclists-an-edge-7999
• Led to involvement of Victorian Institute of Sport and
Australian Institute of Sport and a Linkage Grant
International Research Collaborations
• All this hard work has led to a number of very successful research
collaborations:
• 1. Uri Schild, Bar Ilan University – sentencing decision support: 3
journal articles & 5 conference articles.
• 2. Arno Lodder, VU University Amsterdam – Online Dispute
Resolution Framework – 1 Cambridge University Press book, 1
Harvard Negotiation Law Review Article and 1 conference article
• 3. Paulo Novais and others at University of Minho Portugal –
Modeling Emotions in Negotiation – 2 journal and 4 conference
articles
• 4. Vladimir Brusic, Harvard University – 5 journal and 3
conference articles
• 5. Ruili Wang, Massey University New Zealand, 1 journal article
and 1 conference article
International Research Collaborations
• 6. Jim Nolan, Siena College NY – decision support using
soft computing: 1 journal article & 1 conference article.
• 7. Amer Obeidi and Steven Mock, University of
Waterloo, Canada – Israel-Palestinian Dispute – 1 journal
article
• 8. Berend de Vries, Tilburg, negotiation decision making,
2 conference articles
• 9. Jeroen Keppens, University College London, 2
conference articles
• 10. Tadeusz Tomaszewski, Poznan University of
Economics, 1 conference article
– 1 European Union Grant
– 1 Linkage International grant
– 3 Spanish Government Grants
– 1 Dutch Government Grant
International Research Collaborations
• I directed Joseph Bell Centre for Forensic statistics and
Legal Reasoning at University of Edinburgh Law School:
2001-3.
• I was on sabbatical at Bar Ilan University Israel 1998-9:
also Laval University Quebec, Carleton University Ottawa, Queens University
Kingston, Wayne State University Detroit, Washington University St. Louis,
University of Ohio, University of Delaware, Trinity College Dublin, Queens
University Belfast, Lituanian Legal Academy, University of Oslo, Universiy of
Stockholm, National University of Singapore.
• I was on sabbatical at University of Massachusetts at
Amherst 2007-8: also Bar Ilan University, VU University Amsterdam,
University of Paris 2, European Union Institute Florence, University of Torun,
Poznan University of Economics, University of Vienna.
Local Research Collaborations
• 1. Andrew Stranieri, Latrobe University and University of Ballarat,
machine learning and law, 1 book, 6 journal articles, 41 conference
articles, 6 book chapters
• 2. Emilia Bellucci, Latrobe University and Victoria University –
game theory for trade-offs in negotiations: 3 journal articles, 26
conference articles and 3 book chapters.
• 3. Brooke Abrahams, Victoria University – ODR – 3 journal
articles and 10 conference articles
• 4. Dan Hunter, University of Melbourne, AI and Law, 1 book, 7
journal articles and 10 book articles
• 5. Pam Gray, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst: 3 conference
articles
• 6. Clare MacMahon and Bahador Ofoghi, Victoria University,
Dan Dwyer, Deakin University and Markus Raab, German Sport
University Cologne – strategic decision-making in elite sports: 5
journal articles and 2 conference articles.
FINALLY
• Travel widely
• Publicise your research
• Be flexible
• In Europe, universities are strongly encouraged to
collaborate.
• In Australia, we see local universities as our
competitors.
Collaboration
• We now have a grant from Relationships Australia
Victoria to look at using social networking to
provide support services for certain groups
undergoing divorce (in particular recently
separated men).
• Some other mentees are working on logistics and
social networking.
• In Europe, universities are strongly encouraged to
collaborate.
• In Australia, we see local universities as our
competitors.