Academic research teams are under unprecedented pressure. Federal funding constraints, increasingly complex multi-site and interdisciplinary projects, distributed and remote collaboration, compressed timelines, and reduced administrative infrastructure have created the perfect storm of operational strain. These pressures not only threaten research efficiency and deliverable completion – they jeopardize team well-being and long-term sustainability.

Yet most investigators, center directors, and research faculty receive little formal training in team process design, workflow systems, or facilitation strategies that support high-level collaboration among PhD-trained experts.

What if you could deliver high-quality work on time and on budget while reducing stress and burnout?

For the past three years, Scripps Gerontology Center has intentionally adapted Agile methodologies for gerontological research. Working across 25+ staff and multiple concurrent grants, the Center has integrated structured practices that improve coordination, clarify roles, strengthen psychological safety, and build continuous process improvement into everyday work. 

This highly interactive 120-minute workshop translates those field-tested practices into replicable tools for researchers. Participants will experience three core Agile practices—Team Social Contracts, Retrospectives, and Lean Coffees—through live demonstration and guided practice. Most importantly, each attendee will leave with a concrete 30-day implementation plan tailored to their own research team or center.

In this interactive workshop, you'll learn a few of the core Agile practices Scripps uses to manage complex research projects across 25 staff members and multiple concurrent grants. More importantly, you'll leave with ONE practice you can implement immediately in your own team or center.

This session addresses a critical but underdeveloped competency in gerontology training: how to design research teams that function as effectively as the science they produce.

All times are ET