Frequently Asked Questions
The Great Lakes - St. Lawrence Research Inventory is an interactive, Internet-based, searchable database created as a tool to collect and disseminate information about research projects in the Great Lakes - St. Lawrence Region. The International Joint Commission's Council of Great Lakes Research Managers (CGLRM) was created in 1984 to provide guidance and advice on research relevant to the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Since then it has periodically inventoried Great Lakes research projects. Today's version of the Research Inventory allows projects to be continuously entered, updated, searched and sorted, directly from the Internet, providing a powerful tool for researchers, managers and policy-makers.
- Provide an effective tool for both professionals and the public to learn about contemporary research projects related to the Great Lakes ecosystem
- Help locate researchers working on projects related to the Great Lakes region.
- Provide managers with key data concerning resources dedicated to research in the Great Lakes - St. Lawrence region.
- Provide a central source through which people can access both traditional and nontraditional sources of information about the Great Lakes ecosystem.
- Reduce the delay between the production of information and its dissemination to a wide audience.
- Facilitate communication between professionals working in related fields, enhance coordination and reduce duplication of effort.
The Great Lakes basin is home to a diverse, expanding scientific community in both the United States and Canada. This region includes eight states and two provinces, and is home to hundreds of institutions of higher education, government agencies and private research foundations. These public and private organizations conduct research on a huge number of subjects related to the Great Lakes ecosystem. Printed reports and the dissemination of information among the scientific and broader community has at times been unable to keep pace with change. Consequently, researchers and policy makers have sometimes failed to benefit from current research or experience gained outside of their own networks. During these times of intense competition for research funding, the research community also needs to reduce the number of uncoordinated studies and unnecessary duplication of effort. The Research Inventory addresses these problems by providing up-to-date information on research projects relevant to the Great Lakes region. The Research Inventory allows Great Lakes researchers to identify similar studies, network, share experiences and increase efficiency. It enables managers to examine the impact of research, the interrelationships between research disciplines, the adequacy of research related to government agreements and to link research to policy questions.
To enter any type of data into the Research Inventory, you must have an account and be logged in. If you have never created an account, you may register an account. If you already have an account (even from the older version of the Research Inventory), you may login with your account.
With an account, you have the abilitity to add projects, add agencies and add researchers. When you add a project, you may attach existing agencies and researchers to the project.