Every year, new weather research is funded and new discoveries are made. These discoveries, from improved weather prediction models to greater understanding of extreme weather events, change how weather forecasters interpret weather events and support public safety. But, how do these knowledge and tools move from research and development (R&D) to operational use? They move through a process called research-to-operations (R2O) or research transitions that is designed to ensure publicly-funded research makes it into the hands of those that will use it to support the public.
Established in 2017, NOAA’s Weather Program Office (WPO) works closely with several entities, from federal and state agencies to academia to private organizations, to ensure weather research is continuously being conducted and the results are transitioned into the National Weather Service’s (NWS) operational use. WPO’s Portfolio Analysis and Research Transitions (PART) Program manages this transfer of WPO–funded R&D to NWS–managed operations.
Late last year, the PART team conducted a thorough, in-depth assessment of the OAR–NWS R2O process by interviewing more than 30 individuals working across the two offices. In the final report, the PART team identified the key components for successful transitions, the common barriers many transitions face, and several opportunities for improvement. One of the biggest challenges identified was the lack of a defined system for transitions—many individuals stated that transitions often rely on personal networks, individual knowledge of institutional inner-workings, and singular “champions” that understand how to navigate a complicated process and acquire the necessary resources to bridge any potential gaps.
Key Findings:
- Organizational Misalignments: OAR is the research branch of NOAA, while NWS is the operations branch. Both are important, however, their mission, goals, and ways they reach these goals are fundamentally different. Lacking a standardized system to align the two offices, transitions will continue to struggle, as these misalignments are the basis for additional obstacles throughout the rest of the transition process.
- Lack of Transparent Requirements & Needs: Almost half of the participants described poor requirement documentation and communication with researchers as the greatest source of “friction” across the OAR–NWS R2O pipeline. OAR researchers shared they often feel caught between NWS headquarters and the field, with laboratories relying on direct engagement with field offices to identify detailed user needs and technical requirements not captured in headquarters’ high-level priorities.
- Transition Plans are Ineffective in Practice: Transition plans are valuable for initiating collaboration and aligning expectations between researchers and operational users; however, they are rarely revisited or used to guide implementation. This made many feel like it is a burdensome administrative exercise rather than a beneficial document guiding transitions.
- Quasi-Operational Products Blur R&D and Operations: When the formal R2O process becomes delayed or stalled, OAR laboratories utilize informal workarounds to get “quasi-operational” products into use, which blurs the line between R&D and operations. Rather than meeting the goal of getting the latest research and tools into the hands of forecasters quickly, this instead becomes a resource sink for OAR and a source of potential operational risk for NWS.
One thing that is clear from the report is that the solutions to these issues rely on NWS and OAR coming together to develop a shared vision of and pathway for the R2O process. Recognizing this, the PART team recommended a joint OAR–NWS research transition workshop that would bring the R&D and operations teams together to develop a shared roadmap to improve the R2O process. “By bringing both organizations together to build a shared vision for the future, we can transform these findings into a more efficient, agile, and human-centered path from research to operations,” explained Dr. Castle Williamsberg, PART Team Member.
To learn more about the findings from the study, the PART team invites you to watch the recorded NOAA Library Webinar where they discuss the study in more detail. Additionally, if you have questions, the PART team asks that you please email them at part.wpo@noaa.gov.
