“In this research, we propose a novel workflow for doing a thing through application of some technology”—I typed this sentence last week while editing a research funding proposal. “Shouldn’t it go without saying that any research proposal at the very least intends to do something new,” I thought. But as I noted the redundancy of the phrase, I left it in anyway, at the cost of word count and clarity. Why? Because stating a claim on novelty might increase the chances of my proposal getting accepted.
Maria Yablonina is an Assistant Professor at the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto. Yablonina is a researcher, artist, and engineer working in the fields of computational design, robotics, and digital fabrication. They contribute to construction robotics research, teach computation and digital fabrication studios, and co-run MAYB studio: an art practice focusing on critical technology.
