Title Building Research Infrastructure for Long-Term Studies of War: Project-Based Laboratories for Field Research, Information Systems, and Decision Support
Author(s) Dmitry Nikolaenko
Affiliation New Euro Vision: exhibitions, marketing, research s.r.o.
Country Czech Republic
Contribution type conceptual paper; methodological paper
Thematic area • Theory, Methodology
Conference framework connection • Analytical Track AT-01 — provisional title to be defined• Analytical Track AT-02 — provisional title to be defined• Analytical Track AT-03 — provisional title to be defined• Analytical Track AT-04 — provisional title to be defined• Analytical Track AT-05 — provisional title to be defined• Analytical Track AT-06 — provisional title to be defined• Analytical Track AT-07 — provisional title to be defined
Abstract Research into the long-term consequences of war increasingly requires an organizational model different from the conventional short-term research project. War-related environmental change may continue for decades or more than a century. Its investigation requires repeated field observation, historical reconstruction, multilingual archival work, integration of heterogeneous datasets, environmental assessment, methodological development, and the preservation of information for future analysis.At the same time, individual projects may differ radically in geography, subject matter, personnel, operational requirements, and funding. A permanent large staff is therefore not necessarily the most effective organizational solution.This contribution presents a project-based research structure established within a Czech company. The model separates permanent institutional capacity from temporary project teams. A common corporate framework governs contracts, project accounting, intellectual property, financial separation, and institutional continuity. Individual laboratories then provide stable areas of competence.Two laboratories have initially been established. The Laboratory of Information Systems works with complex, heterogeneous, and multilingual bodies of information. Its tasks include preservation, digitization, structuring, integration, provenance management, analysis, multilingual processing, artificial-intelligence-assisted processing, visualization, and the development of information products for research and informed decision-making.The Laboratory of Military Ecotones is primarily field-oriented. It investigates territories transformed by war and military activity, with particular attention to military contamination, environmental change, residual risk, remediation effectiveness, and conditions relevant to reconstruction, land reuse, and investment. It is not a demining organization. Its role is scientific assessment, methodological development, field research, and evaluation of environmental interventions.The two laboratories remain separate organizational units but may cooperate within individual projects. Field observations can become inputs to complex information systems, while historical, spatial, archival, and computational analysis can guide field research.The proposed model is intended to support research that must remain scientifically coherent across changing teams, technologies, countries, and project cycles. Its central principle is that temporary projects should not result in temporary knowledge.
Key points ● Long-term consequences of war require research infrastructures capable of operating across decades rather than isolated short-term studies.● Permanent institutional capacity can coexist with temporary, project-specific international teams.● Field research and large-scale information processing require different competencies but can operate within a coordinated organizational framework.● Military contamination assessment should be distinguished from operational demining and clearance.● Historical archives, contemporary measurements, spatial information, human testimony, and other heterogeneous evidence must be preserved and connected rather than analysed in isolation.● Modern information systems, GIS, multilingual processing, and AI can substantially expand analytical capacity, provided that provenance, uncertainty, and human responsibility remain explicit.● Research may support remediation, reconstruction, public policy, and investment decisions without allowing the interests of the client or investor to determine scientific conclusions.● Project completion should end temporary contractual relationships, not destroy institutional knowledge, methods, data provenance, or reusable research infrastructure.
Keywords war-related environmental contamination; military ecotones; research infrastructure; information systems; field research; long-term environmental change; archives; decision support; artificial intelligence; project-based research
Main discussion question What organizational and information infrastructure is required to study the consequences of war as processes lasting decades or more than a century, while allowing research teams, methods, countries, and individual projects to change over time?
OJS publication link https://pollution-diseases-ojs.org/index.php/pd/article/view/69
Note. Analytical TracksIn addition to the main thematic areas, the conference programme will include several cross-cutting analytical tracks. These tracks will be defined during the preparation of the programme, based on the submitted abstracts and the emerging links between presentations.At the preliminary stage, abstracts may be assigned to provisional analytical tracks marked as AT-01 to AT-07. Final track titles will be announced after the Scientific Committee has reviewed the submitted materials.