The organizing principle for all of Hybrid Vigor's work is the shared topic or problem. An ideal Hybrid Vigor topic is one that is studied by several disciplines, preferably in both the social and natural sciences, and has the greatest need or potential for a shift in traditional thinking by way of collaboration or integrating disciplinary knowledge.

Using this topic or problem as its focal point, the Institute uses several complementary methods to encourage integrative learning and collaboration:

• Hybrid Vigor Press. The Institute will research, produce and publish topic-specific journals, books and other media which can be found at hybridvigor.net. The goals are both to bring researchers from different disciplines in contact with each other's work, and to engage the public in the problems themselves, as well as the new approaches and solutions we propose. As a result, all Hybrid Vigor publications are edited in such a way that they can be understood by a non-technical, non-academic audience. Hybrid Vigor Journals are free and available to anyone with an Internet connection. Books and other media are made available at market costs far below the cost of books from the traditional academic press.
  
  
• Working symposia. The Institute hosts invitation-only working meetings or symposia, each organized around a focal topic or problem, that include subject experts, stakeholders, established researchers from a range of disciplines and, whenever funding permits, their graduate students and protégés. These meetings are generally organized as either a prelude to a formal project collaboration, or as part of knowledge integration for an ongoing project.
  
  
• Collaboration methods and tools. Hybrid Vigor both develops and uses sophisticated tools and technologies to help researchers collaborate across both disciplinary and/or geographic boundaries. These tools, as they are developed and deployed by Hybrid Vigor and others, will be made available in the Resources section of hybridvigor.net.