Interdisciplinarity - it takes time finding common ground
Interdisciplinarity - it takes time finding common ground
Addressing a problem in an interdisciplinary way also requires time. Here it is a prerequisite that an understanding and respect for others’ disciplinary expertise is established. Not at specialist level, but in such a way that you understand both possibilities and limitations within the various sciences. In addition, it requires more time to relate to elements such as financing and publishing when it comes to interdisciplinary research.
Sequential or concurrent activities
The activities in interdisciplinary research can be approached sequentially, where one disciplinary group builds upon the results of another disciplinary group, so that the individual – often monodisciplinary – components build on top of each other. The interdisciplinary work can also take place concurrently, where the course is organised in such a way that all disciplinary groups work on the same problem simultaneously. The concurrent work is a cornerstone of interdisciplinary research, according to project manager at InterHUB, Kirsten Gram-Hanssen:
For me, interdisciplinary research is about interacting directly and influencing each other's ways of thinking and working, thereby contributing to other questions being brought up and solved, rather than if each discipline works separately in continuation of each other
The project course of another interdisciplinary research project, EXOTIC, has been a combination of sequential and concurrent activities, Project Manager Lotte N. S. Andreasen Struijk explains:
We sat partially physically together and worked simultaneously with components that were subsequently gathered so that we could move forward together. This meant that we could integrate knowledge from other disciplines into our components at an early stage, which helped providing a unique result
Thus, it is necessary to consider how an interdisciplinary project is best planned, so that the knowledge and methods of all disciplinary groups are brought into play at the right time in the process, and so that the problem is approached in an interdisciplinary manner. In the three-year project framework for AAU's interdisciplinary research projects, there was a great need for all activities to take place simultaneously.
What exactly is interdisciplinary science?
There are varying perceptions of what it actually means to work interdisciplinary and therefore may need a common definition of what it specifically covers. In general, interdisciplinarity refers to collaboration across areas of expertise, i.e. when researchers from different disciplines work together to shed light on a topic from different scientific angles and methods and contribute to the common problem solving.
Interdisciplinary work can be particularly challenging, confusing and frustrating at first, because it is not clearly framed what it means more specifically. For instance, are there joint meetings, seminars and workshops? Is it about getting together and sharing how far each of you has come in the project and then going separate ways and continue working within your own discipline? Or is it about taking a look into other people's work and relating to it through your own academic lens?
Everyone should be able to see the importance of working across disciplines
One way of approaching interdisciplinary work may be by organising the work in a way where all project participants are part of both research and development, and where there is an awareness of the fact that no discipline has an assistant role to a primary discipline. In other words, it should not be anyone's project more than anyone else's. By making an effort to learn and understand each other's disciplines and fundamentally working to develop a common terminology, you are in the process of good interdisciplinary work:
What is important is a common definition of terms used within the respective disciplines
However, Rikke Magnussen, Project Manager at Community Drive, has not seen the definition of interdisciplinarity as the most crucial part:
In our project, it has been more crucial that all participants genuinely could see the great importance of collaborating across disciplines and were curious and respectful about each other's disciplinary fields
As both Project Manager and project participant, there are several things you can do to support interdisciplinarity, e.g.:
- Have a synthesis approach to the work that is based on what you can learn from each other and how you can use each other
- Use different types of facilitators who can help you better understand what each other thinks
- Conduct social activities to get to know each other and build trust
- Use a certain degree of co-location