Interdisciplinarity: From impact to solutions Claire Heffernan - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Interdisciplinarity: From impact to solutions

Claire Heffernan

• Work across seven University of London

institutions

• Remit: to foster interdisciplinary research

collaborations

• Support for £40 million of research in

international development

• Wohl, R. (1955) Some observations on the

social organization of interdisciplinary social science research. Social Forces.

• Hardin, C.A (1955). A classic example of

interdisciplinary research. Nursing Research.

• Mead, M (1955) Effects of Anthropological

Field Work Models on Interdisciplinary Communication in the Study of National

• Character. Journal of Social Issues.
• Brody, E.B. (1955). Emotional Problems of

Interdisciplinary Research in Psychiatry. Psychiatry.

Disruptive Innovation

Interdisciplinarity

A process of answering a question [or] solving a problem…that is too broad or complex to be dealt with adequately by a single discipline…it integrates disciplinary insights through the construction of a comprehensive perspective. (Klein and Newell, 1998)

Mapping Knowledge

http://idr.gatech.edu

The Barriers

• Funding
• Disciplinary Bias
• Lack of Institutional Incentive

Structure

Networks

• Changing in composition and function
• More social less hierarchical

Convergence

• Building Blocks: the interdisciplinary scaffold
• Outcomes:
• The emergence of new areas or bodies of knowledge.
• New tools emerging from disciplinary intersections.

Solutions Based Research

Supports the inter-disciplinary evaluation of a particular context in relation to ‘antecedents and consequences’ and explores how both existing and new knowledge can be harnessed in the pursuit of the goal itself and in the ‘enactment of transformative change’.

The Future

[Interdisciplinarians are able to] integrate the best elements of disciplinary insights in

• rder to generate a more comprehensive

and nuanced appreciation of an issue. (Szostak, 2012)

It took an ex-physicist—Francis Crick—and a former ornithology student—James Watson— to crack the secret of life. They shared a certain wanderlust, an indifference to boundaries. —Robert Wright

The Future