Phys.org June 2, 2022
Interdisciplinary scholarship and education remain elusive at modern universities, despite efforts at both the individual and institutional levels. A team of researchers in the US (Cornell University, University of Wisconsin) has identified the main motivations that bring different disciplines together in joint research and some of the obstacles to that coming together. According to them instead of rallying around a specific mission, collaborating among disciplines effectively is much more about how to approach problems, finding a common way of interacting. Through unstructured workshops they found the choice of participants (who participates?), aspects of time (when do we interact?), and especially the research topics and focus (what are we working on?), to be less important for individual faculty engagement. Despite the valuable insights gained in what undisciplinary interaction may look like in a center, it remained clear that space design must start by mapping out why and how individuals in different disciplines may want to interact at a given institution to generate buy-in and build the foundation for continuous refinement of an institutional strategy…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Identification of motivation for engaging in an interdisciplinary activity. Credit: Humanities and Social Sciences Communications volume 9, Article number: 172 (2022)Â