Diverse perspectives on interdisciplinarity from Members of the College of the Royal Society of Canada

Abstract

Various multiple-disciplinary terms and concepts (although most commonly “interdisciplinarity,” which is used herein) are used to frame education, scholarship, research, and interactions within and outside academia. In principle, the premise of interdisciplinarity may appear to have many strengths; yet, the extent to which interdisciplinarity is embraced by the current generation of academics, the benefits and risks for doing so, and the barriers and facilitators to achieving interdisciplinarity, represent inherent challenges. Much has been written on the topic of interdisciplinarity, but to our knowledge there have been few attempts to consider and present diverse perspectives from scholars, artists, and scientists in a cohesive manner. As a team of 57 members from the Canadian College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada (the College) who self-identify as being engaged or interested in interdisciplinarity, we provide diverse intellectual, cultural, and social perspectives. The goal of this paper is to share our collective wisdom on this topic with the broader community and to stimulate discourse and debate on the merits and challenges associated with interdisciplinarity. Perhaps the clearest message emerging from this exercise is that working across established boundaries of scholarly communities is rewarding, necessary, and is more likely to result in impact. However, there are barriers that limit the ease with which this can occur (e.g., lack of institutional structures and funding to facilitate cross-disciplinary exploration). Occasionally, there can be significant risk associated with doing interdisciplinary work (e.g., lack of adequate measurement or recognition of work by disciplinary peers). Solving many of the world’s complex and pressing problems (e.g., climate change, sustainable agriculture, the burden of chronic disease, and aging populations) demands thinking and working across long-standing, but in some ways restrictive, academic boundaries. Academic institutions and key support structures, especially funding bodies, will play an important role in helping to realize what is readily apparent to all who contributed to this paper—that interdisciplinarity is essential for solving complex problems; it is the new norm. Failure to empower and encourage those doing this research will serve as a great impediment to training, knowledge, and addressing societal issues.

On “success” in applied environmental research — What is it, how can it be achieved, and how does one know when it has been achieved?

“…Relatedly, navigating the things necessary to achieve success is itself an important opportunity for learning. Case studies and perspective articles in the literature describing challenges and best practices with respect to interdisciplinary research and partnership (e.g., Podesta et al 2013;Parker et al 2018;Cooke et al 2020), while being useful resources, reinforce the challenges and serve to demonstrate the need for hands-on experience (see Kelly et al 2019 for resources specific to early career scholars and learners).…”

“…In some instances, acknowledging involvement in the research may include considering co-authorship on peer-reviewed journal articles. This ought to be discussed early in the research process, particularly for partners who are unfamiliar with academic publishing or for interdisciplinary work where publishing norms may differ (Cooke et al 2020). The extent to which a given partner valuesand is able to engage inco-authoring publications will depend on the interests, resources, organizational culture, and contributions of research partners.…”

Interdisciplinary Experience Using Technological Tools in Sport Science

“…On the other hand, opposed to the fragmentation of knowledge, is the educational approach based on the integration of knowledge [8]. This model, usually related to interdisciplinarity, has been highly promoted by countries such as the United States and Canada [9][10][11]. Proponents of interdisciplinarity in higher education point out that it promotes new forms of communication and collaboration between disciplines [12,13], allowing students to acquire specific useful problem-solving skills.…”

“…On the other side, the term interdisciplinarity arises as a critique of an overly compartmentalized science. Cooke et al [11] defines interdisciplinarity "as the way of building and creating new and multifaceted knowledge". For these authors, interdisciplinarity involves paths of collaboration and teamwork between people from different disciplines involved in a common problem.…”

A Social–Ecological Odyssey in Fisheries and Wildlife Management

“…For example, it is understandably difficult for universities to create CHANS‐focused learning and research environments amid resource limitations and lengthy start‐up times for interdisciplinary programs, departmentally focused academic reward systems, and cross‐departmental differences in terminology (e.g., “proof,” “precision”) and divergent opinions about the need for interdisciplinarity (NAS ; Rasmussen and Arler ; Cooke et al. ).…”