Experiments in interdisciplinary capacity-building: The successes and challenges of large-scale interdisciplinary investments

Lyall, Catherine; Fletcher, Isabel

doi:10.1093/scipol/scs113

Cited by 63 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 23 publications

(13 reference statements)

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“…While such differences in definition can be important, our focus in this paper is on the common idea of exchanging and creating knowledge across disciplinary boundaries, and we refer to this as interdisciplinarity (Jacobs and Frickel 2009;Lyall and Fletcher 2013). A growing body of research examines the rise of interdisciplinarity in scientific research, roughly covering three main areas: the added value of interdisciplinary research, barriers to establishing and benefiting from interdisciplinary research, and solutions or best practices as to how such barriers can be overcome.…”

Section: Interdisciplinaritymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Phrases such as 'real-world problems are not defined by disciplines' are often invoked by policy-makers in support of problem-oriented and interdisciplinary research initiatives. Today's complex societal problems require 'horizontal' collaboration across different academic disciplines, but also 'vertical' collaboration to connect to policy and other implementation arenas (Lyall and Fletcher 2013).…”

Section: Valuementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Others argue that scholars early in their career can risk losing out on advancement when they do not follow conventional career paths, such as publishing in traditional discipline-specific journals (Metzger and Zare 1999;Pfirman and Begg 2012). There appears to be general agreement however, that interdisciplinary collaboration holds potential, although it faces numerous challenges that demand organisational investments (Boardman and Corley 2008;Lyall and Fletcher 2013). A process view of interdisciplinarity (Lengwiler 2006;Pregernig 2006) therefore offers valuable insights in terms of identifying barriers to collaboration and collecting strategies that are able to support interdisciplinary initiatives realise their potential.…”

Section: Valuementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The main challenge in interdisciplinary research is that they lack the mechanisms that support knowledge creation, diffusion and evaluation, commonly found in traditional disciplines (Lyall and Fletcher 2013). This affects processes both internal to the group, and between the group and other organisations.…”

Section: Barriers and Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is a fair amount of work that focuses on managing interdisciplinary research at the project level. Various case studies of single research centres or funding agencies' programs report on practices including weekly meetings, mentorship and leadership as examples of lessons learned (Bammer 2008;Lyall and Fletcher 2013). Other studies collected survey and bibliometric data to examine the impact of organisational features of research centres on research productivity (Ponomariov and Boardman 2010, for example).…”

Section: Barriers and Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Interdisciplinary research and geography: Overcoming barriers through proximity

Rekers

Hansen

2014

Science and Public Policy

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Interdisciplinary research and geography: Overcoming barriers through proximityRekers, Josephine V.; Hansen, Teis General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.• Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research.• You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. AbstractContributions on interdisciplinary research have so far focused on barriers to such collaborations and strategies for overcoming these. In this paper, we propose that a geographical perspective contributes to understand the formation of successful interdisciplinary research collaborations. The empirical analysis of a centre for clinical cancer research illustrates the importance of considering the role of geographical proximity to collaborators and decision makers, as well as the co-location of excellent research groups within different fields, in overcoming barriers to interdisciplinary research. We suggest that policies aimed at stimulating lasting interdisciplinary research collaborations should take the distance between collaborators into account. AcknowledgementsThe data for this case study was collected with Elena Zukauskaite (CIRCLE, Lund University). This research is part of a larger research project, "Organisational change for innovation and institutional entrepreneurship in health care systems" (ICIS), with partners in Finland (Sotarauta and colleagues) and Norway (Isaksen and Karlsen). The authors thank Ron Boschma and two anonymous referees for valuable comments. AbstractContributions on interdisciplinary research have so far focused on barriers to such collaborations and strategies for overcoming these. In this paper, we propose that a geographical perspective contributes to understand the formation of successful interdisciplinary research collaborations. The empirical analysis of a centre for clinical cancer research illustrates the importance of considering the role of geographical proximity to collaborators and decision-makers, as well as the co-location of excellent research groups within different fields, in overcoming barriers to interdisciplinary research. We suggest that policies aimed at stimulating lasting interdisciplinary research collaborations should take the distance between collaborators into account.

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Section: Interdisciplinaritymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Valuementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Valuementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Barriers and Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Barriers and Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Interdisciplinary research and geography: Overcoming barriers through proximity

Rekers

Hansen

2014

Science and Public Policy

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Interdisciplinarity as cognitive integration: auditory verbal hallucinations as a case study

Bernini

Woods

2014

WIRES Cognitive Science

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In this article, we advocate a bottom-up direction for the methodological modeling of interdisciplinary research based on concrete interactions among individuals within interdisciplinary projects. Drawing on our experience in Hearing the Voice (a cross-disciplinary project on auditory verbal hallucinations running at Durham University), we focus on the dynamic if also problematic integration of cognitive science (neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and of mind), phenomenology, and humanistic disciplines (literature, narratology, history, and theology). We propose a new model for disciplinary integration which brings to the fore an under-investigated dynamic of interdisciplinary projects, namely their being processes of distributed cognition and cognitive integration.

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Introduction: Mixed Messages for the Interdisciplinary Research Community

Lyall

2019

Being an Interdisciplinary Academic

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Experiments in interdisciplinary capacity-building: The successes and challenges of large-scale interdisciplinary investments

Abstract: Now published as Lyall, C. and Fletcher, I. (2013), "Experiments in interdisciplinary capacity building: the successes and challenges of large-scale interdisciplinary investments", Science and Public Policy (2013) 40(1): 1-7

Cited by 63 publications

References 23 publications

Interdisciplinary research and geography: Overcoming barriers through proximity

Interdisciplinary research and geography: Overcoming barriers through proximity

Interdisciplinarity as cognitive integration: auditory verbal hallucinations as a case study

Introduction: Mixed Messages for the Interdisciplinary Research Community

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