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Following Up on Interdisciplinary Encounters: Benefits for Early Career Researchers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2018

Helen Bridle*
Affiliation:
Institute of Biological Chemistry, Biophysics and Bioengineering, Heriot-Watt University, Riccarton Campus, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, Scotland, UK. Email: h.l.bridle@hw.ac.uk
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Abstract

Interdisciplinarity is often quoted as a means to solve the complex social challenges faced by humanity, and the future of research is thus seen as increasingly interdisciplinary. However, there are risks and challenges to embarking on interdisciplinary research, particularly for early-career researchers. Encounters – bringing together early-career researchers to cultivate their interdisciplinary skills or to develop new projects – have been proposed and trialled as a means to boost interdisciplinarity amongst early-career researchers and equip them with the necessary skills for successful project delivery. However, little follow-up evaluation has been undertaken, especially considering career impacts several years after encounter participation. This article focuses on two encounter types and evaluates the level of interdisciplinary interactions obtained and the benefits experienced by participants. In conclusion, encounters are found to be highly successful, resulting in many projects and skills/career development. As such, further funding should be allocated to this type of event.

Information

Type
Articles
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© Academia Europaea 2018
Figure 0

Table 1 Overview of interdisciplinary encounter types: adapted from a presentation by Phil Ward entitled ‘Supporting Interdisciplinarity’ given at a British Academy Event in 2015.10

Figure 1

Figure 1 Overview and details of Scottish Crucible as an example of the UK Crucible programmes. Every year the programme involves three sets of 2-day workshops with an overnight stay and dinner for each one. During the final workshop, participants are encouraged to present potential interdisciplinary group projects from which a winning team is selected, although all teams, and other combinations of participants, are able to bid for a pot of seed funding, for which the interdisciplinary extent of the project is a key factor in success.

Figure 2

Figure 2 Overview and details of the ESF Junior Summit, on water.

Figure 3

Figure 3 Responses to the question ‘Have you undertaken other collaborative research activity with colleagues you met through Scottish Crucible?’

Figure 4

Figure 4 Responses to the question ‘What outputs have arisen from Scottish Crucible-funded projects and other collaborations?’

Figure 5

Figure 5 Responses to the question ‘Has your participation in Scottish Crucible enhanced your skills in any of these areas?’

Figure 6

Figure 6 Responses to the question ‘Has Scottish Crucible enhanced your confidence in exploring new research areas and opportunities?’

Figure 7

Figure 7 Responses to the question ‘Have you undertaken any forms of knowledge exchange as a result of taking part in Scottish Crucible?’

Figure 8

Figure 8 Responses to the question ‘Are you in touch with or have worked with any of the ESF Stresa meeting participants since?’

Figure 9

Figure 9 Responses to the question ‘In terms of interdisciplinary (ID) research since Stresa have you (tick all that apply).’

Figure 10

Figure 10 Responses to the question: ‘To what extent do you feel the meeting has been beneficial to your career?’

Figure 11

Figure 11 Responses to the question: ‘Do you feel the meeting has been beneficial to your career through any of the following routes?’