Dear all:
Science policymakers have increased funding for interdisciplinary
collaboration as a favored mode of ‘translational’ and/or
‘transformative’ research. With the rise in interdisciplinary funding
for science and engineering has come the analysis of
interdisciplinarity itself, finding that interdisciplinary
collaboration brings with it a variety of problems as well as promises
of innovation. Ironically, although researchers from a host of
disciplines have studied interdisciplinarity, there has been minimal
communication across disciplinary boundaries.
In order to address these issues, a two-day National Science
Foundation (NSF) sponsored workshop titled "Interdisciplinary
Collaboration in Innovative Science and Engineering Fields" was held
in November 2010. In total, 37 researchers representing such diverse
disciplines as economics, psychology, sociology, organizational
behavior, political science and public policy, anthropology, history,
philosophy, gender studies, other sciences (biology, physics), and
science and technology studies attended. Together, these scholars
discussed the state of the study of interdisciplinarity in their
individual disciplines and the barriers and opportunities facing the
study of interdisciplinary collaboration. While these scholars did not
agree on all issues, including the definition of interdisciplinarity
itself, the workshop accomplished its goal of cross fertilization of
ideas while engaging and informing a diverse group of researchers.
This workshop and its report are but a starting point for further
conversation and research. Given that many members of this listserve
also study interdisciplinarity and/or collaboration, we feel that
dissemination of the final report is important. Please find the full
workshop at:
https://sites.google.com/site/interdisciplinary2010/
We hope that it serves as a useful resource for you.
Best regards,
Susannah Paletz, University of Pittsburgh, and Laurel Smith-Doerr,
Boston University
---------------------------------------
Susannah B. F. Paletz, Ph.D.
University of Pittsburgh
LRDC 816
3939 O'Hara Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
(412) 624-2679
paletz@pitt.edu and
sbfpaletz@gmail.com