Making Interdisciplinarity Work

Project Status: Completed (See Final Report Summary)
Type of Project: Development Activity
Principal Investigator: Dr Sandra Bell, University of Durham (Email)

Publications, Date and Other Outputs

 

Objectives

Heralded as ‘the way forward’ for integrating natural and social science to address rural economy and land use issues, clearer understanding of the processes of interdisciplinarity is needed to make it work effectively. Participants (researchers and end-users) must understand, and take into account, the contributions of others throughout the entire research process. This improved understanding should engender a situation where the outcome of research is greater than the sum of its (disciplinary) parts. The people (natural/social scientists, local people, policy-makers), data/information (including access), and experiences (e.g. communication) from two pan-European projects form the foundation for this in-depth investigation into the processes of interdisciplinarity which addresses five key issues:

• Effective organisation and management of interdisciplinary projects
• Effective integration of social and natural science datasets
• Other (non-research) stakeholder requirements from integrated datasets
• Effective information dissemination for end-users
• Grants and papers: interdisciplinary project evaluation by the scientific community

Insights gained from this Development Activity are fundamental to RELU’s advocacy of innovative, interdisciplinary approaches for the sustainable development of rural economies, conservation of biodiversity and management of natural habitats. It is also particularly relevant to RELU’s aim of maximising added value and exploiting opportunities for greater synergy between stakeholders.