How we (do not) relate to each other: disparity and distance between disciplines

By Misha Campello Gramelius, PGR Intern for Research Staff Events

As my time in the Research Culture and Researcher Development Team comes to an end, I’d like to share with you my observations on the diverse nature of research, the distance (in many senses) between disciplines, and its effects on how I think about cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary collaboration, and their value in research careers. Over the course of my 1-year internship, I’ve had the opportunity to see this variety in action. It’s no surprise that research can vary greatly by discipline, but my work as a PGR Intern supporting the Research Staff community at the University of Glasgow, has broadened my perspective and made me appreciate diverse forms and approaches to research.

As my colleague Dr Rachel Chin wrote recently on the Auditorium “Perceived as the way to solve complex societal challenges, interdisciplinary research is on the rise in the sciences and in the social sciences and recent research has shown that the ability to think broadly is of benefit to research careers, not just professional skills development. In fact, interdisciplinary researchers attain better long-term funding performance.”

To fully appreciate the complex picture that makes up our research ecosystem, and the options available to us in the pursuit of our research, it’s essential for us as researchers aiming towards the benefits of interdisciplinarity, to understand the uniqueness of each research project. Over the last 12 months, I’ve been in contact with Research Staff from across the university and so have been able to discover new topics, theories, career paths, research paradigms, and research methods by approaching my expanded network of colleagues’ research activities with genuine curiosity and asking them many questions about it. My appreciation of the diverse and adaptable nature of their research has sparked my curiosity about the significance of interdisciplinary collaboration in my own career going forward, and through this, the potential for innovative collaborations. And it also raises some questions for me:

How can we find common ground when our research is so diverse?

I have observed significant separation between the different disciplines, and how researchers interact (or don’t) with one another as part of their daily work, is an obvious part of the puzzle. But it’s also challenging to connect, even if we are in the same spaces, when we have such a limited understanding of each other. When I’ve had recent conversations about our comparative research topics, one of the most common questions I’ve had from people outside of the Arts has been: “What does your research look like?”Many of my colleagues in the Arts may relate to this type of conversation.

For me, the question has been repeated across my many interactions with researchers and to my surprise, many of them had not even met a researcher in the Arts before. The question they pose isn’t about my particular area of the Arts, but rather a lack of understanding of what research in the Arts entails, often conflating it with working in the plastic Arts – or being ‘an artist’. A possible reason is the lack of visibility of Arts researchers at events because there are simply fewer of us, which may be causing a failure to achieve equal representation in shared spaces. My primary worry is that a lack of familiarity, and therefore understanding, could cause us to devaluate the research that is less visible, as well as reinforce power dynamics between different fields.

I am glad to say that it feels to me that we are making progress in the right direction at the University of Glasgow. We have even embedded Collaboration as one of the three pillars of the Research Strategy. Having been an intern in the Research Services Directorate, I am now more well-versed in the range of initiatives that we provide that offer a fertile ground for future collaborations and personal development across disciplines. For example, initiatives like PGR Induction, the Research Staff Assembly, Researcher Coffee Connect, WriteFest, and the six Talent Lab initiatives that focus on research leadership development, all help researchers in disparate fields feel more connected and integrated by providing opportunities for face-to-face conversations and for overcoming disciplinary barriers. Our colleagues who work in the Strategic Research Initiatives team, led by Dr Maria McPhillips also have collaboration and interdisciplinarity as key priorities for their ongoing work.

How can we, as researchers, create pathways towards collaborative partnerships?

At the personal level, you can seek to put yourself into spaces where you can meet other researchers from different disciplines. This could be as simple as attending a workshop, joining a network, seeking membership in a professional society, going to slightly ‘off topic’ papers at a conference, or going along to an initiative for researchers outside of your direct School community. You can improve your research communication skills through competitions such as Three Minute Thesis, or Visualise Your Thesis, or you can simply practise talking to other non-specialists about what you do.

Researchers can now connect and collaborate across borders more easily thanks to online platforms and collaboration tools. Just this summer, the University of Glasgow has co-hosted two online researcher Summer Schools: ‘Communicate Your Research’ with the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, and ‘Feature Your Future’ with Leuphana University Lüneburg in partnership with KU Leuven. These kinds of opportunities are ideal ways to widen your networks, your understanding of other research and its complementarity to yours, and to think about how you articulate the value of the research you yourself do.

Tailored funding opportunities for interdisciplinary and (inter)national projects (e.g. the British Academy’s Knowledge Frontiers) are being offered by funding agencies and organisations that acknowledge the significance of promoting discipline spanning research collaborations and bringing different disciplines and communities together to solve complex problems. These positive developments and enhanced structures for funding interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research show that the research community is actively working towards promoting and facilitating such collaborations. Why not talk to your local Research Office about what is available to you now and in the future.

My concluding point here in this post is to offer a starting point for becoming ‘interdisciplinary-minded’, and ask the reader, have you thought recently about your network of colleagues? How diverse is the research landscape around you? Have you had a meaningful conversation with someone from a different field recently? Do you follow researchers in different fields on your social media? Do you attend seminars outside of your direct specialist focus?

I hope that over time, the answers to these questions will indicate a researcher community that’s steadily moving towards unity, diversity, and community. We’ll have a stronger sense of our collective identity and be able to better cooperate and merge across disciplines. I suggest that our first steps must involve understanding how we can relate to and connect with each other, creating a community that embodies trust, support, progress, diversity, and inclusivity — then we will be ready to go when the funding opportunities arise. And of course, ‘There’s no career in academia without networks’