SHAPE-ID Blog

The need for inter- and transdisciplinary research (IDR/TDR) is increasingly bringing new challenges to academic life and presenting new demands for research policy and funding. Here we reflect on some highlights from our survey with inter- and transdisciplinary researchers.

One of SHAPE-ID’s first objectives is to identify, through an evidence-scanning exercise drawing on existing work, the different understandings and factors that help or hinder interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research (IDR and TDR) within and between Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) and STEMM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine). This blog post summarises the preliminary findings of the SHAPE-ID literature review to date, which is also available as a report.

Dr Angela Butler from Trinity College Dublin discusses the interdisciplinary challenges addressed by the Global Humanities Institute on the Crises of Democracy at a Summer Institute in Dubrovnik in July 2019.

Prof Julie Thompson Klein of Wayne State University and Td-Lab ETH Zurich reflects on the 2019 International Transdisciplinarity Conference, which took place September 10th through 13th in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Jane Ohlmeyer summarises her presentation on a panel entitled "Me and My Society – Integration of Social Sciences and Humanities” (SSH) at the European Union Research & Innovation Days event held in Brussels on 24-26 September 2019.

We still have a long way to go before inter- and trans-disciplinary (ITD) careers become “normalised” within our institutions and early career ITD researchers still face significant career disadvantages. Catherine Lyall reflects on the ITD 2019 conference and her new book Being an Interdisciplinary Academic.

What do cultural trauma, climate change and technology have to do with democracy? And why is interdisciplinarity important? Dr Elspeth Payne discusses these questions in the context of her research on the contemporary media and the headlines that shape today’s world.

Where and how does an early career interdisciplinary researcher 'fit'? Emer Emily Neenan reflects on the 2019 LERU doctoral summer school and the challenge of finding - or making - a place between disciplines.