Understanding how to build and manage teams capable of creating interdisciplinary outputs and impact is a complex skill set that is of fast-growing importance to funders, institutions and academics alike. And while there are multiple challenges, interdisciplinary working can be some of the most rewarding work that we do in our careers. In this panel session we will discuss the practical side of interdisciplinary working.

Professor Jan Bebbington (Lancaster University Management School), Professor Fiona Barclay (University of Stirling, Arts & Humanities) and Professor Kim McKee (University of Stirling, Social Sciences) will share their experiences on how they build and work within interdisciplinary teams. Each will speak for about 10 minutes, leaving 30 minutes for questions and discussion.

Each speaker will bring their own unique perspective to interdisciplinary working:

Jan Bebbington: Engaging in inter-disciplinary collaborations is something that requires some preparation and careful navigation. In this session Jan Bebbington will reflect on why she became interested in inter-disciplinary work, what preparation she had to undertake to make herself and her discipline understandable to others and what the joys (and challenges) she has faced in this ambition. Jan is involved in a long-term collaboration with ecologists and sustainability scientists that aims to identify how and when corporate actors might contribute to sustainability transitions, especially in the ocean. She also works with ecologists to understand the possibilities for corporate contributions to ecosystem restoration.

Fiona Barclay: Interdisciplinary research is increasingly recognised as a requirement for finding solutions to complex situations. In this session Fiona will discuss her experience of working with other disciplines – across French, History, Psychology, Sociology, Applied Linguistics, Teacher Education and Computer Science – on a range of projects, including as PI on a current £1.5m UKRI research project which investigates cultures of language learning across Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland. The discussion will look to identify some of the factors for successful interdisciplinary work.

Kim McKee: Solving housing ‘problems’ requires bringing different disciplines around the table – social policy, planning, economics, law, geography, and public health amongst others. In this session Kim McKee will reflect on the insights and challenges of interdisciplinary working in an applied field where co-investigators can also be non-academics from varied disciplinary backgrounds. Kim has been involved in numerous interdisciplinary projects including as Co-I on the Intersectional Stigma of Place-based Ageing (ISPA) project. This 5 year, £2 million ESRC funded project led by Stirling brings together researchers from social policy, geography, and planning with expertise in ageing, disability studies, housing, and neighbourhoods to better understand the challenges and stigma facing older, disabled people in the places in which they live. Kim has also held editorial roles with interdisciplinary housing journals and is former Chair of the Housing Studies Association: a UK learned society that supports housing education and research across policy, practice, and academia.

Image: “Collaboration” by bre pettis is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.