Inter- and transdisciplinary (ITD) research is increasingly called for by policy makers and encouraged by funders, usually to address complex societal challenges in collaborative teams. In this context inter- and transdisciplinarity too often seem like just buzzwords - they are poorly or not defined, with unclear expectations, evaluation criteria and guidance for evaluators. In addition to these research policy-oriented contexts, ITD appears as “a reflexive orientation within the academy and an object of knowledge” in its own right (Barry & Born 2013). Just as there are several different modalities to ITD, there are different dimensions such as the cognitive, emotional, and the interactional (Boix Mansilla et al. 2015). The SHAPE-ID project found that there was a disconnect between how academic and policy communities understand ITD (Vienni-Baptista et al., 2020). Signs of such disconnect are also evidenced in the struggle to effectively evaluate and monitor the integration of Social Sciences and Humanities within European funding framework programmes, despite a desire to do so. Overall, there are both bottom-up inclinations and top-down pressures suggesting to researchers and universities that there is a need to undertake and become more supportive of ITD in some shape or form. Yet, there is often lack of clarity around resourcing and pathways within universities, coupled with the significant challenges of providing meaningful support and capacity building for researchers taking part in different kinds of ITD research at different career stages.
In our own professional experience, efforts to support ITD are often fragmented within universities, and those tasked with doing so occupy very diverse positions across academic, professional and hybrid roles.
In recent years there has been emerging interest in the role of integration experts, which Hoffmann et al. (2022) defined as academics or other experts who ‘lead, administer, manage, monitor, assess, accompany, and/or advise others on ITD integration’. Separately, the role of research managers, broadly understood as the diverse professionals supporting the research ecosystem, from researcher training and development to project and programme management, has received increased attention, with newly funded EU projects exploring their contribution. Burgess and Wallace (2023) argued that this community can play a significant role in supporting ITD development within universities and ongoing research (preliminary results presented in Wallace et al., 2023) is exploring the role research managers play in supporting ITD research in different contexts across Europe. Meanwhile, the potential knowledge base is exploding in ways that further stress the possible need for intermediary research support staff. There are many tools and methods available (e.g., through td-net, SHAPE-ID and i2insights) as well as scholarly discussions on the use of compound methods (Lury 2018) for interdisciplinary research, yet fragmentation remains a challenge.
This workshop aims to draw these concerns together, exploring the diverse contexts and opportunities for supporting ITD research across a university and the varied roles those who integrate and build capacity for integration play.
• What roles do research developers, facilitators, research directors, project managers and others play in supporting ITD?
• What contexts do we work in and what challenges [cognitive, emotional, interactional, etc.] do we encounter when working with researchers in different contexts?
• What are the interactional and motivational implications of how integrators are positioned vis-a-vis those they help and the overall university power-structures?
• How can we simultaneously understand the needs of researchers and develop our own skills and knowledge as integrators?
• What supports do researchers need at different stages in their careers or project life cycle? What are their positive experiences of such support and where are there gaps in support?
• How can the extensive knowledge base, tools and perspectives be adopted and translated to the diverse contexts in which we work as integrators and/or researchers?
• How can we identify when we as integrators have made a valuable contribution to the development of research?
Through scene-setting presentations from integration experts supporting ITD research in diverse contexts, including facilitation, training, proposal development, mentoring and centre leadership, followed by a world café to explore participants’ experiences and challenges, the workshop aims to create a space for sharing experience, knowledge, challenges and good practice. We welcome those who work as integrators in academic, professional or hybrid roles, as well as researchers who are interested in how universities support, and can better support, the development of integration expertise. The above questions and their framing in the world café will be tailored to the audience in attendance, with those who identify as integrators invited to directly reflect on their roles, and researchers invited to consider their experience of supports or the contexts in which they need support to develop integration skills.
The workshop will contribute a new perspective to the work of the ITD Alliance Working Group on Integration Experts and Expertise, including its aims to generate shared resources and approaches for addressing common challenges and discussing lessons learned across different contexts.
Outcomes: the outcomes of the world café will be written up as a concise briefing to be shared with the ITD Alliance Working Group on Integration Experts and Expertise and with the proposers’ professional networks including University Networks (e.g., LERU, Coimbra Group), European University Alliances, RMA Associations (EARMA) and projects pursuing the development of Research Manager career frameworks to support ERA Action 17 dedicated to research management in Europe (RMA Roadmap, CARDEA). This will allow insights on integration expertise to inform considerations of research management at European level.
Workshop design
The workshop is designed to facilitate practice-sharing among attendees. It will begin with a brief introduction to the topic and 3-4 short scene-setting presentations from the proposers on their experiences supporting ITD capacity building in their professional roles and contexts. This will be followed by a world café (2 rounds) to allow participants to discuss and share their experiences, concluding with feedback to the group and a wrap-up.
