The Importance of Interdisciplinary Research

In the past, interdisciplinary research and science was never really looked at as important as most scientist focused on one field. Interdisciplinary research is a type of research that combines or involves two or more fields such a biology and chemistry or biology and physics. This type of research has only been growing recently but interdisciplinary research is now starting to sweep the nation across universities. However, there are still some negatives of interdisciplinary research that has caused for slower growth of this topic. For example, this type of research takes more time, funding can be expensive, reviewing the work is harder, and often scientists that are from different fields can find it hard to communicate as their language from their respective fields are different. The few negatives that interdisciplinary science and research has can be overlooked by the many positives that it can create like answering questions that couldn’t be answered in the past, extending horizons in single fields, and creating new fields such as bioinformatics. Despite the negative connotations that arise from interdisciplinary research, it has become an important skill with positives that outshine its negatives. Interdisciplinary research should be continued as institutes such as Bio X are thriving and bringing many new advancements.
                      

From the positives in interdisciplinary research there are also the negatives. One major negative of interdisciplinary research is that it is very time consuming. In the past interdisciplinary research was frowned upon because it took longer than single-field projects as it took time for scientists of different fields to communicate their information to each other effectively. Scientists from different fields might speak the same language, but the format of the language of which it is spoken can be very different. For instance, a person that specializes in Biology can speak and format their work very differently from one that is an expert in computer science. Another issue is that peer review for interdisciplinary work is tricky and sometimes very hard. It can become difficult to analyze and review data that comes from multiple fields. To get a well and actual review of the work, a team of experts from the exact same fields would have to be put together. Then it would also take time for this newly created team to cooperate effectively and discuss the research that was done. Additional time would then have to be taken to actually review the work.

An additional negative for interdisciplinary research at universities is funding. As stated by Rick Rylance, “Academic institutions' budgets, governance and promotion arrangements are usually organized around single disciplines, as are processes at many granting bodies and journals.” Many find interdisciplinary work as inferior and can weaken single discipline and those who attempt it “struggle for recognition and advancement.” This causes potential funders to look the other way and refuse to fund the work. Also, with few supporters of interdisciplinary research, institutes find themselves fighting each other for funding. An addition to this, with funding hard to look for, it creates some resistance to the idea of interdisciplinary research. The added resistance to interdisciplinary research makes it unappealing to some colleges, therefore not creating or building up new institutes.

The negatives can be overlooked as they’re many more positives to interdisciplinary research which can outweigh the negatives. In the article Mind Meld many of the positives are discussed while the few negatives of interdisciplinary research are also mentioned. One positive that is discussed is how interdisciplinary research can “solve problems that have never come up before. But it can also address old problems, especially those that have proved unwilling to yield to conventional approaches.” An example of this productive interaction can be seen at the University of Manchester, UK in the John Rylands Research Institute. The institute was found in April 2013 and it brings together scientists, conservators, curators, digital-imaging specialists and more. This institute now studies and researches digital humanities, “a field that enables the study of books and manuscripts in ways that were unimaginable a generation ago.” Funding also was not a problem for the John Rylands Research Institute as they were able to raise around five million dollars in funding. With this funding new advancements and discoveries were made through their interdisciplinary research. For example, the institute, using a combination of new techniques were able to identify the earliest examples of gold ink. They are also revolutionizing the understanding of paypri and palimpsests. Researchers at John Rylands Research Institute were also able to create detailed images or artifacts using cutting-edge technology. But from this there was still the problem of all confusion that was occurring from having people from different fields work together. A great way the John Rylands Research Institute was able to get rid of some of the confusion was installing a buddy system. All researchers of this institute were given a curator with intimate knowledge of the material that was being studied. With this buddy system it is easier for the researcher to comprehend and learn the new field that they are studying. The researcher would then be able to ask questions and quickly learn the format of the field’s language.
            

Of the many positives of interdisciplinary work, another discussed in Mind Meld would be that new fields and sciences are being developed and formed for students at universities. Many universities not just across the nation, but across the world, are creating new institutions for these fields such as Bio-X at Standford University and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois. These new institutions are very important as it allows students to tackle the new unknown sciences and questions that have been arriving recently. These new institutions also allow people from different fields to meet and collaborate together. With these collaborations often new ideas and methods are developed. Input from different fields can become immense and very beneficial as it gives different perspectives and different ways to look at things. Interdisciplinary research has also developed new and important fields. Some examples of new fields that were created include cybernetics, biochemistry, biomedical engineering, and neuroscience.

Another positive of interdisciplinary work would be that students and researchers develop much need lifelong learning skills that are beneficial. Students and researchers are able to learn many things from the various fields. In a study done by Boyer and Bishop, they found that “interdisciplinary teaming not only had a positive effect on students learning, but also inhibited personal growth” (Boyer and Bishop). The students from the study learned tolerance of their peers as well as leadership and collaboration skills. With all the barriers and negatives to interdisciplinary research, the researchers and scientists that are in are well motivated and more likely to succeed. I say this because, if all goes well for them and they succeed, interdisciplinary researchers would be able to create their own research funding program and make their own promotion and tenure decisions. The percentage of those who succeed are low, but the ones that do become very successful in life.

The topic of interdisciplinary research is growing around the world and is subject to debate. Interdisciplinarity will be one of the headline topics at the GRC annual meeting in Delhi in May 2016. This meeting is organized by India’s Science and Engineering Research Board and RCUK. RCUK, on behalf of the GRC,will commission and report worldwide. The report would survey current policy and practice among the global research funders. This survey will begin to establish base data on how interdisciplinary work would best be stimulated and managed. The GRC also expects to issue a policy statement after the meeting. They would be able to marshal data while national policies are being developed and international cooperation is being established.

There are a decent amount of negatives to interdisciplinary research, funding and time being some of the biggest when making arguments about interdisciplinary research. However, many positives can be taken away from this type of work. New advancements and discoveries have been made thanks to interdisciplinary research. Many new institutes at universities across the world are being established and have begun to thrive in recent years. Old and new questions have and are being answered using interdisciplinary work. With all these positives and developments, interdisciplinary research should continue to be pursued and funded.

Works cited

Pormann, Peter E. “Interdisciplinarity: Inside Manchester’s ‘Arts Lab.’” Nature 2015: 318–319. Web.

News, Nature, ed. “Mind Meld.” Nature 2015. Web. 1 Oct. 2015.

Rylance, Rick. “Grant Giving: Global Funders to Focus on Interdisciplinarity.” NatureSept. 2015. Web. 1 Oct. 2015.

Ledford, Heidi. “How to Solve the World’s Biggest Problems.” Nature Sept. 2015. Web. 1 Oct. 2015.

http://dc.cod.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1121&context=essai

http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2003_01_17/nodoi.13930062608205039520

http://www.renkei-researcher-schools.org/files/2013/07/Interdisciplinarity-Simin-Davoudi-2013.pdf