Developing capacities in interdisciplinary research
Interdisciplinary research can be key to addressing complex challenges, but academic structures can make collaboration across traditional disciplinary lines a challenging experience.
We work with researchers and research professionals from across the higher education sector to develop interdisciplinary skills, knowledge and approaches. In doing so, we equip them to navigate the interdisciplinary research ecosystem.
We support higher education institutions and cross-sector organisations to develop their interdisciplinary research capacities and culture.
How we define interdisciplinary research
We define interdisciplinary research as where:
“Researchers from two or more disciplines work together in a way that sees reciprocal benefits and integration of methods across traditional disciplinary boundaries.
“Interdisciplinary research brings together researchers to better identify problems, approaches and solutions to global and multifaceted challenges.”
What makes interdisciplinary research different from multidisciplinary research is the reciprocity between disciplines. This is an approach that sees methods, perspectives, modes of communication and knowledge production codeveloped and honed through collaboration.
Through an interdisciplinary approach, all contributors are afforded an equitable position in the development of research – ideally throughout the whole life cycle of the project, programme or network.
By working in an interdisciplinary way, research outcomes and outputs can often better mirror the complexity of the challenges we face at multiple levels – from the local to the global.
Support for your institution
Since we were established in early 2022, we’ve worked with a number of institutions and cross-sectoral organisations to develop their interdisciplinary research capacities.
Through this extensive experience, and the combined knowledge and skills of our seasoned facilitators, we've developed a suite of tried-and-tested programmes and interventions to support higher education bodies in building and strengthening their interdisciplinary ecosystems.
You can find out more about this in our brochure.
If you have any questions, or you would like more information, please contact the Horizons team via horizons@leeds.ac.uk
Read more about what we do
You can find more about the different aspects of our work through our Medium blog.
Here are some highlights:
Adopting a peer review approach to funding interdisciplinary research
Creating a Platform for interdisciplinary and global collaboration