Interdisciplinary Study

A report on interdisciplinarity to act as a discussion paper for the GRC 2016 Annual Meeting, consisting of a combination of desk-based literature reviews, research on policy and a series of telephone interviews with selected research funding agencies around the world, to produce no fewer than ten, and no more than fifteen, country based case studies. The aim of the report is to produce an initial overview of what policies and policy environments exist globally across a small but balanced cross-section of GRC participants.

The commissioner recognises that many funding agencies will not have specific policies or schemes for supporting interdisciplinarity, but will have embedded what they consider to be good practice throughout their funding policies, and the report should identify where and how this is happening and provide an initial assessment of success. The report will make recommendations, based on its findings, of how funders can ensure their funding policies support interdisciplinary working.

There is no assumption that interdisciplinary research is better or more prestigious; the research question remains the most important driver. However, given a growing number of research questions require interdisciplinary working, there is a need to ensure that interdisciplinary proposals are treated fairly. The GRC 2016 will provide a forum for funders across the world to discuss how this can work in practice and this report and its recommendations will be a key stimulus for the discussion.