Interdisciplinary Research

Transcription

1 Interdisciplinary Research Falk Schreiber Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg Leibniz Institute IPK Gatersleben 15/09/2014 1

2 What will we Discuss?! Concept of interdisciplinary research! Strengths and weaknesses of interdisciplinary research! Some examples from my interdisciplinary research! Lessons learned from interdisciplinary projects

3 My Background! 1997 Diploma in Computer Science / Medical Computer Science, University of Passau! Research Fellow and Lecturer, University of Passau! 2001 Ph.D. in Computer Science (Dr. rer. nat.)! Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Lecturer, The University of Sydney! Head of Research Group, IPK Gatersleben! 2006 Habilitation in Computer Science! Professor (Chair for Bioinformatics) University of Halle and Coordinator Bioinformatics, IPK Gatersleben! Since 2014 Professor (Fac. of IT) Monash University! Many interdisciplinary projects with biology, medicine, chemistry, ecology! Many projects with industry

4 Why Interdisciplinary Research? A tidal wave of scientific data

5 Why Interdisciplinary Research? Complex multi-domain data

6 Why Interdisciplinary Research? It s fun But

7 What is it?! For some it is quite old, rooted in the ideas of Plato, Aristotle, Rabelais, Kant, Hegel (.) who have been described as interdisciplinary thinkers. For others it is entirely a phenomenon of the twentieth century (.). The actual term did not emerge until the twentieth century (..). However, the basic ideas are quite old (.). [Klein, 1990]! There is no exact definition, but to have interdisciplinary research, you need disciplines and interaction between these disciplines! A simple definition: interdisciplinary research is when elements of any two (or more) disciplines are used in research process

8 Some Concepts of Interdisciplinary Research Interdisciplinary research in a research group 1. Within one research group there are different bodies of knowledge represented 2. Members of the research group use different problem solving approaches 3. Members of the research group perform different roles 4. But all the members of the research group work on a common problem 5. The nature of the problem determines the selection of group members [Birnbaum, 1981] Interdisciplinary research is a way to do research by teams or individuals that integrates! Concepts / theories! Tools / techniques! Information / data from at least two established research areas.

9 Multidisciplinary vs. Interdisciplinary Research! Multidisciplinary research! Ebola research! Medicine! Economics! Public Health! Epidemiology! Politics! Psychiology! Interdisciplinary research! Bioinformatics! Digital Humanities! Biomedical Engineering! Econometrics!

10 Strengths and Weaknesses! Gain new results! Which could not have been produced if the researchers would all have had the same disciplinary knowledge! More time and effort consuming! At least two researchers from different fields are involved! Skills often not transferable! Different cultures / traditions! Patterns of thinking, ways to do experiments! Specific terms (including jargon)! Traditions how to present / publish results and solutions! Etc.! Results achieved (at least at the beginning) are often trivial when seen from perspective of established discipline

11 Some Examples! BioPath! A collaboration between computer scientists, chemists and biologists! Funded by public funding agency! Research goal: to provide novel methods for an electronic resource for biochemical pathway information! Learned! Need to understand biology and biochemistry! Lots of time for discussions! What s good in one discipline is often not interesting for the other discipline

12 Some Examples! COMBINE! A large (>30 institutes) collaboration between computer scientists, electrical engineers, biologists, chemists, medical doctors, mathematicians, physicists! No funding! Research goal: to capture knowledge in systems biology in a standardised way, to define standards! Learned! Formalise processes in large interdisciplinary collaborations! Have regular face-to-face meetings! Engage people outside academia (standardisation organisations, industry and government bodies, etc.)

13 Some Examples! SEA! A collaboration between computer scientists and plant biologists.! Funded by company! Research goal: understand and improve composition of metabolites in rape seed seeds! Learned! Find good balance between service and research! Goals in industry may suddenly change even if the scientific question is still interesting

14 Some Examples! Optimas! A collaboration between computer scientists, chemists and biologists.! Funded by company and by public funding agency! Research goal: understand biological processes which lead to higher biomass! Learned! Clear definition of goals of partners! Agree on ways of sharing of data / publication of results

15 Questions