Group Reflections on Interdisciplinarity So Far

“You’re always changing your thinking, you’re always changing your methods… [Interdisciplinary engagements] are a part of a slow and relentless journey forwards, of learning. These kind of conversations are the things that fuel the engine that drives that forwards.”

In February 2023, an in-person meeting took place in Cardiff with members of the Branching Out project. During this meeting, 13 members of Branching Out interviewed one another using a set of questions developed by team members from Forest Research. The interviews were then analysed using an impact evaluation framework that aims to help us understand interdisciplinary working within the project. The evaluation framework covers three broad themes covered below.

 Context of Interdisciplinary Working

By having regular online meetings, people felt able to listen to colleagues and see the bigger picture. Through in-person opportunities, team members were able to engage in practical aspects of the project, such as measuring trees, which helped team members understand the project as a bigger picture.

 The most widely perceived challenge was how to ensure that data collected within the project could be used by different disciplines. For data to be used efficiently, there needs to be consistent and clear communication about the research needs within each work package. Similarly, research outputs need to be able to be understood by people from other disciplines.

 As it is understood that people across Branching Out come from different disciplines, the project has become a comfortable environment to ask ‘naïve’ or ‘ignorant’ questions. This encouraged team members to learn more about different disciplines as well as enabled colleagues to speak about what they know and enjoy. Interdisciplinarity has given the team a sense of community due to the exercise of patience, understanding of other’s emotions and effective communication.

 Impact on Researchers

Conceptual changes were seen as incremental and subtle. Many interviewees reported having a more open mind to other disciplines’ way of working and an eagerness to learn. This was associated with increased flexibility and openness and all colleagues felt like this would continue to develop over time.

 Instrumental changes also took place. Multiple people said that they planned on asking more questions about systems, tools and practices they did not understand such as geographic information systems (GIS), storytelling, and more. Interviewees were overall committed to continuous learning and felt motivated to use other disciplinary tools in their field.

 Despite every interviewee believing that they have an interdisciplinary background or had worked on an interdisciplinary project before, members of the Branching Out project recognise this project as being a unique, challenging, and exciting opportunity.

 “You’re always changing your thinking, you’re always changing your methods… [Interdisciplinary engagements] are a part of a slow and relentless journey forwards, of learning. These kind of conversations are the things that fuel the engine that drives that forwards.”[JR1] 

 Capacity Building

  The interdisciplinary nature of the project has led interviewees to broaden their views on other disciplines and challenge their assumptions. These assumptions include the perceived legitimacy of a research methodology that they had not used before previously. All interviewees saw the importance of reflection and reflexivity.

  Colleagues felt that they needed to fully understand the concepts that they wanted to share. This was perceived as more easily done in person rather than online. Additionally, verbally communicating these concepts was perceived as easier to do than via text.

 Conclusions

 The project was generally perceived as a positive learning experience by those who took part in the interviews. It was thought that aspects of collaboration would still need work to ensure that data will be created and shared in an effective, accessible way in the future. All interviewees expressed the importance of working as a team to make sure goals are met within the project and want to help other members of the team, using their skills and research.

 At the time of writing, some of the ideas that interviewees felt had the potential to mitigate potential challenges have been implemented or are in the pipeline.

We hope to conduct similar interviews in Spring 2024.

 By Jordan Rydlewski, Forest Research