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Interdisciplinary Research (interdisciplinary + research)
Selected AbstractsReflexive Interdisciplinary Research: The Making of a Research Programme on the Rural Economy and Land UseJOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2006Philip Lowe Abstract This paper provides an account of the origins and formation of the UK Research Councils' Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) programme and its approach to promoting interdisciplinary working between social and natural scientists. The programme is set in the context of broader developments in science policy, including a policy discourse centred upon sustainable development and the knowledge economy and associated demands for greater accountability in science. Interdisciplinarity promises research that will be more relevant and responsive to public needs and concerns. In describing the provenance of the RELU programme, therefore, the paper seeks to lay out the different stages in its initiation and design to show how, to varying degrees, these were open to external scrutiny and influence. The process of developing the programme illustrates that it is not straightforward to make research agendas and funding more transparent and accountable. It also provides insights into the challenges that interdisciplinarity and accountability present to established science institutions. [source] Highlights of Programmatic, Interdisciplinary Research on WritingLEARNING DISABILITIES RESEARCH & PRACTICE, Issue 2 2009Virginia W. Berninger An overview of research topics and findings from an interdisciplinary, programmatic line of research on writing over the past 25 years is presented. The cross-sectional assessment studies (grades 1 to 9) showed which measures uniquely explained variance in handwriting, spelling, and composing and thus validated their use in assessment. These and the longitudinal studies (grades 1 to 5 and 3 to 7) contributed to knowledge of the cognitive processes of writing, within a working memory architecture that orchestrates multiple component processes in time to achieve specific writing goals, especially the translation of ideas into words, syntax, and text, and transcription (handwriting and spelling) by pen and by keyboard. Combined brain imaging and behavioral studies of writing have provided converging evidence for brain,behavior relationships for handwriting, spelling, and composing and for the role of temporally coordinated working memory, including an orthographic loop with a graphic-motor envelope for word production. A series of instructional studies for at-risk writers, which was taught to all levels of language to overcome working memory inefficiencies, were organized according to the developmental steppingstones in writing acquisition and show that writing problems can be prevented. Other studies with older, struggling writers validated effective instructional approaches for helping struggling writers become reading-writers who integrate both written language skills in literacy learning. [source] An Introduction to Simulation and Visualization of Biological Systems at Multiple Scales: A Summer Training Program for Interdisciplinary ResearchBIOTECHNOLOGY PROGRESS, Issue 1 2006Rajan Munshi Advances in biomedical research require a new generation of researchers having a strong background in both the life and physical sciences and a knowledge of computational, mathematical, and engineering tools for tackling biological problems. The NIH-NSF Bioengineering and Bioinformatics Summer Institute at the University of Pittsburgh (BBSI @ Pitt;www.ccbb.pitt.edu/bbsi) is a multi-institutional 10-week summer program hosted by the University of Pittsburgh, Duquesne University, the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, and Carnegie Mellon University, and is one of nine Institutes throughout the nation currently participating in the NIH-NSF program. Each BBSI focuses on a different area; the BBSI @ Pitt, entitled "Simulation and Computer Visualization of Biological Systems at Multiple Scales", focuses on computational and mathematical approaches to understanding the complex machinery of molecular-to-cellular systems at three levels, namely, molecular, subcellular (microphysiological), and cellular. We present here an overview of the BBSI@Pitt, the objectives and focus of the program, and a description of the didactic training activities that distinguish it from other traditional summer research programs. Furthermore, we also report several challenges that have been identified in implementing such an interdisciplinary program that brings together students from diverse academic programs for a limited period of time. These challenges notwithstanding, presenting an integrative view of molecular-to-system analytical models has introduced these students to the field of computational biology and has allowed them to make an informed decision regarding their future career prospects. [source] Bringing Cognitive Science into Education, and Back Again: The Value of Interdisciplinary ResearchCOGNITIVE SCIENCE - A MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL, Issue 4 2006Danielle S. McNamara First page of article [source] Interdisciplinary research: The NCUR-Lancy awardsNEW DIRECTIONS FOR TEACHING & LEARNING, Issue 93 2003David F. Lancy A program was designed to promote interdisciplinary research by undergraduates during the summer. Lessons learned from the first four years of this initiative are described. [source] Interdisciplinary research: framing and reframingAREA, Issue 4 2009Elizabeth Oughton Framing encompasses the processes of identifying and bounding the area of research and based on our own experiences as academics we have found significant differences in the ways that researchers establish and frame a disciplinary, compared to an interdisciplinary, research project. In this paper we have attempted to contribute to the development of the conceptual framework underpinning interdisciplinary research through analysis of interviews with a number of academics already working in an interdisciplinary manner. Successful projects are able to identify and support the processes that allow the communication and negotiation that is necessary, not just for the initial framing of a research funding proposal but to be able to maintain negotiation. Self awareness and continual reflexivity and a willingness to be questioned by others are essential to this process. [source] A Design Theory Approach to Building Strategic Network-Based Customer Service Systems,DECISION SCIENCES, Issue 3 2009M. Kathryn Brohman ABSTRACT Customer service is a key component of a firm's value proposition and a fundamental driver of differentiation and competitive advantage in nearly every industry. Moreover, the relentless coevolution of service opportunities with novel and more powerful information technologies has made this area exciting for academic researchers who can contribute to shaping the design and management of future customer service systems. We engage in interdisciplinary research,across information systems, marketing, and computer science,in order to contribute to the service design and service management literature. Grounded in the design-science perspective, our study leverages marketing theory on the service-dominant logic and recent findings pertaining to the evolution of customer service systems. Our theorizing culminates with the articulation of four design principles. These design principles underlie the emerging class of customer service systems that, we believe, will enable firms to better compete in an environment characterized by an increase in customer centricity and in customers' ability to self-serve and dynamically assemble the components of solutions that fit their needs. In this environment, customers retain control over their transactional data, as well as the timing and mode of their interactions with firms, as they increasingly gravitate toward integrated complete customer solutions rather than single products or services. Guided by these design principles, we iterated through, and evaluated, two instantiations of the class of systems we propose, before outlining implications and directions for further cross-disciplinary scholarly research. [source] PERSPECTIVE ARTICLE: Why do adaptive immune responses cross-react?EVOLUTIONARY APPLICATIONS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 1 2009Karen J. Fairlie-Clarke Abstract Antigen specificity of adaptive immune responses is often in the host's best interests, but with important and as yet unpredictable exceptions. For example, antibodies that bind to multiple flaviviral or malarial species can provide hosts with simultaneous protection against many parasite genotypes. Vaccinology often aims to harness such imprecision, because cross-reactive antibodies might provide broad-spectrum protection in the face of antigenic variation by parasites. However, the causes of cross-reactivity among immune responses are not always known, and here, we explore potential proximate and evolutionary explanations for cross-reactivity. We particularly consider whether cross-reactivity is the result of constraints on the ability of the immune system to process information about the world of antigens, or whether an intermediate level of cross-reactivity may instead represent an evolutionary optimum. We conclude with a series of open questions for future interdisciplinary research, including the suggestion that the evolutionary ecology of information processing might benefit from close examination of immunological data. [source] Is there a ,gut,brain,skin axis'?EXPERIMENTAL DERMATOLOGY, Issue 5 2010Petra Arck Please cite this paper as: Is there a ,gut,brain,skin axis'? Experimental Dermatology 2010; 19: 401,405. Abstract:, Emerging evidence arising from interdisciplinary research supports the occurrence of communication axes between organs, such as the brain,gut or brain,skin axis. The latter is employed in response to stress challenge, along which neurogenic skin inflammation and hair growth inhibition is mediated. We now show that ingestion of a Lactobacillus strain in mice dampens stress-induced neurogenic skin inflammation and the hair growth inhibition. In conclusion, we are introducing a hypothesis, encouraged by our pilot observations and resting upon published prior evidence from the literature, which amalgamates previously proposed partial concepts into a new, unifying model, i.e. the gut,brain,skin axis. This concept suggests that modulation of the microbiome by deployment of probiotics can not only greatly reduce stress-induced neurogenic skin inflammation but even affect a very complex cutaneous phenomenon of (mini-) organ transformation, i.e. hair follicle cycling. These observations raise the intriguing prospect that feeding of just the right kind of bacteria can exert profound beneficial effects on skin homoeostasis, skin inflammation, hair growth and peripheral tissue responses to perceived stress. [source] An Examination of Clothing Issues and Physical Limitations in the Product Development ProcessFAMILY & CONSUMER SCIENCES RESEARCH JOURNAL, Issue 1 2010Katherine Carroll The purpose of this study was to explore physical limitations and clothing problems among working women with physical disabilities to determine whether types of physical limitations are linked to specific clothing problems. The sample included 117 working women with a variety of disabilities. Principle Components Factor Analysis and Multiple Regression were used to analyze the data. Three distinct factors emerged to represent clothing problems (called Design, Materials Performance, and Dressing) and four distinct factors emerged to represent physical limitations (called Limbs/Outer Extremities, Central Core/Torso, Central Nervous System, and Intellect, Vision and Hearing). Regression analysis showed that the physical limitations impact each of the three clothing factors. The study extends research by focusing on an underserved market segment and providing the apparel industry with a potential method of addressing the needs of that market. The study also contributes to interdisciplinary research by further developing an Inclusive Design model for apparel product development. [source] Overcoming disciplinary solitude: The archaeology and geology of native copper in Eastern North AmericaGEOARCHAEOLOGY: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 1 2007Mary Ann Levine Although native copper has attracted the scholarly attention of both geologists and archaeologists since the middle of the 19th century, it is only recently that native copper studies have benefited from interdisciplinary research. This history of disciplinary solitude can be traced to the professionalization of the two fields in the early 20th century, an era in which crossdisciplinary communication began to wane. The effects of this phenomena resulted in the development of a model of aboriginal native copper procurement by archaeologists that did not take into account the geological literature, which had long identified numerous,rather than a single,source of native copper in North America. In this article, the author discusses how this disciplinary solitude developed and how it resulted in the creation of a dominant model for native copper procurement that constrained our understanding of aboriginal lifeways for generations. The author also considers how increasing collaboration between geologists and archaeologists since the 1970s has led to the reevaluation of an old model of native copper procurement that has been uncritically accepted by most archaeologists for over a century and a half. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Evaluating local hydrological modelling by temporal gravity observations and a gravimetric three-dimensional modelGEOPHYSICAL JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL, Issue 1 2010M. Naujoks SUMMARY An approach for the evaluation of local hydrological modelling is presented: the deployment of temporal terrestrial gravity measurements and gravimetric 3-D modelling in addition to hydrological point observations. Of particular interest is to what extent such information can be used to improve the understanding of hydrological process dynamics and to evaluate hydrological models. Because temporal gravity data contain integral information about hydrological mass changes they can be considered as a valuable augmentation to traditional hydrological observations. On the other hand, hydrological effects need to be eliminated from high-quality gravity time-series because they interfere with small geodynamic signals. In areas with hilly topography and/or inhomogeneous subsoil, a simple reduction based on hydrological point measurements is usually not sufficient. For such situations, the underlying hydrological processes in the soil and the disaggregated bedrock need to be considered in their spatial and temporal dynamics to allow the development of a more sophisticated reduction. Regarding these issues interdisciplinary research has been carried out in the surroundings of the Geodynamic Observatory Moxa, Germany. At Moxa, hydrologically induced gravity variations of several 10 nm s,2 are observed by the stationarily operating superconducting gravimeter and by spatially distributed and repeated high-precision measurements with transportable relative instruments. In addition, hydrological parameters are monitored which serve as input for a local hydrological catchment model for the area of about 2 km2 around the observatory. From this model, spatial hydrological variations are gained in hourly time steps and included as density changes of the subsoil in a well-constrained gravimetric 3-D model to derive temporal modelled gravity variations. The gravity variations obtained from this combined modelling correspond very well to the observed hydrological gravity changes for both, short period and seasonal signals. From the modelling the amplitude of the impact on gravity of hydrological changes occurring in different distances to the gravimeter location can be inferred. Possible modifications on the local hydrological model are discussed to further improve the quality of the model. Furthermore, a successful reduction of local hydrological effects in the superconducting gravimeter data is developed. After this reduction global seasonal fluctuations are unmasked which are in correspondence to GRACE observations and to global hydrological models. [source] Networking and innovation: a systematic review of the evidenceINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT REVIEWS, Issue 3-4 2004Luke Pittaway Recent work on competitiveness has emphasized the importance of business networking for innovativeness. Until recently, insights into the dynamics of this relationship have been fragmented. This paper presents a systematic review of research linking the networking behaviour of firms with their innovative capacity. We find that the principal benefits of networking as identified in the literature include: risk sharing; obtaining access to new markets and technologies; speeding products to market; pooling complementary skills; safeguarding property rights when complete or contingent contracts are not possible; and acting as a key vehicle for obtaining access to external knowledge. The evidence also illustrates that those firms which do not co-operate and which do not formally or informally exchange knowledge limit their knowledge base long term and ultimately reduce their ability to enter into exchange relationships. At an institutional level, national systems of innovation play an important role in the diffusion of innovations in terms of the way in which they shape networking activity. The paper provides evidence suggesting that network relationships with suppliers, customers and intermediaries such as professional and trade associations are important factors affecting innovation performance and productivity. Where networks fail, it is due to inter-firm conflict, displacement, lack of scale, external disruption and lack of infrastructure. The review identifies several gaps in the literature that need to be filled. For instance, there is a need for further exploration of the relationship between networking and different forms of innovation, such as process and organisational innovation. Similarly, we need better understanding of network dynamics and network configurations, as well as the role of third parties such as professional and trade associations. Our study highlights the need for interdisciplinary research in these areas. [source] Working to Make Interdisciplinarity Work: Investing in Communication and Interpersonal RelationshipsJOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2006Mariella Marzano Abstract In this paper, we apply qualitative methodologies to explore the practice of interdisciplinary research. The UK's Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) Programme aims to advance understanding of the challenges faced by rural areas through funding interdisciplinary research to inform future policy and practice on management choices for the countryside and rural economies. Addressing the challenges faced by rural areas often requires a combination of different perspectives, involving research to address subjects that may lie beyond the skills of individual researchers. An interdisciplinary approach requires the integration of both data/information and the experiences and perspectives of different people (natural/social scientists, local people and policy-makers). We focus here on the processes involved in making interdisciplinarity work, documenting the experiences, perceptions, ideas and concerns of researchers working in interdisciplinary projects (specifically two EU-funded projects but also the first wave of RELU projects). A key finding from this research is that interdisciplinarity requires conscious effort, time and resources for the development of interpersonal relationships to enhance effective communication and thus successful collaboration. [source] Using a historical map as a baseline in a land-cover change study of northeast TanzaniaAFRICAN JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 2009Lowe Börjeson Abstract Vegetation data in an early 20th century map from northern Tanzania are presented and discussed for its potential of expanding the analytical time-frame in studies of land-use and land-cover change. The starting point is that much research on land-use and land-cover change suffers from a time-frame bias, caused by limitations in remote sensing data. At the same time, the use of historical maps as a complementary data-set is rather insignificant. Can information in historical maps be used to extend the baseline in land-use and land-cover change studies? The historical context of the vegetation data is evaluated, and as an illustration of its potential for interdisciplinary research on land-cover and ecosystems change, a section of the map is juxtaposed with a recent pollen record specifically addressing the impact of a ,large infrequent disturbance' (LID) event at the end of the 19th century. It is concluded that the vegetation data in the map are not likely to be reflecting an extreme situation due to the LID event. Finally, the historical vegetation data were visually compared with a national 1995 land-cover data set, illustrating the possibility of using the map data as a baseline in land-cover change studies. [source] A Transaction Structure Approach to Assessing the Dynamics and Impacts of ,Business-to-Business' Electronic CommerceJOURNAL OF COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION, Issue 3 2002Dr Richard Hawkins This paper proposes some ways forward in stimulating and structuring interdisciplinary research on business-to-business electronic commerce. A ,commerce-centered' perspective is proposed that is grounded in concepts of commerce as a complex socio-economic institution. On this basis, a conceptual framework is developed for assessing the dynamics and impacts of electronic commerce in the value chains of products and services. The approach focuses on examining technical change in transaction structures, and how this relates to the evolution of electronically-mediated business relationships in the rapidly developing Internet environment. The approach is oriented towards critical research questions concerning the effects of electronic commerce on the ways various market participants exercise and/or respond to control over the organization and operation of value chains, and the implications for business, the public interest and policy. The practical research possibilities of the transaction structure approach are then discussed as oriented toward a comparative analytical framework. [source] Ecosystem science and human,environment interactions in the Hawaiian archipelagoJOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 3 2006PETER VITOUSEK Summary 1Tansley's ecosystem concept remains a vital framework for ecological research in part because the approach facilitates interdisciplinary analyses of ecological systems. 2Features of the Hawaiian Islands , particularly the nearly orthogonal variation in many of the factors that control variation among ecosystems elsewhere , make the archipelago a useful model system for interdisciplinary research designed to understand fundamental controls on the state and dynamics of ecosystems, and their consequences for human societies. 3Analyses of rain forest sites arrayed on a substrate age gradient from c. 300 years to over 4 million years across the Hawaiian archipelago demonstrate that the sources of calcium and other essential cations shift from > 80% rock-derived in young sites to > 80% derived from marine aerosol on substrates older than 100 000 years. Rock-derived phosphorus is retained longer within ecosystems, but eventually long-distance transport of continental dust from Asia becomes the most important source of phosphorus. 4A biogeochemical feedback from low nutrient availability to efficient resource use by trees to slow decomposition and nutrient regeneration accentuates the geochemically driven pattern of low phosphorus availability and phosphorus limitation to net primary productivity in the oldest site. 5Variations in ecosystem biogeochemistry across the archipelago shaped the development and sustainability of Polynesian agricultural systems in the millennium between their discovery of Hawai'i and contact by Europeans. Irrigated pondfields were largely confined to stream valleys on the older islands, while rain-fed dryland systems occupied a narrow zone of fertile, well-watered soils on the younger islands. 6The ecosystem approach often represents the most appropriate level of organization for analyses of human influences on ecological systems; it can play a central role in the design and analysis of alternative agricultural, industrial and residential systems that could reduce the human footprint on the Earth. [source] Social semantics: altruism, cooperation, mutualism, strong reciprocity and group selectionJOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, Issue 2 2007S. A. WEST Abstract From an evolutionary perspective, social behaviours are those which have fitness consequences for both the individual that performs the behaviour, and another individual. Over the last 43 years, a huge theoretical and empirical literature has developed on this topic. However, progress is often hindered by poor communication between scientists, with different people using the same term to mean different things, or different terms to mean the same thing. This can obscure what is biologically important, and what is not. The potential for such semantic confusion is greatest with interdisciplinary research. Our aim here is to address issues of semantic confusion that have arisen with research on the problem of cooperation. In particular, we: (i) discuss confusion over the terms kin selection, mutualism, mutual benefit, cooperation, altruism, reciprocal altruism, weak altruism, altruistic punishment, strong reciprocity, group selection and direct fitness; (ii) emphasize the need to distinguish between proximate (mechanism) and ultimate (survival value) explanations of behaviours. We draw examples from all areas, but especially recent work on humans and microbes. [source] The Meaning of Home: A Chimerical Concept or a Legal Challenge?JOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY, Issue 4 2002Lorna Fox ,Home' is not an easy concept to pin down. Although the term is instantly familiar, and the physical reality of home is an important and omnipresent feature of our everyday lives, the legal conception of home has received surprisingly little attention. The relative neglect of home is particularly striking, however, in light of the substantial body of research which has been carried out on the subject of home in other disciplines. This article discusses the meanings of home which have evolved from interdisciplinary research. It is argued that this research could provide a starting point for the development of a more clearly articulated socio,legal understanding of the meaning and value of home to occupiers. It is suggested that a legal concept of the meaning of home would be useful, for instance, when considering the conflict of interests between the occupiers of a property ,as a home', and other parties with ,non,home' interests in the property, for example, creditors. This article seeks to identify some of the values of home which might inform a legal concept of home, and so be ,weighed in the balance' on the occupier's side when decisions involving conflicts between home interests and commercial interests are considered. [source] Access as a Motivational Device: Implications for Human Resource ManagementKYKLOS INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, Issue 2 2003Pablo Arocena Summary In this paper we analyse the provision of incentives at work on the basis that the employment relationship is not solely an exchange of work for money. Particularly, in addition to a salary, a job also gives access to a working experience, which determines the potential for employee's human capital acquisition and for his social and professional recognition. Accordingly, we argue that the level of access defines the employee's opportunities for satisfying his self-actualisation and achievement needs. Further, given that the firm has the ability to regulate access by way of a number of organisational decisions, access becomes a powerful mechanism to activate the worker's internal motivation. In this respect, the main purpose of this paper is to study the effect of access and intrinsic motivation on employee's performance and job design. To that effect, we analyse the economic consequences of our arguments on access through a model of agency enriched with a number of psychological and organisational considerations. Our results and conclusions are consistent with much of the interdisciplinary research on the subject, as well as with the evidence emerging from the real business practice. They also provide a number of practical implications for personnel policies. First, in order to activate the individual's internal motivation, the job must reach a minimum value. Second, the positive effect of the employee's intrinsic motivation on effort decreases with the magnitude of monetary incentives. Third, the efficiency gains generated by the extension of job access increase with the employee's level of perceived risk. Finally, the costs of selection are a consequence of granting access. [source] Interdisciplinary research: The NCUR-Lancy awardsNEW DIRECTIONS FOR TEACHING & LEARNING, Issue 93 2003David F. Lancy A program was designed to promote interdisciplinary research by undergraduates during the summer. Lessons learned from the first four years of this initiative are described. [source] Measuring Mental Health Following Traumatization: Psychometric Analysis of the Kuwait Raha Scale Using a Random National Household Data SetAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY, Issue 2 2009Paula Chapman PhD The authors report on the psychometric properties of the Kuwait Raha Scale (KRS), a measure developed to assess well-being among Kuwaitis. Specific aims of the study were to (a) evaluate competing models of the latent structure of the KRS using exploratory factor analysis and identify the best model, (b) compare the model developed from a nationally representative sample with the initial model reported with Kuwaiti undergraduate students, and (c) assess the discriminant validity of the KRS with the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). Factor analysis suggested that a 5-factor model best suited the data, whereas the development of the KRS indicated a 4-factor model. Differences in the latent structure found between the current study and the original examination of the KRS factor structure may be attributed to the demographics of the samples used in the 2 studies. Whereas the earlier study used a sample of undergraduate college students, the current study acquired a nationally representative sample of the Kuwaiti population. Discriminant validity of the KRS with the GHQ indicated that the KRS and the GHQ measure different dimensions of health. Implications for theory and research are discussed, with particular attention to overcoming the challenges confronting the meaning and measurement of well-being in developing countries and stimulating interdisciplinary research. [source] Forty-five years in climatology,a personal odysseyTHE CANADIAN GEOGRAPHER/LE GEOGRAPHE CANADIEN, Issue 1 2008WAYNE R. ROUSE This article presents a personal perspective on an academic and research vocation spanning a period of over 45 years. It starts with my early involvement in geography and climatology and terminates with my recent experience in a large interdisciplinary research venture. The presentation highlights, with specific examples, the importance of mentors. Also emphasized is the indispensable input of colleagues and graduate students to successful research endeavours. Most of my career has been centred on McMaster University, and I naturally draw on my experiences there. There have been great changes in the research world over the past few decades. Although the number of faculty and graduate students at McMaster remained relatively constant, the research output per person more than doubled. This is attributed in large part to the accelerating technological advancements in our ability to measure and our ability to process and manipulate data. In the environmental sciences, this has revolutionized the spatial and temporal scope of the scientific questions that can be addressed. Such major changes have stimulated a marked trend towards interdisciplinary research that has evolved from mainly wishful talking to active pursuit in a search to understand complex environmental interactions. Important among these is gaining insights into the processes and feedbacks driving climate change, whether natural or anthropologically induced. Equally important is gaining an understanding of the potential impacts resulting from climate change. My perception of my successes, failures and near misses divides chronologically into three periods that cover research in the early years, research in the central subarctic and research in the Mackenzie River Basin. Quarante-cinq ans en climatologie , une odyssée personnelle Cet article propose un regard personnel sur une carrière universitaire et en recherche échelonnée sur plus de 45 ans, de mes premières contributions à la géographie et la climatologie à mes expériences actuelles au sein d'un projet de recherche interdisciplinaire. L'importance du rôle des mentors est illustrée par des exemples. Le concours indispensable apporté par les collègues et les étudiants des cycles supérieurs au succès des démarches de recherche est également souligné. La majeure partie de mes expériences professionnelles s'est déroulée à l'université McMaster et c'est pourquoi il est naturel pour moi d'y faire référence. De grands changements ont bouleversé le monde de la recherche depuis quelques décennies. Malgré le fait que le nombre de professeurs et d'étudiants des cycles supérieurs soit demeuré relativement stable, la publication de résultats de recherche par personne a plus que doublé. Ceci est attribuable en grande partie au développement rapide des technologies qui nous permettent d'évaluer, de traiter et de manipuler les données. Nous assistons donc à une révolution dans le domaine des sciences environnementales au niveau des dimensions spatiales et temporelles des questions scientifiques que nous pouvons aborder. Ces changements d'envergure alimentent une tendance nette en faveur de la recherche interdisciplinaire qui a évolué d'un v,u pieux à une entreprise active visant à comprendre les interactions environnementales d'un haut niveau de complexité. Il est essentiel de mieux prendre conscience des processus et rétroactions qui interviennent dans les changements climatiques naturels ou d'origine anthropiques. Il est aussi très important de mieux comprendre les effets induits par les changements climatiques. Ma manière de percevoir mes réussites, échecs et quasi-succès se divise chronologiquement en trois époques: les recherches durant les premières années, les recherches menées dans le subarctique, et les recherches sur le bassin du fleuve Mackenzie. [source] Architecture as a Dissident Practice: An Interview with Diller Scofidio + RenfroARCHITECTURAL DESIGN, Issue 1 2009Olympia Kazi Abstract For three decades architect Liz Diller and artist Ricardo Scofidio have been collaborating on projects that test the boundaries between art and architecture. They have done more than any other practice to champion interdisciplinary research and to advocate architecture as a wider form of cultural production. Olympia Kazi went to talk to Liz Diller to ask her if she thinks theory could really be dead, or merely in a ,lull'. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Interdisciplinary research: framing and reframingAREA, Issue 4 2009Elizabeth Oughton Framing encompasses the processes of identifying and bounding the area of research and based on our own experiences as academics we have found significant differences in the ways that researchers establish and frame a disciplinary, compared to an interdisciplinary, research project. In this paper we have attempted to contribute to the development of the conceptual framework underpinning interdisciplinary research through analysis of interviews with a number of academics already working in an interdisciplinary manner. Successful projects are able to identify and support the processes that allow the communication and negotiation that is necessary, not just for the initial framing of a research funding proposal but to be able to maintain negotiation. Self awareness and continual reflexivity and a willingness to be questioned by others are essential to this process. [source] The emergence of interdisciplinary knowledge in problem-focused researchAREA, Issue 4 2009Anna Wesselink In this paper I explore the specific properties associated with the new knowledge produced by inter- or transdisciplinary research. Using my analysis of a land use planning study in the Meuse valley in The Netherlands, I argue that the process of knowledge integration requires the exercise of value judgement and that the outcomes are emergent. I also show that the selection of a boundary object as objective facilitates interdisciplinary research because it is shared amongst disciplines and because it necessitates judgement in its implementation. [source] Synthesis: Sharing Ecological Knowledge,The Way ForwardBIOTROPICA, Issue 5 2009Julia Born ABSTRACT Knowledge sharing between scientists and nonscientist stakeholders is necessary to implement research findings in an appropriate and effective manner within the context of the environment and conservation sectors. Yet scientific ecological knowledge is rarely shared and transferred effectively. This special section has addressed a number of opportunities and barriers to the improvement of scientific communication and knowledge transfer with respect to environmental management in tropical settings. A main challenge is seen in creating a research ,impact-metric' system, which is fundamental to foster knowledge sharing with institutional research incentives. Partnering with local institutions and research centers as well as participatory research methods will promote effective knowledge exchange. Research relevance and impact will be improved by matching interdisciplinary research with local capacity building and support through research activities. We conclude that training the next generation of tropical biologists through more effective knowledge sharing will be crucial to the long term success of scientifically based environmental management in tropical regions. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||