Interdisciplinary Research Project Research Articles

A curricular model to train doctoral students in interdisciplinary research at the food-energy-water nexus

Food, energy and water (FEW) systems are inextricably linked, and thus, solutions to FEW nexus challenges, including water and food insecurity, require an interconnected science and policy approach framed in systems thinking. To drive these solutions, we developed an interdisciplinary, experiential graduate education program focused on innovations at the FEW nexus. As part of our program, PhD students complete a two-course sequence: (1) an experiential introduction to innovations at the FEW nexus and (2) a data practicum. The two courses are linked through an interdisciplinary FEW systems research project that begins during the first course and is completed at the end of the second course. Project deliverables include research manuscripts, grant proposals, policy memos, and outreach materials. Topics addressed in these projects include building electrification to reduce reliance on fossil fuels for heating, agrivoltaic farming to combat FEW vulnerabilities in the southwestern United States, assessment of food choices to influence sustainable dining practices, and understanding the complexities of FEW nexus research and training at the university level. Evaluation data were generated from our first three student cohorts (n = 33 students) using a mixed method, multi-informant evaluation approach, including the administration of an adapted version of a validated pre-post-survey to collect baseline and end-of-semester data. The survey assessed student confidence in the following example areas: communication, collaboration, and interdisciplinary research skills. Overall, students reported confidence growth in utilizing interdisciplinary research methods (e.g., synthesize the approaches and tools from multiple disciplines to evaluate and address a research problem), collaborating with range of professionals and communicating their research results to diverse audience. The growth in confidence in the surveyed areas aligned with the learning objectives for the two-course sequence, and the interdisciplinary project experience was continually improved based on student feedback. This two-course sequence represents one successful approach for educators to rethink the traditional siloed approach of training doctoral students working at the FEW nexus.

Navigating the labyrinth of RI through a practical application — A case study in a cross-disciplinary research project

Responsible Innovation (RI) aims to enable research and innovation to take a more systematic approach to anticipating potential risks and consequences of planned research/innovative outputs. The Anticipation, Reflection, Engagement and Action (AREA) framework provides a flexible mechanism for organisations and researchers to align research and innovation with societal values, needs and challenges. However, its actual application may prove challenging for practitioners. In this paper, we describe how the AREA framework has been embedded in an interdisciplinary research project in the UK over the period of 2019–2021 through dedicated monthly RI workshops. To gain insights from this practice, we have collected qualitative data from discussions throughout the project and performed a systematic analysis of the logging practice itself. We discuss benefits and challenges associated with embedding an RI framework within an interdisciplinary research team, and present recommendations for future adoption of the AREA framework in a cross-disciplinary research setting.

Depth of the self: Implicit motives and human flourishing. Introduction to the special section

This special section is the outcome of a conference organized in Würzburg, as part of the interdisciplinary research project Motivational and Volitional Processes of Human Integration: Philosophical and Psychological Approaches to Human Flourishing (2018–2021). The goal of the project was to connect (philosophical) perspectives on flourishing to empirical research that suggests that implicit motives play an important role in who we are and what we do and decide. One main aim was to find a middle ground between two extremes that conceptualize implicit motives either as recalcitrant states that hamper flourishing, or as reflecting who we really are, much more than our explicit motives. We propose that both implicit and explicit motives are crucial to flourishing. The articles in this special section bring up other important questions as well. First of all, what is the role of the external world? It seems to be crucial for being a self, but it may also hamper flourishing. And second, how should the relationship between the self as basic subjectivity, and the self with certain values, desires, and intentions be understood?

In] Searching Our Mothers’ Archives

Black feminist scholarship provokes us to reimagine archives in creative and speculative ways and echoes everyday Black communities’ deep investment in memory that rejects the idea of African people as a people without history. I enter this discourse through Umi’s Archive is an interdisciplinary and multimedia research project that draws on my family archive to engage everyday Black women’s thought to investigate key questions of archives and power. In this article, I describe my experience curating, preserving, and presenting the archive and how that became a process of de-disciplining myself, turning to intimacy and mourning to learn from Black women by searching in my Umi’s archive.

Minerva in Colours: First Results on a Polychrome Roman Sculpture from Carnuntum (Pannonia)

This paper presents the first results of a current interdisciplinary research project on the polychromy of Roman provincial stone artefacts in selected areas of the Danubian provinces (PolychroMon). The statuary group of Minerva and the Genius immunium from Carnuntum (Archaeological Museum Carnuntinum inv. CAR-S-48) is dated to the second half of the second century AD and still retains traces of the original polychromy. The aim was to focus on non-invasive techniques and to employ micro-invasive methods for necessary cross-checking and gaining information otherwise not accessible. The investigation revealed that paint was applied on a layer of white lime wash. Additionally, the object shows several traces of Egyptian blue, which was mainly detected in Minerva’s and the Genius’ clothes. Other pigments whose traces were found on the sculpture include green earth, yellow and red ochre, as well as red lead and carbon black. Microscopic analysis confirms the presence of modern-age compounds as well (barium sulphate and zinc oxide) used for modern retouches. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry revealed the use of egg as the major proteinaceous binding medium in the red lead polychromy.

The DynaDeep observatory – a unique approach to study high-energy subterranean estuaries

Subterranean estuaries are connective zones between inland aquifers and the open sea where terrestrial freshwater and circulating seawater mix and undergo major biogeochemical changes. They are biogeochemical reactors that modify groundwater chemistry prior to discharge into the sea. We propose that subterranean estuaries of high-energy beaches are particularly dynamic environments, where the effect of the dynamic boundary conditions propagates tens of meters into the subsurface, leading to strong spatio-temporal variability of geochemical conditions. We hypothesize that they form a unique habitat with an adapted microbial community unlike other typically more stable subsurface environments. So far, however, studies concerning subterranean estuaries of high-energy beaches have been rare and therefore their functioning, and their importance for coastal ecosystems, as well as for carbon, nutrient and trace element cycling, is little understood. We are addressing this knowledge gap within the interdisciplinary research project DynaDeep by studying the combined effect of surface (hydro- and morphodynamics) on subsurface processes (groundwater flow and transport, biogeochemical reactions, microbiology). A unique subterranean estuary observatory was established on the northern beach of the island of Spiekeroog facing the North Sea, serving as an exemplary high-energy research site and model system. It consists of fixed and permanent infrastructure such as a pole with measuring devices, multi-level groundwater wells and an electrode chain. This forms the base for autonomous measurements, regular repeated sampling, interdisciplinary field campaigns and experimental work, all of which are integrated via mathematical modelling to understand and quantify the functioning of the biogeochemical reactor. First results show that the DynaDeep observatory is collecting the intended spatially and temporally resolved morphological, sedimentological and biogeochemical data. Samples and data are further processed ex-situ and combined with experiments and modelling. Ultimately, DynaDeep aims at elucidating the global relevance of these common but overlooked environments.

Precarization in the Name of Freedom

This article is written within the frame of the interdisciplinary research project “Expansion and Diversity: Digitally Mapping and Exploring Independent Performance in Gothenburg 1965–2000”. It contributes to the critical ambition of producing an inclusive historiography of local independent performing arts groups by exploring the municipal distribution of cultural grants and the material conditions in the field. Based on interviews with nine well-known members of early independent performing arts groups in Gothenburg, complemented with archived funding applications and news articles, the article uses a cultural studies perspective to elaborate on how artistic freedom was negotiated in relation to dependence on public funding.

Healing Soundscapes im Krankenhaus

Hospitals increasingly becoming a focus of public interest as places of health promotion. With regard to a conducive acoustic environment design, music therapists can work closely with other professional groups to ensure that appropriate quality criteria and measures are developed. With reference to current research, the article derives the need to improve the aesthetics of hospital environments and positions the topic of research in the field of healing environments. It then introduces the concepts and approaches of Soundscape, Atmosphere, Environmental Music Therapy and Ambient Music, which essentially shape the interdisciplinary teaching and research project Healing Soundscapes. Healing Soundscapes aim to develop Musical Soundscape Interventions for specific hospital areas that positively affect the atmosphere. In the process, computer-aided generative musical compositions are played over loudspeakers. The concept of Healing Soundscapes is discussed, previous research is summarised and its further development is outlined.

Imagining Decent Work towards a Green Future in a Former Forest Village of the City of Istanbul

This paper addresses issues pertaining to the future of work and sustainability through the lens of a case study of ecological deterioration and how it destroys and creates green jobs in a forest village of Istanbul. As elsewhere in major urban centres of developing countries, the hyper-expansion of city regions due to authoritarian developmentalism fosters the state-led construction sector in Turkey. Growth-driven economic policies continue to have adverse effects on the environment, resulting in deforestation among an array of ecological damage. Based on a qualitative analysis of oral history interviews and observations informed by a larger interdisciplinary research project, we observe resilience in the forest village under scrutiny as certain types of work are abandoned, and new forms are created by adaptation to the ecological and social conditions. The perceptions of changing conditions by locals vary across existing ethnic, gender, and class hierarchies in the local community. Moreover, our findings indicate that the types of work available in the village prior to urban transformation were not all decent or green. In face of ongoing ecological deterioration in a (formerly) forest community, participatory micro-initiatives, and grassroots, utilizing local community projects emerge that nevertheless pursue a green and just transition. We focus on one such initiative, the Community Fungi platform, to demonstrate the possibility of working towards a collective imagination of a green future inspired by past but unforgotten sustainable communal practices, in the context of the forest village under scrutiny in this paper.

Importance of interdisciplinarity in modern oncology: results of a national intergroup survey of the Young Oncologists United (YOU).

Modern, personalized treatment concepts in oncology require an interdisciplinary and multiprofessional collaboration. In addition to its relevance in patient care, interdisciplinary collaboration is also becoming increasingly important in clinical research as well as medical education and resident training in oncology. Between November 2021 and March 2022, an online survey was conducted among German early career research groups, represented by Young Oncologists United (YOU). The aim was to identify the status and need for interdisciplinarity at clinic, educational, and research levels. A total of 294 participants completed the questionnaire in full. 90.7% of the respondents fully or predominantly agreed with the statement that interdisciplinary work plays a major role in their daily clinical work. 78.9% wished for more interdisciplinary collaboration. Of the 49.7% of participants who have never participated in an interdisciplinary research project, 80.1% said they would like to participate in such a study project in the future. Lack of time resources, too much organizational effort, and possible political conflicts between institutions were identified as factors that make practical implementation difficult. 74.1% declared their willingness to become active in an oncology early career research group. Interdisciplinary collaboration has become increasingly important in oncology. Networks that span different disciplines could help to promote interdisciplinary research projects among young scientists and improve exchange in professional practice and education with the implication of improved patient care.

The future of critical interdisciplinary accounting research: Performative ontology and critical interventionist research

The matter of care in this thought piece is the future of the critical interdisciplinary accounting research (IPA) project. On the one hand, the need for critical IPA research is arguably increasing today, not least due to the very serious, complex and ‘wicked’ global problems – like climate change, decreasing biodiversity, over-population, global inequality and COVID-19. On the other hand, however, critical IPA research faces some severe challenges, such as the dominance of mono-disciplinary normal science, limitations of getting access to organisations, and a certain academic insularity. To discuss possibilities for furthering critical IPA research, we start from approaches to critical performativity and suggest to complement them with ideas from two very different research approaches. First, we suggest that the concept of performative ontology and the related diverse economies approach, introduced by Gibson-Graham (2008), goes a step further than previous conceptualizations of critical performativity in methodological as well as practical terms. Secondly, we argue that employing some of the inherent ideas and learning points of interventionist research in conjunction with performative ontology can inspire new ways of conducting critical IPA research that matters.

Noise Dosimetries during Active Transport in Montevideo, Uruguay: Evaluation of Potential Influencing Factors from Experimental Data

This article presents a case study related to environmental noise exposure of cyclists in Montevideo (Uruguay), as a part of a wider interdisciplinary research project. The main objective of this study was to find the most important parameters related to cyclists’ noise exposure in the city. Two monitoring routes were defined, and their traffic flows were characterized. After that, noise dosimetries were carried out along the monitoring routes, determining a set of relevant parameters for each measurement: LAeq, LAF,10, LAF,90, noise climate (LAF,10–LAF,90), kurtosis, occupational and environmental noise doses, exceedance time for each dose, and traffic flow by categories met during cycling. A total of 66 noise dosimetries were carried out: 34 on Route N°1 and 32 on Route N°2. LAeq was lower in Route N°1. With a basis in multivariate tests, the main variables related to noise exposure of cyclists were found to be the following: kurtosis; noise climate; total traffic; and number of trucks met during the trip. Noise doses were lower on Route N°1, as well as exceedance times, presenting this route with lower traffic flow and fewer trucks but narrower streets and higher street aspect ratio values. Better knowledge in terms of selecting healthier places for cycling routes was obtained: traffic flow—and not urban geometric characteristics—was found to be the main urban determinant of high noise doses.

Interdisciplinary sport injury research and the integration of qualitative and quantitative data

BackgroundTo understand and prevent sport injuries, scholars have employed different scientific approaches and research methods. Traditionally, this research has been monodisciplinary, relying on one subdiscipline of sport science and applying qualitative or quantitative research methods. Recently, scholars have argued that traditional approaches fail to address contextual components of sport and the nonlinear interactions between different aspects in and around the athlete, and, as a way forward, called for alternative approaches to sport injury research. Discussion of alternative approaches are today taking place, however, practical examples that demonstrate what such approaches entails are rare. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to draw on an interdisciplinary research approach to (1) outline an interdisciplinary case analysis procedure (ICAP); and (2) provide an example for future interdisciplinary sport injury research.MethodsWe adopt an established definition and application of interdisciplinary research to develop and pilot the ICAP for interdisciplinary sport injury teams aiming to integrate qualitative and quantitative sport injury data. The development and piloting of ICAP was possible by drawing on work conducted in the interdisciplinary research project “Injury-free children and adolescents: Towards better practice in Swedish football” (the FIT project).ResultsThe ICAP guides interdisciplinary sport injury teams through three stages: 1. Create a more comprehensive understanding of sport injury aetiology by drawing on existing knowledge from multiple scientific perspectives; 2. Collate analysed qualitative and quantitative sport injury data into a multilevel data catalogue; and 3. Engage in an integrated discussion of the collated data in the interdisciplinary research team.ConclusionThe ICAP is a practical example of how an interdisciplinary team of sport injury scholars can approach the complex problem of sport injury aetiology and work to integrate qualitative and quantitative data through three stages. The ICAP is a step towards overcoming the obstacles of integrating qualitative and quantitative methods and data that scholars have identified.

Music therapy and neonatal pain management: An interview with Dr Alexandra Ullsten.

Alexandra Ullsten, PhD, works as a music and art therapist, and postdoctoral researcher at the Central Hospital in Karlstad, Region Värmland, Sweden. She is affiliated researcher to the School of Health Sciences, Örebro University, Sweden. In 2010, Dr Ullsten pioneered the implementation of neonatal music therapy in Swedish healthcare. The Central Hospital Karlstad neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) became the first hospital and NICU in the Nordic countries to offer a family-centred music therapy programme for hospitalised infants and their parents. Alexandra’s research area concerns family-centred music therapy during painful procedures in neonatal care focusing on parent-delivered pain management such as parental infant-directed singing. She is one of the “grandparents” of Rhythm, Breath, Lullaby NICU Music Therapy (RBL) and a member of the international research network, Pain in Early Life (PEARL). She is the principal investigator of the interdisciplinary multi-centre research project, “Parents as pain management in Swedish neonatal care – SWEpap”. Dr Ullsten graciously agreed to partake in an interview and provide an insight into her research and the role music can play as affective support for infants and their parents during painful procedures in the NICU.

Mundanity, fascination and threat: Interrogating responses to publicly engaged research in toilet, trans and disability studies amid a ‘culture war’

Toilets are political spaces: inadequate toilet access means limited access to wider space and community. Between 2015 and 2018 I led a series of interdisciplinary research projects collectively known as Around the Toilet ( http://aroundthetoilet.com ), which centred the experiences of trans, queer and disabled people to explore what makes a safe and accessible toilet space. The research sought to consolidate commitments to feminist, queer, trans and disability politics. In this article, I interrogate the repercussions of doing work at these political intersections by focusing not so much on the research findings themselves, but on the ways in which the project has been responded to within a context which is anti-expert, anti-‘woke’ and one of perceived scarcity. I reflect on my experiences as a trans person, leading a public-facing research project which centres trans lives, within a context of increasing trans hostility. I will show how Around the Toilet has at once been understood as too mundane (a waste of taxpayers’ money; a humorous thing to be researching); a fascination (a good journalistic ‘hook’; focus on particular aspects of the work, whilst ignoring others); and a threat to social order. I argue that – during a time where ‘impact’ is valued and academics are expected to be ‘public-facing’ – universities need to recognise harms that can come from this, and resource the labour that it takes to mitigate these harms (if the risk is deemed worth taking). I also outline ways in which universities and those with varying degrees of institutional power can help to make the academy a more sustainable place to work for those targeted in current culture wars.

Facilitating epistemic fluency of undergraduate students during the interdisciplinary research process

IntroductionIn this article we show how students share knowledge when integrating disciplinary insights in an interdisciplinary research project. More specifically, this research looks at how students communicate to create a shared mental model during moderated sessions with use of CoNavigator as an interdisciplinary collaboration tool or Miro as an online mind map tool. The study focuses on the interdisciplinary capstone of the Liberal Arts and Sciences bachelor program at Utrecht University (LAS), where students collaborate in multidisciplinary groups by going through the interdisciplinary research process (IRP).This process asks students to define an interdisciplinary research question, to define disciplinary insights and combine each other’s disciplinary insights to create a more comprehensive understanding of their research question. The integration of disciplinary insights requires working with different perspectives and acknowledging uncertainty, thereby requiring epistemic fluency and higher modes of knowledge. This research looks at how a structured session with CoNavigator or Miro can help students use these processes when integrating insights.MethodsSeven groups participated in this research, with whom we moderated a session using either CoNavigator or Miro at the start of the integration phase with the purpose of sharing disciplinary insights and finding common ground. We observed each group, looking at communication related to construction, constructive conflict and co-construction. In addition, we looked at evaluation of the tool immediately after the session and the assessment of the integration chapter of all groups.ResultsWe found that each phase of the moderated session elicited different responses in terms of constructive conflict and co-construction, thereby helping students to actively work with different ways of knowing and to define and connect disciplinary differences. In their communication, students show examples of epistemic fluency and higher modes of knowledge, although this did not directly translate into a better assessment of their integration chapter.DiscussionThese results show that discussing disciplinary differences and finding common ground through a session with CoNavigator or Miro gives students a structured way to start with their interdisciplinary integration. We argue that LAS-students exhibit epistemic fluency when working with the tools, but also develop this throughout the session. It appears that the epistemic fluency students already possess prior to the IRP can be further developed by the epistemic fluency expressed by teammates during the tool session. The practice and development of epistemic fluency will always involve uncertainties, but facilitating interdisciplinary integration in this way is valuable as it provides an opportunity to work with these uncertainties and offer students space to speak and integrate freely.

Data by design: Shaping data-producing subjectivities through self-tracking

Recent research into self-tracking devices challenges dominant understandings that such technologies provide wearers with “mechanical objectivity” over their monitoring of their bodies, instead highlighting how the so-called “objectivity” is situated within broader social contexts. In this article we explore the social phenomena arising from the introduction of multiple sensor technologies (activity trackers, productivity monitoring software, and video cameras) in Hong Kong secondary school classrooms within the context of an interdisciplinary research project on digital citizenship. Using participant observation of social interactions between the school students and the research team amidst the implementation of self-tracking technologies in the classroom, our study documents the negotiations surrounding the generation of self-tracking data. It shows how shortcomings in self-tracking data produced call into question persistent expectations of objectivity attached to self-tracking devices, alongside hopes that their use would engender specific forms of engagement with data amongst students. In response, we propose the concept of “data producing subjectivities” as a complement to the existing concept of “situated objectivity.” Taken together, these concepts could contribute to scholarship beyond the realm of self-tracking, providing ways to more fully account for the co-constitutive nature of the production of data and personhood in the contemporary information era.

Training Researchers in the Field of Religion, Spirituality, and Health: Experiences from a Workshop in the United States and Recommendations for Future Workshop Curricula.

Although a substantial amount of research has been conducted in the field of religion, spirituality, and health, much still needs to be done. Training of researchers to conduct studies in the field of religion, spirituality, and health is essential for continued academic and methodological rigor. Such training should be globally oriented to ensure both representation and evidence from non-western cultures which is currently lacking. While little attention is given to this area in mainstream contemporary academic curricula, some researchers in the field have provided exceptional leadership in designing programs to train future researchers. In this commentary, the authors who participated in one such training program at Duke University, offer their insights based on a qualitative descriptive analysis of survey responses from a sample of participants. These insights relate to participants' perceptions of the most valuable experiences from a workshop on religion, spirituality, and health, and include recommendations for future content in training programs in this field. The multicultural aspect of the program with researchers, clinicians, and other professionals from 17 different countries was the most enriching aspect of the workshop. One of the key recommendations for future training efforts is to dedicate workshop time for participants to work collaboratively in the design and plan for international and interdisciplinary research projects with guidance from faculty.Please confirm if the author names are presented accurately and in the correct sequence (given name, middle name/initial, family name). Author 1 Given name: [Tobias Anker] Last name [Stripp]. Also, kindly confirm the details in the metadata are correct.They are correct.

Quo Vadis Humanity? A View of Some Current Global Security Threats and Challenges

Human society is constantly changing and evolving. It changes and develops as a whole; just as individual areas of society change and develop, too. As the new millennium began to unfold, one of the most dynamically changing and developing areas of human society is the area of security. It was transformed in a significant way after the end of the Cold War and the end of the bipolar division of the world, when there were fundamental changes in the global and regional security environment. It is also very significantly influenced by increasingly deepening globalization, which brings not only many positives, but also many negatives, which appear mainly in the form of new asymmetric security threats and challenges. That is also why the authors in their article, using relevant methods of interdisciplinary scientific research, deal with selected significant global security threats and challenges that pose a danger to the entire human society.

Reimagining Pigs – A Multispecies, Ecofeminist Research Method

ABSTRACT Food production is an example of inter- and intra-action between different species and abiotic actors. Yet, capitalism-driven food system is increasingly wreaking havoc on natural ecosystems and the species inhabiting them, including humans. Industrial farming is one such example. This article is inspired by ecofeminist thinking and views industrial pig farming through a multispecies lens using design and visual art methodologies. We believe that ecofeminism is prefigurative, shining brightly towards ‘a future of multispecies flourishing and the ultimate goal of planetary survival’ (Power 2020, viii). In such a future, human and more-than-human entanglements are not grounded in exploitation and extraction but instead are predicated on kinship and response-ability (Haraway 2016). Presented as a visual essay, the article draws on our interdisciplinary research project Re: Pig and the zine made as part of it. We consider how Re: Pig as an ecofeminist, interdisciplinary method may offer the opportunities for the emergence of more hopeful narratives. In these narratives, human and more-than-human might find alternative ways to thrive together in what seems to be a time of decline, undoing the relations of domination that subordinate more-than-human lives to human interests. This resonates with the idea of creating care-centred and justice-oriented feminist futures.