Collaborative Research on Sustainability: Myths and Conundrums of Interdisciplinary Departments
Date
2009
Authors
Sherren, Kate
Klovdahl, Alden S
Butler, Linda
Dovers, Stephen
Robin, Libby
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
International Consortium for the Advancement of Academic Publishing
Abstract
Establishing interdisciplinary academic departments has been a common response to the challenge of addressing complex problems. However, the assumptions that guide the formation of such departments are rarely questioned. Additionally, the designers and managers of interdisciplinary academic departments in any field of endeavour struggle to set an organisational climate appropriate to the diversity of their members. This article presents a preliminary analysis of collaborative dynamics within two interdisciplinary university departments in Australia focused on sustainability. Social network diagrams and metrics of coauthorship and cosupervision are analysed qualitatively. A "vicarious interdisciplinarity" was identified among key academics working narrowly in order to earn the resources that allow them to support others working interdisciplinarily. Those supported in this way appear to benefit from the esteem and nonredundant collaborative connections their mentors provide via this strategy, but they experience uncertainty about their own career opportunities in similar settings. This article thus unearths a conundrum of succession for interdisciplinary academic environments, and suggests that simple colocation of diverse academic stars is an inadequate strategy to achieve effective intradepartmental collaboration.
Description
Keywords
Keywords: Coauthorship; Collaboration; Cosupervision; Research training; Social networks; Sustainability science
Citation
Collections
Source
Journal of Research Practice
Type
Journal article
Book Title
Entity type
Access Statement
License Rights
DOI
Restricted until
2037-12-31
Downloads
File
Description
Published version