READ - CIRCUS research network

READ - Research and Education Across Disciplines

Interdisciplinarity is now a familiar term in research and higher education, but its meanings, practices and values have shifted across time and space. Calls for research and education across disciplinary boundaries have been linked to changing expectations about knowledge, societal relevance, innovation and the organisation of academic work. This raises questions about how inter- and multidisciplinary research and education are defined, valued and practised. How is work across disciplinary boundaries carried out? What opportunities, tensions, effects and conflicts does it create? And how are understandings and practices of interdisciplinarity shaped in academia and society?

Drawing on different theoretical, methodological and disciplinary perspectives, READ provides a setting for sustained conversation, knowledge exchange and collaborative inquiry into the conditions, histories and futures of interdisciplinarity. This includes questions of research policy, higher education, collaborative knowledge production, the organisation of knowledge, and the changing conditions of academic work. While based at Uppsala University, READ aims to foster conversations and collaborations across universities, disciplines and national contexts.