Support for increased capacity for cross-cutting research collaborations

The Centre for Integrated Research on Culture and Society (CIRCUS) was launched in 2019, following several years of development work at the Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences, to stimulate and support cross-cutting research. From 1 January 2024, CIRCUS has been given an expanded mission to strengthen the development of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research collaborations across the breath of Uppsala University.

The new instructions state that the “The purpose of CIRCUS is to strengthen inter- and multidisciplinary research collaborations across subject, faculty and disciplinary domain lines at Uppsala University. CIRCUS is based on research in the humanities and social sciences and develops research collaborations that span the entire breadth of research at Uppsala University.”

Gathering knowledge

“We are open to new influences and needs. We have started meeting with researchers and research directors from Science and Technology and Medicine and Pharmacy to gather knowledge and find out both what we can learn from them and how we can contribute,” explains Claes-Fredrik Helgesson, Director of CIRCUS.

There is also interest from those parts of the University. At the latest CIRCUS summer school on interdisciplinarity held in August, half of the 20 participants came from Science and Technology and Medicine and Pharmacy. The overall aim is to establish long-term learning processes to strengthen the development of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research collaborations at the University.

In this context, it may be useful to try to clarify the concepts of interdisciplinarity and multidisciplinarity.

“There is a scholarly debate about these and other terms, but there remains a reasonably stable nomenclature in which interdisciplinarity stands for a much higher degree of knowledge integration between disciplines than multidisciplinarity.

Furthemore, if there is a high degree of integration between research disciplines and there are significant elements of collaboration with society outside academia, the term ‘transdisciplinarity’ is used in English. So far, no good equivalent concept has been established in Swedish.”

CIRCUS can facilitate interaction

“The terms we use and how we begin a collaboration play a role; there is research showing this. The fusion of different research disciplines is influenced by the format of the collaboration and affects both the outcome and direction of the research project.  In the worst case scenario, if participants don’t reflect beforehand, the interaction between discoplines can become a long journey to establishing an order of status.

When a researcher collaborates on a research subject, many aspects are established that do not need to be reflected upon or discussed.

“But when bridging the gap between research disciplines, we need to discuss how that interaction can provide new knowledge where the sum is greater than the parts. There are technologies, concepts and methods that facilitate that interaction. These are quite small things that can make these interactions more effective. At CIRCUS, we can help you think about how to organise the interactions to make it easier for researchers to get what they want out of their meetings and collaboration.

Increased capacity and reduced risk

CIRCUS works in different areas with the aim of strengthening the development of inter- and multidisciplinary research collaborations. One area is to strengthen the capacity of individuals and organisations to engage in various cross-cutting research collaborations. As part of CIRCUS’ new university-wide approach, the individual and organisational capacity-building activities are open to researchers from across the University.

“These efforts hone both the individual’s and the organisation’s ability to develop successful projects.”

Helgesson thinks that pursuing new avenues of research always involves risks.

“Unfortunately, the governance systems we have for research in Sweden and around the world do not always encourage risk-taking – either for the researcher or the organisation. And this is where CIRCUS has a role to play in strengthening our ability to combine different research disciplines in new ways. CIRCUS can contribute by lowering risk in cross-cutting collaborations and increasing the chances of successful collaborations and research projects.”

Anders Berndt