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Being an Interdisciplinary Academic

How Institutions Shape University Careers

  • Book
  • © 2019

Overview

Authors:
  1. Catherine Lyall

    1. School of Social and Political Science, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

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  • Emphasises the importance of interdisciplinarity in academia
  • Reveals misunderstandings held about the nature of interdisciplinary knowledge
  • Identifies how researchers can embed interdisciplinarity in their own career trajectory

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About this book

This book highlights the importance of interdisciplinarity in the academic landscape, and examines how it is understood in the context of the modern university. While interdisciplinarity is encouraged by research funders, academics themselves receive mixed messages about how, when and whether to follow this route. Building upon a series of career history interviews with established interdisciplinary researchers, the author reveals fundamental misunderstandings about the nature of interdisciplinary knowledge, how this is shared, and the skills these researchers bring. The book addresses these issues on both a personal and systemic level, identifying how a resilient researcher can craft their own research trajectory to view interdisciplinarity as a truly embedded approach. 

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvii
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  2. Introduction: Mixed Messages for the Interdisciplinary Research Community

    • Catherine Lyall
    Pages 1-17

  3. “What Am I?” The Path to Becoming an Interdisciplinary Academic

    • Catherine Lyall
    Pages 19-37

  4. “Are You One of Us?” How Institutions Impact Interdisciplinary Careers

    • Catherine Lyall
    Pages 39-56

  5. The Nets We Weave: Consequences for Interdisciplinary Capacity Building

    • Catherine Lyall
    Pages 57-74

  6. Facilitating Serendipity?

    • Catherine Lyall
    Pages 75-90

  7. Towards New Logics of Interdisciplinarity

    • Catherine Lyall
    Pages 91-109

  8. Conclusion: “The Funding Can Only Do So Much”

    • Catherine Lyall
    Pages 111-119

  9. Back Matter

    Pages 121-134
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Reviews

“Her book is both more reflective and more heavily researched and documented than the short memoranda prepared with colleagues, and is rewarding just for the citations alone.” (Scott McLemee, Inside Higher Ed, insidehighered.com, August 2, 2019)

Authors and Affiliations

  • School of Social and Political Science, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Catherine Lyall

About the author

Catherine Lyall is Professor of Science and Public Policy at the University of Edinburgh, UK.

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