Practising Interdisciplinarity / / ed. by Nico Stehr, Peter Weingart.

• MitwirkendeR: Bromme, Rainer,; Garrett-Jones, Sam,; Hackett, Edward J.,; Hollingsworth, Ellen Jane,; Hollingsworth, Rogers,; Klein, Julie Thompson,; Krull, Wilhelm,; Liscombe, Rhodri Windsor,; Maasen, Sabine,; Mey, Marc De,; Raan, Anthony Rj. Van,; Scerri, Eric R.,; Turner, Stephen,; Turpin, Tim,; Weingart, Peter,
• HerausgeberIn: Stehr, Nico,; Weingart, Peter,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2018]; ©2000
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (352 p.)

Academic disciplines provide a framework for the transfer of knowledge from one generation to the next. Not only do they shape our education and understanding, they structure our professional lives. Interdisciplinarity, the reconfiguration of academic disciplines and the boundaries between them, has lately become a field of major interest to scholars and policy makers. This collection brings together the latest research and analysis from this emerging field.The editors take as their central thesis the idea that the existing matrix of disciplines is dissolving, leading to fundamental changes in the traditional order of knowledge. Contributors to the volume include specialists from Canada, Australia, Europe, and the United States who focus on the actual practice of interdisciplinarity: the ways in which it is researched, organized, and taught in institutes and universities around the world. The role of funding bodies is also considered, revealing the relationship and the delineation of disciplines and their resource bases. Together, the essays offer first-hand insights into the operations and successes of some of the world's foremost interdisciplinary research centres. In acquainting us with the current state of interdisciplinary research the volume also considers the social and economic contexts that make such research possible.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- Part I. The Popularity, Functions, and Paradoxes of Interdisciplinarity: The Discourse -- 1. A Conceptual Vocabulary of Interdisciplinary Science -- 2. Interdisciplinarity: The Paradoxical Discourse -- PART II. THE CHANGING TOPOGRAPHY OF SCIENCE -- 3.What Are Disciplines? And How Is Interdisciplinarity Different? -- 4. The Interdisciplinary Nature of Science: Theoretical Framework and Bibliometric-Empirical Approach -- 5. Mapping the New Cultures and Organization of Research in Australia -- PART III. NURTURING ENVIRONMENTS OF INTERDISCIPLINARITY -- 6. Beyond One's Own Perspective: The Psychology of Cognitive Interdisciplinarity -- 7. Practising Interdisciplinary Studies -- 8. Cognitive Science as an Interdisciplinary Endeavour -- 9. Inducing Interdisciplinarity: Irresistible Infliction? The Example of a Research Group at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF), Bielefeld, Germany -- 10. Interdisciplinary Research at the Caltech Beckman Institute -- 11. Major Discoveries and Biomedical Research Organizations: Perspectives on Interdisciplinarity, Nurturing Leadership, and Integrated Structure and Cultures -- PART IV. THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE FUNDERS -- 12. Interdisciplinary Research Initiatives at the U.S. National Science Foundation -- 13. Beyond the Ivory Tower: Some Observations on External Funding of Interdisciplinary Research in Universities -- Concluding Comments -- References -- Contributors