First roundtable for the new Environmental Social Science in Interdisciplinary Working project

This initial roundtable is the first of three roundtables, which will help inform the project in its overall aim to develop an understanding of the key enablers and barriers to collaboration across the environmental and social sciences, and then to co-produce tailored resources to support practical approaches to bridging disciplines.

This roundtable, held in central London, brought together a dozen professionals from across the social and natural sciences to discuss and share their experiences of interdisciplinary working, what the challenges are, and what could be done to overcome them. While we all agreed on the benefits of interdisciplinary working, understanding how exactly how to put it into practice was discussed and debated during the session. Practical issues like different disciplinary language and time constraints, were raised, alongside more abstract, but equally (if not more) important issues like fostering mutual respect across disciplines.

The ACCESS and IES team are now compiling, analysing and reflecting on all the discussions of the day, which will form the foundations of the project, and the starting point in co-producing resources that will support future interdisciplinary working. Watch this space!

For more information about the project, please contact Anita Lateano: a.lateano@surrey.ac.uk