Interdisciplinarity in a more-than-human world
The challenges that the more-than-human world is facing clearly exceed the reach of any one discipline. Researchers working across the natural and social sciences and the humanities on the major social and environmental challenges of our time are increasingly realising that if our work is to make the type of contribution we wish to make to understanding and addressing these challenges, it needs to be inter-disciplinary. But how does interdisciplinarity actually work out in practice? What is interdisciplinarity’s life cycle? What opportunities and challenges does interdisciplinarity entail? How do scholars working across different disciplines come together to shape the design of research questions, research methodologies, the writing up and dissemination of findings, and applied outcomes in the real world?
This virtual workshop brings together four pairs of scholars who will share their experiences putting interdisciplinarity into practice in studying the more-than-human world. It will be structured as two x two-hour sessions, each involving two pairs in conversation with one another (one in the social sciences/arts/humanities and one in the physical sciences), followed by broader discussion. Participants will be invited to share their experiences, including challenges and strategies, creating an interdisciplinary learning experience. We invite both academics and HDR students to participate in this conversation.
These workshops were presented online on the 6 and 7 August 2020.
Speakers
- Danielle Celermajer is a Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Sydney.
Discussion 1
- John Martin is a Research Scientist based at the Taronga Institute of Science and Learning. John’s research program is directed towards understanding the ecology of wildlife in human-dominated landscapes.
- Thom van Dooren is Associate Professor and Australian Research Council Future Fellow (2017-2021) in the Department of Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney.
Discussion 2
- Margaret Barbour is a Professor in the School of Life and Environmental Science at The University of Sydney and also Dean of the School of Science at The University of Waikato.
- Dalia Nassar is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Sydney. She works on German romanticism and idealism, the philosophy of nature, aesthetics and environmental philosophy.
Respondent
- Astrida Neimanis is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Gender and Cultural Studies at The University of Sydney. Her research is located at the intersection of feminist theory and environmental humanities, with a focus on water, weather and bodies.
- Sophie Chao (chair) is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Sydney School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry and the Charles Perkins Centre.
Speakers
Discussion 1
- Danielle Celermajer is a Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Sydney.
- Arian Wallach is a Lecturer in the School of Life Sciences at the UTS Sydney.
Discussion 2
- Bradley Moggridge is from the Kamilaroi Nation (N-W NSW) and is a PhD candidate at the University of Canberra’s Institute for Applied Ecology and part-time Indigenous Liaison Officer for Threatened Species Recovery Hub.
- Emily O’Gorman is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography and Planning at Macquarie University.
Respondent
- Sonja Van Wichelen is an Associate Professor of Sociology at The University of Sydney.
Header image: Игорь Левченко from Pixabay.