PhD Enabling and evaluating collaborative transdisciplinary research on resilient coasts and seas

Interdisciplinary research has been of interest for a long time, yet there is still much we do not understand about how to stimulate collaboration across research disciplines (Newman, 2023). Scholarship on this topic has been largely theoretical (ibid.) and there has been little empirical investigation. As we increasingly try to address global-scale wicked problems (complex challenges that lack clear solutions or boundaries), generating empirical data relating to practical strategies for connecting researchers and encouraging them to work together across disciplinary boundaries, is a necessity. Scholars have started to explore this in the areas of education and doctoral training programmes (e.g. Carr et al., 2018), and to a lesser extent at the research organisation level (e.g. Bark et al., 2016), but few studies have empirically evaluated a specific research project(s). The inclusion of stakeholder contributions and different ways of knowing (trans-disciplinarity) complicates this even further.

We are seeking a motivated PhD student to focus on developing innovative frameworks to enable and evaluate inter/transdisciplinary research for transformative environmental decision-making. This project will explore how diverse academic disciplines and stakeholder perspectives can be integrated to address urgent sustainability issues. The successful candidate will work at the intersection of environmental science, social science, arts, and research methodology, contributing to the design of tools and strategies that foster effective collaboration and impactful outcomes.

This PhD is directly associated with a recently funded UKRI project - TRANSitions In Energy For Coastal Communities Over Time And Space (TRANSECTS; www.transects.org). TRANSECTS will combine natural and social sciences with arts and humanities to apply an inter/transdisciplinary spatial-temporal lens, interrogating the shifts out of and into systems of marine energy production and their implications for coastal sustainability and resilience. It takes a place-based approach: exploring differences across geographical scales (micro to macro), between mainland and island communities and different UK regions. Our three case studies - the Humber Estuary, Orkney Islands, and east-coast Scotland (Aberdeen to Edinburgh) - have all experienced these marine energy transitions. It is expected that the PhD will use this project as an indicative case example. There may also be an opportunity to also assess other projects funded by the same call (Resilient UK Coastal Communities and Seas Programme).

Indicative objectives may include:

1. Review how different disciplines explore interdisciplinarity and existing models of inter/transdisciplinary collaboration and evaluation.
2. Identify key enablers and barriers to effective inter/transdisciplinary research.
3. Co-design a framework for enabling collaboration across disciplines and with external stakeholders.
4. Develop evaluation criteria and tools to assess inter/transdisciplinary research processes and outcomes.
5. Pilot the framework in real-world research setting using the TRANSECTS project.

References

Bark R, Kragt ME, Robson BJ (2016) Evaluating an interdisciplinary research project: Lessons learned for organisations, researchers and funders. International Journal of Project Management,
Volume 34, Issue 8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2016.08.004
Carr, G., Loucks, D.P. and Blöschl, G., (2018) Gaining insight into interdisciplinary research and education programmes: A framework for evaluation. Research Policy, 47(1), pp.35-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2017.09.010 
Newman, J. (2023). Promoting Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration: A Systematic Review, a Critical Literature Review, and a Pathway Forward. Social Epistemology, 38(2), 135–151. https://doi.org/10.1080/02691728.2023.2172694