Building bridges - interdisciplinary scientific communities

Abstract

Breakthrough, revolutionary scientific and technological innovation is usually associated with interdisciplinary collaborations and communities. Breaking barriers by building communities across these interdisciplinary divides is essential for constructive dialogue. Interdisciplinarity can also go beyond collaborations between scientists from different research specialities and involve other sections of society e.g. via citizen science projects. These collaborations and communities, by engaging across boundaries, can inspire and encourage increased public engagement in science. In addition, interdisciplinary interactions between scientists and the public provide further opportunities for society to engage directly with, and influence, the direction of scientific research and innovation, helping align this with the values, needs and expectations of society. We aim to explore the benefits, challenges and opportunities for interdisciplinary scientific communities. Bringing together people from different backgrounds in a highly participative context, we will explore how to effectively engage with, build, and maintain such communities. A crowd tool will be used in advance of the session to choose session discussion topics.