GI Faculty Members Present at the Panel “The Practical Side of Interdisciplinary Research”
On November 22, GI faculty members Drs. Lai-Tze Fan (Sociology and Legal Studies) and Neil Randall (English Language and Literature) participated on the panel “The Practical Side of Interdisciplinary Research” organized by the Arts Research office. Focused on the “ins and outs of building teams across faculties," the panel was also joined by GI faculty member Dr. Ian Milligan (History) as moderator and Dr. Adam Molnar. The panel was aimed at researchers from across the university to provide insight and knowledge on what it’s like to build interdisciplinary research teams. Dr. Milligan opened the panel by expanding on what interdisciplinary work and research means at the intersections of technology, culture, and society. As these three areas become ever more intertwined, they require more cross-collaboration between different teams to address complex societal problems—often referred to as wicked problems—such as climate change, the rise of artificial intelligence, and the impacts of colonization and racial inequity within society.
Dr. Randall spoke about interdisciplinary work from practical experience and his publications with games and computer magazines in the 1980s and 90s—most notably PC Magazine. For him, interdisciplinary research started when he began writing about computer processors when he was not familiar with the subject. But in collaborating with two other writers, they decided that in an effort to help each other and learn from each other, they would write each other’s sections. So while Dr. Randall ended up writing about how processors worked, his two colleagues would right about how these processors had an impact on work culture, and another would write about its impact on work quality and outcome. This experience taught Dr. Randall an important lesson on interdisciplinary work and that it was never going to be comfortable, but in getting people to go outside their comfort zones, this is when interdisciplinary work begins. This is most notably exemplified by Dr. Randall’s involvement as the Executive Director of the Games Institute.
The topic of partnerships was picked up by Dr. Fan, who touched upon her work within the Trust in Research Undertaken in Science and Technology (TRuST) scholarly network as one of its members and the pressing issue of establishing trust with the public to improve trust in post-secondary academic institutions. For her, interdisciplinary research should also be focusing on how we prepare the next generation of students to address wicked problems. It’s important to Dr. Fan to not only bring her expertise as a non-scientist to a project full of scientists, but also to mentor students who are more well equipped to navigate the complexities of interdisciplinary research with a skill-set that enables students to be much more adaptable.
Continuing on this intersection between these three areas, Dr. Molnar approached interdisciplinary research from a place of understanding how governance has been impacted by the influx of digital technologies. With his background in researching the impacts of security intelligence practices, such as police militarization, Dr. Molnar stressed the importance of partnering with civil society non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to help define wicked problems and see these partnerships not as an end result of a project but as a part of the process to create sustainable solutions.