In the Navigating Interdisciplinarity mini podcast series we discuss challenges faced and opportunities provided by engaging in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary work, particularly from the perspective of early career researchers. The format of this six-episode miniseries is that of an informal roundtable discussion, which is produced by a working group of Early Career Network of the IASC (IASC-ECN) on Navigating Interdisciplinarity, and coordinated by the UI's Hita Unnikrishnan. In these episodes we discuss what we mean by interdisciplinarity in practice, navigating interdisciplinary research within disciplinary as well as interdisciplinary environments, the importance of networking and collaboration, building communities of care, and the role of power and gender in interdisciplinary research and practice. This series is a collective effort that brought together early career researchers from across the globe both in terms of the guests we interviewed as well as the team that put the series together. The series is hosted by the UI's Hita Unnikrishnan and Maria Gerullis from the University of Bonn, and facilitated by Dane Whittaker from Arizona State University and Nusrat Molla from The University of California - Davis. Editing support was provided by Dane Whittaker and Diego Braga from Federal University of ABC, Sao Paulo; music by Rui Kleiner from Brazil, and the logo developed by Flavia Guerrieri from the University of Amsterdam and the Max Planck Institute in Germany. We have been mentored in the production of this mini series by the wonderful folk at the In Common podcast, especially by Michael Cox and Michael Schoon, who shared their experiences and insights on podcasting and facilitating virtual interviews, while also providing a home for the podcast in terms of space and web infrastructure. The six episodes of the series are as follows:
a) Navigating Interdisciplinarity: In this episode, Hita and Maria together with Dane were joined by Svenja Hippel a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Wuerzburg at the Chair of Contract Theory and Information Economics and Juan Nicolas Hernandez, an Earth Institute Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Columbia University. We talked about Svenja and Nico’s journey towards interdisciplinary research, and then discussed building your research profile for the job market and how to answer the question “where do I fit?” We ended by hearing about some epic fails. The episode is linked here.
b) Working with disciplinary traditions: In this episode, Hita and Maria together with Dane, were joined by Vanesa Castán Broto, Professor of Climate Urbanism at the Urban Institute, The University of Sheffield; and Jennifer Vanos, Professor of Climate at Health at the School of Sustainability, Arizona State University. We talked about Jenni’s and Vanesa’s journey towards interdisciplinary research, and the idea of interdisciplinarity as an interplay of disciplinary institutions. We also touched upon balancing our passion for research with strategizing for career advancement, and ended with our guests sharing some of their epic fails in their academic journey. The episode is linked here.
c) Negotiating disciplinary environments: In this episode, Hita and Maria together with Dane, were joined by Nanda Wijermans, a Researcher at the Stockholm Resilience Centre. We talked about Nanda’s journey towards interdisciplinary research, and then discussed the unique opportunities and challenges of working in an interdisciplinary environment, and how to design effective interdisciplinary environments. The episode is linked here.
d) Building interdisciplinary collaborations: In this yet to be released episode, Hita and Maria together with Dane, will be joined by Georgina Cundill Kemp Senior Program Specialist at the International Development Research Centre in Canada and Praneeta Mudliar Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies and Science at Ithaca College. We talked about their journeys towards interdisciplinary research, and then discussed building interdisciplinary collaborations, and the role of trust in collaborative research. .
e) Opening Pandora's box: In this yet to be released episode, Hita and Maria together with Dane, will be joined by Malini Ranganathan the Faculty Director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center and an Associate Professor in the School of International Service at American University. We talked about her journey towards interdisciplinary research, and then discussed how positionality--like gender and race--influences interdisciplinary research.
f) Rehumanizing Academia: In this yet to be released episode Hita and Nusrat will be joined by Ramya Ravi, a PhD student at Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) in Bangalore, India. We synthesise some of the discussions in the previous episodes, jointly reflecting upon them as early career scholars. We reflect particularly on the various forms of mentoring and collaboration we encounter in our own journeys, particularly as we navigate complex and emotionally draining personal challenges such as caregiving alongside precarious academic positions