In academia, we often talk a good game when it comes to ‘interdisciplinarity’, but the sad truth is that all too often we are prevented in working in an interdisciplinary way (Ryder 2024). This may be due to the nature of our job contracts or even the ‘research culture’ of our respective institutions.

However, this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try and do it. In fact, if more of us at least tried to work in inter- or trans-disciplinary ways, then hopefully more journals, and more senior members of management will become receptive to its importance, and the impact it can have.

To quote a recent article of mine, published in the Journal of Customer Behaviour:

‘By limiting ourselves to a few small silos we are stifling ourselves as researchers. We are also stifling ourselves as human beings. There is a whole world of new knowledge and new ways of thinking out there if only we have the courage to grasp it’ (Ryder 2024, p. 281).

For me then, interdisciplinarity should come as naturally as breathing. It should be something we always seek to do – to open ourselves up to new ways of doing things and new ideas. Thankfully, as members of SIME, we are perhaps better equipped than many to work in innovative interdisciplinary ways.

Interdisciplinary SoTL

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), is by its very nature, something of an interdisciplinary beast. We each of us have our own particular subject expertise, which we combine with educational research, and insights from other disciplines to shape our teaching.

If anything, SoTL would be impossible if we weren’t open to interdisciplinary working!

However, this doesn’t mean that it is easy. Publications in interdisciplinary journals are hard to come by; and many journals that claim to be interdisciplinary are not quite what they claim to be.

If you’re new to SoTL, or even new to the concept of interdisciplinary working, I do strongly recommend our SIME journal Lancaster University Management School - Scholarship and Innovation in Management Education.The journal promotes not only multidisciplinary approaches but celebrates collaboration of academia and professional staff who bring diverse views to the management education debate.

If you’ve not written for publication before, or if you perhaps feel a bit rusty and need to get your eye in, then putting a piece forward to our journal is the perfect outlet for you! The writing requirements are very easy to meet, and you’re more than welcome to work together with other colleagues to write a short piece about your own scholarship journey, and what you have learned about teaching in HE.

Thinking outside of the box

One of the great benefits I’ve taken from my time involved with SIME thus far, is the opportunity it’s given me to meet with other colleagues from outside of my own ‘discipline’ (currently, Marketing). So that includes other members of the Management School, but also colleagues from across the university, from the likes of health sciences, sociology and even mathematics. It’s also given me the chance to have conversations with colleagues working in the professional services, whom I might otherwise not have spoken to through the course of my normal day-to-day activities.

This sort of networking can prove invaluable to an academic, as it stops us falling into complacency. It can also form the source of new ideas and can even lead to new research!

In one such incident, I was contacted by a colleague from the arts and social sciences about an article I had published in The Conversation. From this initial meeting, I was then invited to join a group project writing papers for a special issue journal in the field of medical humanities.

If I hadn’t been prepared to look outside of my own department, and talk to colleagues from other disciplines, this collaboration would simply never have happened.

Ok, so it has been a lot of work, but you know what? It’s been fun.

It can be remarkably liberating as an academic to break away from the shackles of the CABS journal guide and consider projects that challenge us and make us think. While it may not always be easy, I can tell you for certain that it is certainly more satisfying, and dare I say, more impactful, as it means we are having impact beyond our own (small) field.

A call to arms

So let this be a call to arms to colleagues! The system may be set up to discourage interdisciplinarity, but if we don’t fight it, then we are ourselves a part of the problem.

If you’d like to find out more about how you might develop your own interdisciplinary practice, I’m more than happy to have a chat.

Or why not come along to one of our SIME events. You can be sure to meet a group of passionate, proactive, like-minded colleagues who are open to new ideas and making a real difference.

Good luck!

References

Ryder, M. (2024) ‘Interdisciplinarity, huh?’ Journal of Customer Behaviour, 23(4): 272–283.

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