Evolution of interdisciplinary collaboration: what are stimulating conditions?

Abstract

In the past, the attention paid to interdisciplinary working focused on putting it into practice. As it turns out, this is not without problems. This paper looks closely at the development of interdisciplinary working in a longitudinal case study. Our objective is to provide insight into the evolution of interdisciplinary working in practice. We discuss a European project, known as BRAINPOoL, and deal with knowledge integration, common ground, reflexivity, bridging internal interaction, and project commitment as core aspects of interdisciplinary research. We found that these factors evolved in the case study and we also found important evolutionary conditions: facilitative leadership, professional differences, and willingness to learn and cooperate are important drivers of interdisciplinary research.