Working together across disciplines Challenges for the natural

Working together across disciplines Challenges for the natural and social sciences

RELU project team at Warwick University • Dept of Politics & International Studies. Wyn Grant, Justin Greaves. • Warwick HRI. Dave Chandler, Gill Prince. • Dept of Biological Sciences. Mark Tatchell.

contents • Why work together? • The research process & methodological considerations. • Practical issues for effective collaboration. • Conclusions. Is multi-disciplinary collaboration sufficient or should we aim higher?

Why work together? Fundamental research • Some areas have a natural overlap: – Development of theory. • Behavioural research in economics & biology: – ‘ 1 st wave’: evolutionary game theory. – ‘ 2 nd wave’ : unified theories of behaviour.

Fundamental research • Borrowing of ideas, or genuine collaboration. • Work on a common problem, need a common language (e. g. mathematics). • Complementary methodologies → unified theory & methodology. • Kudos in academic community.

Strategic & applied research • Human activity causes global problems. • Social and natural sciences needed for effective solutions. • Project teams often multidisciplinary: can they influence each other?

Strategic & applied research • Teams form for specific project. Issues of buy-in? • Methodologies often kept separate. • Different languages. • Hard for partners to influence each other? • Danger of unequal relationships. • Lower value in academic community, but very important in wider world.

Science & society • Natural scientists must become better communicators. • Public understanding of scientific process (Hails & Dale, 2005). • Social scientists need to understand natural science. • Public value of science (Wilsdon et al. , 2005)

Science & society • Enhanced confidence in public & stakeholders. • Develop language for effective communication : – social & natural scientists & public. • Public engagement not highly valued in academic circles (‘media dons’).

Warwick RELU research: A practical example Environmental & regulatory sustainability of biopesticides.

Pesticides have many benefits, but … • Resistance, new chemistry expensive. • Integrated Pest Management. • Microbial control agents: – Desirable characteristics. – Poor uptake in UK & EU.

Biopesticides: regulatory innovation using political & natural science? • Strengths & weaknesses of regulation. • Research on ecology of microbial agents. • Evaluate costs & benefits in a holistic way. • Biological data requirements. • Regulatory innovation.

Politics Stakeholders Evaluation of costs & benefits Biology of Production Systems Impact on biological data requirements Regulation

Research processes & methodologies • Analysis of the research process in social & natural science: – Challenge preconceptions. – Help overcome constraints to collaboration. • Can the same approaches be used to study the natural & social worlds?

The research wheel in social & natural sciences deductive Theory inductive Problem specification / Conceptual framework Conclusions & inference Hypotheses Empirical research Dominant models : neo-positivism & critical realism

Methodological issues (1): experiments • Ability to do replicated experiments differs between social & natural science. • Use of comparison : circumvents problems of not being able to do an experiment. • Need to develop best methodologies available for natural & social science.

Methodological issues (2): Issues of scale & inference • Ecological & individualistic fallacies: – Ecological: identify relationships at aggregate level that do not reflect the corresponding relationship at individual level. – Individual: draw conclusions from groups based on data gathered with the individual.

Methodological issues (3): Issues of scale & inference • Specific, micro level studies can proliferate at the expense of broad questions. • Bottom up approaches often use simplified systems for study: danger of individualistic fallacy. • In biology, a new field of studying complex systems is emerging. • Use of model organisms/ systems in biology.

The challenge of interdisciplinary research • How can social & natural science components influence each other in a project? • Social science more flexible: can respond quickly to input from natural scientists. • Protocols followed in natural science can make research less flexible. • Need for upstream influence. Avoid having ‘pet’ social scientists.

Day to day issues • Need to understand the other discipline. • Appreciate that different schools exist within each discipline. • Problems of technical language : plain speaking required! • Social science writing is more discursive.

Working together has positive outcomes • Better social & natural science. – Better analytical tools for social science. – Natural scientists’ knowledge on social issues placed in a systematic framework. • Joint outcomes. – Fundamental research: development of theory. – Applied / strategic: sustainable solutions for complex problems. – Science & society: better communication & upstream thinking. • New opportunities. – Access to new sources of money for new kinds of research. – Non threatening collaborations.

Thanks for your attention www 2. warwick. ac. uk/fac/soc/pais/biopesticides/