industry & research
with research we need genuine experts who know how to work together to do something hard that none of them could do on their own.
So, whilst we know how to work together, we have not harnessed it fully in the research space. In the coming years, we will need to do so. If it is not stretching the analogy too far, we may need to be better at teaching people to research [ play ] in teams( ensembles) and perhaps find ways to identify and nurture the strong leadership( conductors) necessary to bring the teams together. That seems to be the piece that is missing.
WHAT CREATIVE MECHANISMS WOULD YOU SUGGEST FOR OVERCOMING BARRIERS? At La Trobe, we have established research focus areas that build and nurture collaborations around some key issues facing modern society. These were identified through an extensive consultation process and we have set aside resources to bring teams together. The clear expectation is that the members of each RFA will work across boundaries on areas of broad common interest. We have selected strong and outstanding leaders for each RFA who are committed to making the system work.
In universities we also encourage a culture of individual excellence. Some of the greatest ideas emerge from one person’ s unique insight and that is something we should continue to treasure. Indeed, the role of the individual investigator is critically important. Research grant processes that are the staple of much global academic research support this activity, for the most part. But as the research enterprise grows, it becomes harder to provide support for all who seek it – a fact that is painfully evidenced by the reducing success rates in the NHMRC and ARC grant systems. The solution for the research enterprise is to move into areas that are just as important but better aligned with community needs. These are going to involve larger scale, interdisciplinary teams that have shared goals. We believe that the key to the university having the strongest possible impact lies in us engaging with major collaborative partners to make a difference in our community and the wider world. As part of our RFA structure, each one has a dedicated person whose job is to bring opportunities for collaboration and engagement to the team.
PLEASE PROVIDE AN EXAMPLE OF HOW DISCIPLINES CAN BETTER WORK TOGETHER? There are many. From my own field of physics, perhaps the best example is the impact of the work of the Braggs, a
Nobel prize-winning Australian father-son team that created the field of X-ray crystallography.
Their motivation was in the fundamental sciences but the impact of their work in the biological sciences was and is extraordinary. It was their work, and the lab of the younger Bragg, that led to the discovery of the structure of DNA by Francis Crick, a physicist, and James D. Watson, a biologist. This was a deep and visionary program from the middle of the 20th century that was extraordinarily successful but was also viewed with deep suspicion by other academics at the time. The shared goal was clear.
The Australian Synchrotron [ a type of particle accelerator ] is, in a sense, a direct descendent of the work pioneered by the Braggs, their colleagues and students. This is a facility that is primarily designed and operated by physicists and engineers for the benefit of biologists, chemists and industry. It is truly a meeting place of many disciplines and has become
Assessments of research impact clearly show that the most important work is not only co-operative but also involves collaboration across the globe.
an essential feature in the national research infrastructure scene.
High-energy physics brings a whole range of disciplines together – physics, mathematics, computing, engineering – towards the shared goal of, most recently, uncovering the Higgs Boson particle. This is a collaboration of literally thousands of researchers from nations around the globe. It’ s extraordinary, if you think about it.
And these are just examples based in physics. The common theme: an agreed shared overarching goal.
HOW CAN ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS HELP TO BETTER PROMOTE THE ADVANCEMENT OF INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION? There is nothing intrinsically desirable about interdisciplinary research; it is a means to an end, not an end in itself. The better question is,‘ How can we maximise our use of the extraordinary talent we have in the university system to benefit society and to make universities more relevant?’ We need to continue to value and encourage the individual researcher. If [ a person is ] making substantial contributions to our understanding of the world through their disciplinary perspective, then that is great. If, on the other hand, we recognise that we can have the most impact on important questions by lowering the barriers to collaboration across nations, institutions and disciplines, then lower them we should.
So I don’ t think we need to encourage interdisciplinary work, what we need to do is facilitate research on the most important problems. We will soon find that many genuinely need an interdisciplinary perspective; for example, often the technical solution is at hand but the barriers to change are social and political. The solution, then, is to identify the big questions we seek to address, create interest in the academic community and do our best to get that work funded. This is not, on the whole, going to be possible through the current national competitive grant scheme and will, in my judgement, [ require ] the development of large partnerships with the community. That is the La Trobe research project in a nutshell. It needs engagement, resources and, most importantly, it needs inspirational leadership.
WHAT ARE YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FACILITATING FUTURE COLLABORATIONS BETWEEN RESEARCHERS IN DIFFERENT FIELDS? If we return to the music analogy, anyone who aspires to a music career needs to learn how to play with their colleagues. What we need in academia is the capacity to acquire similar skills. We need to develop skills in leadership and in understanding and appreciating different ways of knowing.
This has to start early, so we probably need to include some appropriate activities in the PhD program. The Australian PhD is one of the finest research training degrees in the world but I think there is capacity – or, indeed, a need – to include within it additional training in leadership, mentorship, communication and commercialisation skills.
This will equip a new generation of research leaders who will know how to bring teams together across disciplines to address challenging issues. These are skills that come naturally to some but they can also be taught and learned.
All the signs are that we, as a society, are going to desperately need such people. ■
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