The Multidisciplinary Approach
To support research addressing complex problems, several
major agencies have announced programs that require
multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to bring
together investigators from different disciplines.
Although these terms are often used interchangeably, funding
agencies such as NIH and NSF are starting to use specific terms
to express the expected level of interaction among
investigators. In this context, multidisciplinary and
interdisciplinary research are defined as the coordinated
efforts of several disciplines to achieve a common goal and the
integration of several disciplines creating a unified outcome
that is sustained and substantial enough to enable a new
discipline to develop over time, respectively.
Similarly, many training grant opportunities require the development of curricula and research opportunities that cross disciplines. Good examples are the NIH’s roadmap initiative, http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/, which is designed to foster interdisciplinary biomedical research by lowering artificial organizational barriers to research, and NSF’s focused priority areas, http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/publicat/nsf04009/cross/priority.htm.
While a single PI may have expertise in multiple areas of research, it is common to bring together a team of investigators drawn from different disciplines to address complex problems and come up with innovative solutions. However, developing multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary proposals is often far more complex than single investigator proposals. It requires forming a team, establishing shared goals, integrating concepts from the different disciplines, holding numerous meetings, and a higher level of organization. Often multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary funding opportunities are cast as Center proposals, which require far more than a description of the proposed research. For example, aside from research, center proposals often have to describe organizational structure, outreach activities, and educational programs.
Examples of Thematic Multidisciplinary Groups
In the past, the Office of the Associate Vice President for
Research has organized several Faculty Working Groups on Campus
in the areas of:
- Nano Science and Engineering
- Obesity
- Sensors
- Astrobiology
- Biocomplexity
Forming Working Groups
One of the barriers to initiating multidisciplinary research
is to find faculty from different disciplines that share a
common interest. To this end, individual faculty members are
encouraged to maintain a research interest profile on the SBU
Research Interests and Funding Opportunity Database (www.stonybrook.edu/researchinterests).
This will assist our office, as well as other university
faculty, staff, and administrators, in identifying faculty with
common or complementary interests. Our office will also be
pleased to offer advice on possible collaborators for your
proposal.
Additionally, the Office of the Vice President for Research supports multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary seminars to foster collaborations. Specifically, this office will supply $100 toward a speaker's luncheon when a department invites a Stony Brook colleague from an unrelated discipline to give a seminar. Please contact Dr. Ann-Marie Scheidt (amscheidt@notes.cc.sunysb.edu) to determine eligibility.
Lastly, formation of a successful multidisciplinary team requires:
- Committed members who are excited about the possible collaboration
- Committed members who are willing to actively participate in the preparation and completion of the proposal
- Development of a pathway that clearly defines the overall goals of the team, the division of labor, responsibilities of each member, and a defined time frame
We look forward to forming new working groups as faculty interests and sponsor opportunities warrant. Faculty interested in forming a topical multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary group should contact our office and we will be happy to facilitate subsequent working meetings.
