QUEST: Capturing Lessons for Interdisciplinarity

There is increasing emphasis, nationally and internationally, on interdisciplinary research in order to tackle some of the world's most pressing environmental and social problems. In the UK, we are witnessing a significant increase in planned funding for strategic interdisciplinary programmes but the lessons arising from such initiatives can be hard to capture and codify. QUEST (Quantifying and Understanding the Earth SysTem) is one of NERC's flagship programmes for Earth system science. As this programme approaches its close, NERC is keen to assess the effectiveness of QUEST's activities in interdisciplinarity (including community building) in the context of global environmental change. By taking an in-depth look at QUEST, in conjunction with potentially comparable interdisciplinary initiatives such as the Rural Economy and Land Use Programme and the Climate Change Research Programme at the Tyndall Centre (augmented by some comparisons with ESRC's Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment, CSERGE, also at UEA), in the UK and abroad, this research will explore ways to enhance QUEST's effectiveness throughout the rest of the programme and draw transferable lessons of relevance to the emerging programmes of the Living With Environmental Change (LWEC) partnership. This is an opportunity to advance understanding on the nature of interdisciplinarity in the area of global environmental change research, whilst delivering practical benefits to the QUEST community and providing valuable guidance for other future initiatives. This project will work closely with the parallel study of QUEST's effectiveness in science and policy dialogue. We will pursue a mixed portfolio of methods to ensure that we capture qualitative insights along with quantifiable indicators where possible. These will include: - document analysis of both academic literature on interdisciplinarity and grey literature, e.g. on structures and experiences of relevant UK and international programmes - semi-structured interviews - surveys (online) - focus groups/workshop - learning visits We will structure the empirical research around three Case Studies (QUEST, RELU, Tyndall Centre) and an array of comparative overviews, especially those with a strong international perspective, such as IHDP and the Earth System Science Partnership. We will triangulate across multiple perspectives and include the following constituencies in our research sample: - QUEST Core Team - The wider research community affiliated with QUEST and Project 1 - Individuals at centres, initiatives or programmes related to QUEST - nationally and internationally - Individuals at centres, initiatives or programmes with comparable interdisciplinary aims - nationally or internationally (e.g. NSF cross-Directorate programmes such as Emerging Topics in Biogeochemical Cycles, Framework 6 initiatives, EU Matisse project) - Institutional leadership - Funders In discussion with QUEST we will plan a range of dissemination activities to maximise learning and the spread of project impacts: 1. an international Masterclass/workshop, focusing on the management and design of interdisciplinary programmes. 2. report to Research Councils and QUEST, situating our findings on the state and pathways for progress of UK interdisciplinarity within the wider international Earth system science context. 3. presentations at UK and international conferences . 4. exit meeting with QUEST and briefings for Research Council officials and research leaders (e.g. Directors of large-scale investments such as LWEC). 5. accessible, practical guidance, in the form of online 'briefing notes' which will include a workable methodology for reflexive through-life assessment of interdisciplinary programmes and guidance on multi-user communications, community-building activities. 6. one or more peer-reviewed journal articles.