TY - JOUR
T1 - Facilitating Integration in Interdisciplinary Research
T2 - Lessons from a South Florida Water, Sustainability, and Climate Project
AU - Lanier, Alicia L.
AU - Drabik, Jillian R.
AU - Heikkila, Tanya
AU - Bolson, Jessica
AU - Sukop, Michael C.
AU - Watkins, David W.
AU - Rehage, Jennifer
AU - Mirchi, Ali
AU - Engel, Victor
AU - Letson, David
N1 - Funding Information:
Interdisciplinary research is increasingly called upon to find solutions to complex sustainability problems, yet co-creating usable knowledge can be challenging. This article offers broad lessons for conducting interdisciplinary science from the South Florida Water, Sustainability, and Climate Project (SFWSC), a 5-year project funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). The goal was to develop a holistic decision-making framework to improve understanding of the complex natural–social system of South Florida water allocation and its threats from climate change, including sea level rise, using a water resources optimization model as an integration mechanism. The SFWSC project faced several challenges, including uncertainty with tasks, high task interdependence, and ensuring communication among geographically dispersed members. Our hypothesis was that adaptive techniques would help overcome these challenges and maintain scientific rigor as research evolved. By systematically evaluating the interdisciplinary management approach throughout the project, we learned that integration can be supported by a three-pronged approach: (1) Build a well-defined team and leadership structure for collaboration across geographic distance and disciplines, ensuring adequate coordination funding, encouraging cross-pollination, and allowing team structure to adapt; (2) intentionally design a process and structure for facilitating collaboration, creating mechanisms for routine analysis, and incorporating collaboration tools that foster communication; and (3) support integration within the scientific framework, by using a shared research output, and encouraging team members to adapt when facing unanticipated constraints. These lessons contribute to the international body of knowledge on interdisciplinary research and can assist teams attempting to develop sustainable solutions in complex natural–social systems.
Funding Information:
Acknowledgements This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. EAR-1204762, EAR-1204780, and EAR-1204474. This research was conducted in collaboration with the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research program under Grant No. DEB-1237517. This is contribution number 884 from the Southeast Environmental Research Center in the Institute of Water & Environment at Florida International University.
Funding Information:
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. EAR-1204762, EAR-1204780, and EAR-1204474. This research was conducted in collaboration with the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research program under Grant No. DEB-1237517. This is contribution number 884 from the Southeast Environmental Research Center in the Institute of Water & Environment at Florida International University. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
Copyright:
Copyright 2019 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2018/12/1
Y1 - 2018/12/1
N2 - Interdisciplinary research is increasingly called upon to find solutions to complex sustainability problems, yet co-creating usable knowledge can be challenging. This article offers broad lessons for conducting interdisciplinary science from the South Florida Water, Sustainability, and Climate Project (SFWSC), a 5-year project funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). The goal was to develop a holistic decision-making framework to improve understanding of the complex natural–social system of South Florida water allocation and its threats from climate change, including sea level rise, using a water resources optimization model as an integration mechanism. The SFWSC project faced several challenges, including uncertainty with tasks, high task interdependence, and ensuring communication among geographically dispersed members. Our hypothesis was that adaptive techniques would help overcome these challenges and maintain scientific rigor as research evolved. By systematically evaluating the interdisciplinary management approach throughout the project, we learned that integration can be supported by a three-pronged approach: (1) Build a well-defined team and leadership structure for collaboration across geographic distance and disciplines, ensuring adequate coordination funding, encouraging cross-pollination, and allowing team structure to adapt; (2) intentionally design a process and structure for facilitating collaboration, creating mechanisms for routine analysis, and incorporating collaboration tools that foster communication; and (3) support integration within the scientific framework, by using a shared research output, and encouraging team members to adapt when facing unanticipated constraints. These lessons contribute to the international body of knowledge on interdisciplinary research and can assist teams attempting to develop sustainable solutions in complex natural–social systems.
AB - Interdisciplinary research is increasingly called upon to find solutions to complex sustainability problems, yet co-creating usable knowledge can be challenging. This article offers broad lessons for conducting interdisciplinary science from the South Florida Water, Sustainability, and Climate Project (SFWSC), a 5-year project funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). The goal was to develop a holistic decision-making framework to improve understanding of the complex natural–social system of South Florida water allocation and its threats from climate change, including sea level rise, using a water resources optimization model as an integration mechanism. The SFWSC project faced several challenges, including uncertainty with tasks, high task interdependence, and ensuring communication among geographically dispersed members. Our hypothesis was that adaptive techniques would help overcome these challenges and maintain scientific rigor as research evolved. By systematically evaluating the interdisciplinary management approach throughout the project, we learned that integration can be supported by a three-pronged approach: (1) Build a well-defined team and leadership structure for collaboration across geographic distance and disciplines, ensuring adequate coordination funding, encouraging cross-pollination, and allowing team structure to adapt; (2) intentionally design a process and structure for facilitating collaboration, creating mechanisms for routine analysis, and incorporating collaboration tools that foster communication; and (3) support integration within the scientific framework, by using a shared research output, and encouraging team members to adapt when facing unanticipated constraints. These lessons contribute to the international body of knowledge on interdisciplinary research and can assist teams attempting to develop sustainable solutions in complex natural–social systems.
KW - Adaptive management
KW - Collaboration
KW - Interdisciplinary science
KW - Knowledge co-production
KW - Team science
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U2 - 10.1007/s00267-018-1099-1
DO - 10.1007/s00267-018-1099-1
M3 - Article
C2 - 30171328
AN - SCOPUS:85053383673
VL - 62
SP - 1025
EP - 1037
JO - Environmental Management
JF - Environmental Management
SN - 0364-152X
IS - 6
ER -