Mitchell Centre Seminar Series
| Dates: | 25 April 2018 |
|---|
| Times: | 16:00 - 17:30 |
|---|
| What is it: | Seminar |
|---|
| Organiser: | School of Social Sciences |
|---|
|
|
Pietro Panzarasa, Queen Mary University, London
Interdisciplinarity and specialisation: Network perspectives on scientific success
As the increasing complexity of large-scale research requires the combined efforts of scientists with expertise in different fields, the advantages and costs of interdisciplinary scholarship have taken centre stage in current debates on scientific production. In this seminar. I will conduct a comparative assessment of the scientific success of specialised and interdisciplinary researchers in modern science. Drawing on comprehensive data sets on scientific production, I propose a two-pronged approach to interdisciplinarity. For each scientist, I distinguish between background interdisciplinarity, rooted in knowledge accumulated over time, and social interdisciplinarity, stemming from exposure to collaborators' knowledge. Findings suggest that, while abandoning specialisation in favour of moderate degrees of background interdisciplinarity deteriorates performance, very interdisciplinary scientists outperform specialised ones, at all career stages. Moreover, successful scientists tend to intensify the heterogeneity of collaborators and to match the diversity of their network with the diversity of their background. Collaboration sustains performance by facilitating knowledge diffusion, acquisition and creation. Successful scientists tend to absorb a larger fraction of their collaborators’ knowledge, and at a faster pace, than less successful ones. Collaboration also provides successful scientists with opportunities for the cross-fertilisation of ideas and the synergistic creation of new knowledge. These results can inspire scientists to shape successful careers, research institutions to develop effective recruitment policies, and funding agencies to award grants of enhanced impact.
Travel and Contact Information
Find event
A114
Samuel Alexander Building
Manchester
