Transmission of Skills

The transmission of skills becomes even more important at the graduate level. Graduate students need to learn how to perform their own interdisciplinary research:

· Graduate students thus need to be explicitly exposed to the interdisciplinary research process, and useful strategies for performing each step. [see Interdisciplinary Research]

· Granting agencies in the United States provide some funding for recent Ph.Ds to take courses in related fields (notably for health researchers to learn some social science). The Kessel et al book speculates on the relative value of being exposed to a second field during one’s Ph.D or a PostDoc. They worry about a student’s ability to usefully combine two fields. One point to stress here is that students will be much better able to combine two (or more) bodies of knowledge in their research if they are exposed to interdisciplinary strategies during their graduate education. Another point to stress is that the second field strategy presumes a bi-disciplinary rather than an interdisciplinary approach. Even if one were to earn PhDs in two fields, one would not be thereby grounded in interdisciplinary skills. Moreover, it is a strategy that does not scale up to multiple fields, and interdisciplinary researchers often end up drawing on several fields.

· Team teaching may be especially valuable at the graduate level to show how research expertise in different fields can be usefully combined. These and other valuable points are made in Ch 10 “Transdisciplinary Training in Health Research: Distinctive Features and Future Directions” by Shalini Misra, Daniel Stokols, Kara Hall, and Annie Feng. in Kirst, M.J. et al. (Eds.), Converging Disciplines: A Transdisciplinary Research Approach to Urban Health Problems. New York. Springer, 2011.

· A team approach to supervision is often invaluable, so that the student has advice from professors with different areas of expertise. The risk is that students get conflicting advice. Regular meetings with the supervisory team as a whole can thus be advantageous if feasible.

· One huge advantage (and disadvantage) of disciplines is that they provide natural boundaries. The interdisciplinary student can easily become overwhelmed by a world without boundaries. One of the most important skills is that of identifying manageable research projects (and research agendas that allow researchers to gradually expand the scope of their research). Supervisors need to encourage students not to attempt the overly ambitious.

· Interdisciplinary graduate students will also face special challenges in achieving publication, gaining grants, and seeking jobs. These important skills thus need to be transmitted through seminars and supervisory relationships. Note that interdisciplinary students may wish to publish in disciplinary as well as interdisciplinary outlets, and will need guidance on how to communicate effectively to audiences of both kinds.