The purpose of this research was to understand the role of interdisciplinarity in research and how communication structures and processes at universities facilitates such work.
Twenty-one semi-structured interviews with administrators, faculty, and staff from US R-1 Carnegie-designated higher education institutions were conducted.
Institutional culture reportedly drives interdisciplinary research efforts and participants offered different values associated with pursuing interdisciplinary work. Participants also shared formal and informal incentives that motivate their pursuit of interdisciplinary collaborations. Participants seemed to prefer a blended centralized-decentralized approach for the communication function's support of interdisciplinary research efforts.
This research fills a gap in understanding of how organizational capacities, structures and processes support collaborative research work and public communication about such work.
