Five Key Strategies for Organizing Interdisciplinary Scientific Events to Strengthen Careers, Collaborations, and Creativity

Andrew K. Schulz, M. Janneke Schwaner, Armita R. Manafzadeh

Research output: Chapter in Book / Report / Conference proceedingConference contributionAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Synopsis Science is becoming increasingly interdisciplinary; the widespread emergence of dedicated interdisciplinary journals, conferences, and graduate programs reflects this trend. Interdisciplinary scientific events are extremely valuable in that they offer opportunities for career advancement, especially among early career researchers, for collaboration beyond traditional disciplinary echo chambers, and for the creative generation of innovative solutions to longstanding scientific problems. However, organizing such events can pose unique challenges due to the intentionality required to meaningfully break down the barriers that separate long-independent disciplines. In this paper, we propose five key strategies for organizing and hosting interdisciplinary scientific events. The recommendations offered here apply both to small symposia aiming to contribute an interdisciplinary component to a larger event and to broad interdisciplinary conferences hosting hundreds or thousands of attendees.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationIntegrative and Comparative Biology
PublisherOxford University press
Pages769-775
Volume64
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2024
Externally publishedYes

Publication series

NameIntegrative and Comparative Biology
ISSN (Print)1540-7063
ISSN (Electronic)1557-7023

Funding

A.K.S. thanks the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the International Max Planck Research School for Intelligent Systems (IMPRS-IS) for the support and a National Science Foundation grant that supported attendance at the symposium leading to this publication (NSF IOS-2326876 to Symposium organizer S. Tonia Hsieh). A.R.M. thanks T. Pollock for previous discussions about event organization. M.J.S. thanks symposium co-organizer T. Hsieh. We thank the organizers of CNB, ICVM, and SICB Symposia for inspiring us to write this manuscript. This work was supported by a Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellowship to A.K.S., a Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Postdoctoral Mandate fellowship to M.J.S., a Company of Biologists Scientific Meeting Grant (EA740) to M.J.S., a Gaylord Donnelley Postdoctoral Environmental Fellowship to A.R.M., and a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research in Biology Fellowship (NSF DBI-2209144) to A.R.M.. A.K.S. thanks the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the International Max Planck Research School for Intelligent Systems (IMPRS-IS) for the support and a National Science Foundation grant that supported attendance at the symposium leading to this publication (NSF IOS-2326876 to Symposium organizer S. Tonia Hsieh). A.R.M. thanks T. Pollock for previous discussions about event organization. M.J.S. thanks symposium co-organizer T. Hsieh. We thank the organizers of CNB, ICVM, and SICB Symposia for inspiring us to write this manuscript. This work was supported by a Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellowship to A.K.S., a Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Postdoctoral Mandate fellowship to M.J.S., a Company of Biologists Scientific Meeting Grant (EA740) to M.J.S., a Gaylord Donnelley Postdoctoral Environmental Fellowship to A.R.M., and a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research in Biology Fellowship (NSF DBI-2209144) to A.R.M..

FundersFunder number
International Max Planck Research School for Intelligent Systems
Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung
National Science FoundationDBI-2209144, IOS-2326876, EA740
National Science Foundation

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