The Weizenbaum Institute understands interdisciplinarity as follows:
"Interdisciplinary research (IDR) is a mode of research by teams or individuals that integrates information, data, techniques, tools, perspectives, concepts, and/or theories from two or more disciplines or bodies of specialized knowledge to advance fundamental understanding or to solve problems whose solutions are beyond the scope of a single discipline or field of research practice."
At the Weizenbaum Institute we recognize that interdisciplinary research can assume multiple forms, depending on the actual research initiatives and cooperations. It must be stressed that since the institute is devoted to research on Digitalization, it focuses on impulses coming mainly from three broad research areas: social sciences, computer science, law/legal studies/ethics.
How does the Weizenbaum Institute foster interdisciplinarity?
At the Weizenbaum Institute interdisciplinarity is actively supported and built into the very fabric of the Institute: the four research foci investigate four main, broad themes through research groups that, in principle, are interdisciplinary. The Institute also hosts an additional research unit, the Weizenbaum Digital Science Center (WDSC) which, among others, has disciplinary and interdisciplinary methodological competences that are at the institute’s disposal through practice and training, besides conducting its own research.
Space for formal and informal exchange is vital to cultivating interdisciplinarity: with networking events such as research seminars, lunch and coffee lectures, fellow-talks, as well as with pilot projects that bring together researchers from all groups, the institute promotes internal communication, dialogue and thus research. The Weizenbaum Institute's Fellow Program contributes too to the interdisciplinary culture of the institute by bringing new, external impulses and research interests into the institute.
Finally, the Weizenbaum Journal of the Digital Society, the interdisciplinary, open access journal of the institute, publishes research tackling issues concerning Digitalization. Its ‘Voices’ section is devoted to current debates in the field at large and aims at bringing forward specific scientific and societal discussions.
Investigating Interdisciplinary Research
The Weizenbaum Institute is a self-learning organization. Interdisciplinarity is a working principle, but also a topic of investigation. We want to learn from our own interdisciplinary research and share its theoretical and practical insights.
For example, at the WI the following projects are underway:
Contact Persons for Interdisciplinary Research
Selected external resources for IDR and TDR
- idc.wzb.eu - online course on interdisciplinary competences created by the WZB.
- shape-ID toolkit - was created by a consortium of scholars working on an EU-Horizon project on IDR, namely Shape-ID. The project strives to depict the status quo of IDR and ID- Teaching, but also to provide tools for ID’s development and promotion especially in the social sciences and the humanities.
- Gesellschaft für Transdisziplinäre und Partizipative Forschung - recently founded, the initiative goes back to the TU Berlin project called tdAcademy. The association brings together institutions from the DACH region to increase the networking and communication among TDR and IDR researchers and institution.
- ITD Alliance - an international initiative bringing together scholars, institutions, and associations worldwide for promoting IDR and TDR and developing their potential.
- TD-Net and TD-net toolkit - Swiss initiative devoted mainly to the specificities of transdisciplinary research. TD-net is a central actor in Europe and a hub for methods, and their teaching, in TDR. The toolkit offers a broad range of methodologies and collects case studies and literature.