Abstract: What is interdisciplinarity? What does it mean to work in an interdisciplinary manner? What are the challenges? What does interdisciplinary success or failure look like? Can one learn interdisciplinarity? Many questions can be asked about this research approach that has become more and more popular, at least in theory, in the last decades. In this talk we take a double-pronged approach to the theme: On the one hand we intend to discuss the existing theoretical approaches to interdisciplinary research, thereby considering its different possible definitions and stances. On the other hand, we plan to present the results of the current survey on interdisciplinarity at the Weizenbaum Institute. In the institute’s mission statement, we can indeed read that its research aims to be basic, excellent, and interdisciplinary: How are we doing? By considering the results of the survey we would like to draw a picture of where interdisciplinarity currently is at the Weizenbaum Institute and sketch a possible way forward while dialoguing with the participants in the talk. The talk is part of the „Thursday Lunch Series“ and is open to all researchers of every career level including SHKs, interested in interdisciplinarity. Bring your own lunch and questions!

Silvio Suckow has a strong epistemological interest in the development of interdisciplinary research settings. To this end, he has spent four years studying the WI as part of his (almost finished) dissertation. Furthermore, he has developed an application-oriented online course for interdisciplinary competences (idc.wzb.eu) and is trying out different knowledge communication formats.

Sara Saba currently serves as ‘officer for interdisciplinary formats’ at the WI. Originally a Classicists, she has worked for several years in interdisciplinary research groups at the Fraunhofer progressively moving from research to project management in science and especially in interdisciplinary research contexts.