Policies and Politics of Interdisciplinary Research

Name: Policies and Politics of Interdisciplinary Research
Brand: Taylor & Francis

Taylor & Francis

Interdisciplinary research centers are blooming in almost every university, and interdisciplinary research is expected to be a cure-all for the ills of academic science. Do disciplines still matter? To what extent are interdisciplinary problem-solving approaches driven by socioeconomic stakeholders and policymakers rather than by academics? And how is interdisciplinarity organized? Through an in-depth sociological study of the development of nanomedicine in France and in the United States \u2013 an area that combines nanotechnology and biomedical research \u2013 this book challenges two conventional views of interdisciplinary research and academic disciplines. First, disciplines do not merely form separate \""siloes\"" which hinder the development of interdisciplinary research: rather, they are flexible entities whose evolution supports the long-term institutionalization of interdisciplinary science in French and US academia. Secondly, interdisciplinary research has no intrinsic virtue.