Cape Times: From Exchange to Change

Reporting from Forum 2012, @SAForum2012

By Julius Mugwagwa

Forum 2012, the 14th edition of the Global Forum for Health Research is underway in Cape Town, South Africa this week (23 - 27 March 2012), under the theme ‘Beyond aid ... research and innovation as key drivers for health equity and development’.

Great minds think alike

Reporting from the 2011 Financial Times Global Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Conference, #ftpharma

By Joyce Tait and Jo Chataway

Several key speakers have been heard echoing major research findings from the Innogen centre at the Financial Times Global Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology conference this week, where David Cameron announced significant support for the life science industry sector.

Disciplining Interdisciplinarity

By Catherine Lyall

Professor Gabriele Bammer is doing something very exciting. In her forthcoming book ‘Disciplining Interdisciplinarity’ she sets out to build a new discipline – Integration and Implementation Sciences or I2S. 

Disciplines exist because, in the past at least, they made knowledge manageable. They also bestow considerable benefits in terms of peer recognition, access to resources, clear training pathways and professional kudos. But the changing dynamics of the natural, social and political world mean that researchers are increasingly called upon to generate innovative solutions to multi-dimensional, policy-related problems on a regional, national or global scale.The ability to deliver solutions to such challenges increasingly requires integration across disciplines. It also requires that academics reach out to the policy, private and third sectors.

'Splicing mice'; regulating human and animal mixtures

By Gill Haddow, Ann Bruce, Jane Calvert, Shawn Harmon, Wendy Marsden

As the Scottish poet Rabbie Burns warned us, "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley." (The best laid schemes of mice and men / Go oft awry.) 

The fact is that progress is rarely predictable, hardly ever linear and most importantly, never able to be undone. However, there are certain cases in innovation where although the future is murky, one can usually find some precedent in the past from which to learn lessons.

Capturing – and sharing – creativity

By Catherine Lyall

Generously described by reviewers as ‘an essential guide for researchers and research managers in how to do interdisciplinary projects and programmes’ and as a book that ‘marks an important turning point in the literature’, we are delighted to see our new book Interdisciplinary Research Journeys: Practical Strategies for Capturing Creativity in print.

The Oblivion of Biofuels

By James Smith

2011 is witnessing another crisis over rising food prices. In turn, concerns over food insecurity have intersected with ongoing anxiety over water and energy insecurity to create visions of perfect storms and future threats. All have meant the West is facing the very real possibility that it may no longer be able to import or buy its way out of tomorrow’s problems. The dawning realisation of the true global nature of these risks has ignited action: investment, innovation and policy. And biofuels have been presented as one of the key solutions.

What lessons learnt from herding cats?

By Dave Stevens, Marrella Communications

Written for the QUEST project team

“A new vision is required to promote organisational learning for interdisciplinarity within and across the Research Councils.”

So said Catherine Lyall, when she presented at a Royal Society workshop on Challenges in Policy Relevant Interdisciplinary Science.

To conclude her talk, she floated five ideas as to what RCUK might do to facilitate greater organisational learning around interdisciplinarity based on findings from a recently-concluded project funded by NERC and conducted with Innogen colleagues Ann Bruce, Wendy Marsden and Laura Meagher.