A new Cornell study suggests that researchers from different disciplines can work together to solve societal problems.
It's best to use a human approach and fixate on the process to find solutions instead of a specific mission. The work was published in May.
The research topic is unimportant as motivation to engage in collaboration, which flies in the face of relying on engagement only around an important crisis such as climate change.
It's more about how to approach problems and find a common way of interacting. He said that it was interesting. We may want to question the way discipline constrains a common vision.
In the paper, the authors recount how the Soil Factory, a large, unremarkable warehouse on the southern edge of Ithaca, became a collaboration place in 2021.
The Soil Factory hosted classes, art installations and exhibitions, as well as Friday night film screenings, talks and outdoor concerts. Participants began having conversations about scientific perspectives.
The authors found that how they interact is more important than who participates in the workshop.
A professor and chair in the Department of Classics in the College of Arts and Sciences has an interest in the environmental humanities.
It's inspiring to travel between science and the arts. "I think about bigger questions when I cross these boundaries since I work on ancient Greece and Rome." It has helped me reach students in the sciences who are interested in the arts and humanities.
The soil factory is a part of a larger network for Rebecca J. Nelson.
Nelson said that the network in and around Ithaca has brought together a wonderful and diverse cast of characters, who come together to work on different things for different reasons, with intersecting interests around environmental issues and a willingness to explore and learn from each other.
Nelson said that one of the themes that intrigues him, as well as several of the scientists and artists who spend time at the Soil Factory, has to do with excreta. It's a taboo topic that has a lot of potential to be addressed. Our local network connects with a global one that engages people in the US, India, and other countries.
After the workshops the researchers confirmed their results at the soil factory experimental center. The results show that a common space like the Soil Factory allows for both asynchronous and synchronous interactions.
The process suggests that universities may benefit from a moreporous structure on behalf of their faculty, staff, student body and surrounding communities. The learning, sharing and catalytic social and intellectual action was a result of the University.
decentralization, dispersion and undisciplining are some of the tricks that can be used to break down academic silos.
More information: Andrew Freiband et al, Undisciplining the university through shared purpose, practice, and place, Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (2022). DOI: 10.1057/s41599-022-01195-4
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