Professor Gabriele Bammer advises US National Science Foundation on interdisciplinarity
In November, Professor Gabriele Bammer was invited by National Science Foundation Director, Professor France Cordova, to spend a day at the Foundation to discuss ways to improve funding for interdisciplinary research. Professor Bammer met with the Director and the senior leadership team, as well as program officers and presented a well-attended seminar. She said “It’s heartening to see funders world-wide tackle the challenges of more adequately encouraging and funding interdisciplinary research. It was a priority issue at this year’s Global Research Council meeting, with the Australian Research Council, National Science Foundation and others taking positive steps forward.” Professor Bammer discussed ten specific requirements for interdisciplinarity to become a mainstream institutional activity, including a unifying intellectual core that addresses knowledge, unknowns, integration and implementation; a reporting protocol for methods and processes; and a college of peers.