autumn 2014 ARK-8004 Human and environment: From multidisciplinary to interdisciplinary research - 7 ECTS

Type of course

This course is recommended as part of the compulsory credits in subject-specific theory and methods within the instruction component of the PhD programme in the humanities and social sciences. It can be taken as single course (i.e., independent from study program).

Admission requirements

Compulsory previous knowledge:
Master¿s degree and admission to the PhD programme.

The admission proceeds according to the target groups and categories 1 and 3 described in the Regulations for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor, Section 10.

  • category 1: doctoral students at UiT
  • category 3: doctoral students from other universities

Target group: admitted PhD-students in archaeology, anthropology, history, geology, botany, zoology and related disciplines.

The intake is limited to 25 students.


Course content

The course opens with a consideration of the concept of inter-disciplinary research, stressing the distinction between multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary organization and approaches The students will be introduced to publications discussing interdisciplinary research and projects. Examples of different types of interdisciplinarity (within and between faculties) will be provided. In particular the collaboration between humanities and environmental/natural sciences will be addressed. Main emphasis will be given to discussing how to initiate inter-disciplinary research, how to formulate shared research questions, and how to communicate across disciplines by employing a shared set of concepts. As part of this it will be acknowledged that interdisciplinary research is time-consuming and requires understanding of each others source material, methods, restrictions and potentials. The importance of shared goals and mutual well defined mid-term goals, that are adjusted regularly, will be stressed.

The overall theme for the course is ¿Human and Environment¿. Senior researchers from relevant disciplines such as geology, zoologi, archaeology, anthropology and pharmacy will contribute towards the identification of possible joint research questions with regard to the relationship between human and environment, relevant and accessible data, relevant methods and how to combine these in more embracing interdisciplinary projects.

The lectures will cover such themes as natural environmental processes, human adaptability to a changing environment, different human adaptations to the environment and human impact on the environment.

Students will, based on the reading list and their own doctoral research, present a case study of relevance (i.e. how to make a theme close to their own research more interdisciplinary). This will be disseminated to all participants in advance of the seminar. Another student, selected in advance, will act as initial discussant and chair the following open debate.


Objectives of the course

Having attended the course and completed the exam the students will obtain the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge and understanding

  • advanced knowledge of the potential and requirements of interdisciplinary research, as well as insight into the challenges in such projects.
  • advanced understanding of the diversity in scientific concepts, language and data availability in different disciplines, and the challenges these pose for interdisciplinary research.

Skills

  • ability to identify and formulate interdisciplinary research questions
  • ability to write an academic paper addressing interdisciplinary research.

General Competence

  • the student will have acquired a platform from which to proceed with interdisciplinary research projects.


Language of instruction and examination

English

Teaching methods

The course is organised as a 4-day workshop. It will consist of lectures from senior researchers, seminars with pre-prepared student papers and a one day fieldtrip.

The fieldtrip will focus on the potential for truly inter-disciplinary research questions and projects linked to human and environment.


Assessment

Each PhD-student should, before the start of the course, have prepared a paper for pre-circulation, addressing her or his research project in relation to the course theme. The maximum length of the paper is 10 pages. In the course seminars, each paper will be allotted ca. 1 hour, beginning with the student presenting a 15-minute summary of its contents. A fellow PhD student will be assigned in advance as discussant and present an approx. 10 minute comment, after which she or he will then chair an open discussion on the paper for approx. 30 minutes.

The pre-circulated paper must be edited for a short article for publication in a collective volume on Human and Environment, for example in Journal of Nordic Archaeological Science.

The exam in the form of a draft for an article must be in English. The paper must be submitted for assessment about 2 months after the completion of the course.

The examination is evaluated according to the pass/fail grading system.

Obligatory attendance at lectures and excursion.  


Recommended reading/syllabus

The reading list (ca. 1000 pages) will be provided well in advance of the course event. Included in the list are the following:

Botkin, D.B. 2007. Scientific opinion and the opinion of scientists. In People and Nature.

Boulton, A.J., Panizzon, D. & Prior, J 2005.  Explicit knowledge structures as a tool for overcoming obstacles to interdisciplinary research. Conservation Biology 19: 2026-2029

Bruce, A., Lyall, C., Tait, J. & Williams, R. 2004 Interdisciplinary integration in Europe: the case of the Fifth Framework programme. Futures 36:457-470.

Frost, S. H. / Jean, P. M. 2003. Bridging the disciplines: interdisciplinary discourse and faculty scholarship. The Journal of Higher Educatiopn 74:119-149.

Hamilton, A., Watson, F., Davies, A.L. & Hanley, N. 2009 Interdisciplinary Conversations: The Collective model. In Nature¿s end. History and the environment. (Eds Warde & Sörlin)

Tress, B., Tress, G., & Fry, G. 2005. Ten steps to integrative research projects. In Tress, B., Tress, J. & Odam, P. (eds) From Landscape Research to Landscape Planning: Aspects of integration, Education and Application. Heidelberg, 241-257.

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  • About the course
  • Campus: Tromsø |
  • ECTS: 7
  • Course code: ARK-8004