Table 5 Survey respondents’ preferences for improving interdisciplinary collaboration.
From: Cultural barriers to interdisciplinary research collaboration: evidence from Australia
0 – no effect at all | 1 – somewhat more inclined | 2 – much more inclined | Mean | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
More internal grants earmarked for interdisciplinary research | 11% | 37% | 52% | 1.41 |
Other reward-based incentives for interdisciplinary researchers, like support for PhD students or travel funding | 14% | 31% | 55% | 1.40 |
More cross-faculty networking opportunities | 15% | 42% | 43% | 1.28 |
Research performance guidelines or workload points that specifically take interdisciplinary research into account | 25% | 39% | 36% | 1.11 |
Teaching relief for interdisciplinary researchers | 34% | 29% | 37% | 1.04 |
Free professional development programs to develop interdisciplinary research and collaboration skills | 36% | 39% | 25% | 0.89 |
A central office that coordinates interdisciplinary research across the university | 45% | 39% | 16% | 0.72 |
