How interdisciplinary are you? From hardcore to soft interdisciplinary research

Can we categorise research into different degrees of interdisciplinarity? Dr. Özge Bilgili, Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Social Science and member of the Utrecht Young Academy, discusses the importance and value of interdisciplinary research based on her own experience in academia. 

“When asked the question ‘Who are you as a researcher?’, I often find myself responding with one of the following answers: ‘I’m a migration scholar’; ‘I’m a social scientist’, ‘I’m a sociologist by training… but actually my work relies on many disciplines ranging from political science to human geography’. And with the additional benefit of blending such different answers with a simple title, since January 2017, I’m an assistant professor of Interdisciplinary Social Science within European Research Centre on Migration and Ethnic Relations at Utrecht University. So I hardly ever question whether I am an interdisciplinary researcher or whether my research is interdisciplinary. To me, the answer has always been a clear ‘yes’. 

Migration-induced societal challenges are manifold, and thus the disciplinary perspectives through which one can study them. In fact, this was one of the main reasons why I wanted to specialise in this thematic focus, rather than looking at the world through a singular disciplinary lens as an academic right from the start. 

Is there a spectrum ranging from hardcore to soft interdisciplinary research?

So, when I presented my current research Countering the Virus: Discrimination and protestation in multicultural Europe (COVID) at the most recent General Assembly of the Utrecht Young Academy, I did not expect that it would trigger a discussion on how and under what conditions a project can be considered ‘interdisciplinary enough’. Is there a spectrum ranging from hardcore to soft interdisciplinary research? Should research cross natural and social sciences to be considered interdisciplinary? Can we assume that research bringing together different branches of social sciences is less challenging and thus ‘less interdisciplinary’?

In the COVID Project, funded by Utrecht University’s Migration and Societal Challenges Focus Area, we cooperate with colleagues from Human Geography (Maggi Leung) and Media and Culture Studies (Rick Dolphijn). We try to understand prejudice, stigma and discrimination that is practised on and resisted by people of Asian appearance in Europe during the Corona pandemic. In particular, we look at the role of artistic expression and social media as spaces of protest and alliance-building. 

It is especially when such diverse points of references and research fields cross each other that our conversations become truly refreshing, freeing and undeniably inspiring.

In our collaboration we may be speaking a similar language and understand each other but we also refer to and reflect on very different perspectives and lines of research. When Rick Dolphijn quotes journalist Ta-nehisi Coates and says we should build upon the idea that ‘Race, is the child of racism, not the father’, I bring a literature review that looks at how contagious diseases and earlier epidemics such as SARS have led to the ‘intersectional discrimination’ of individuals across the globe.

It is especially when such diverse points of references and research fields cross each other that our conversations become truly refreshing, freeing and undeniably inspiring. And to me that is what matters when thinking of interdisciplinary research. I may be considered to do ‘soft interdisciplinary research’, but this does not make the inspiration I get from it less valid and important to do excellent quality research.”

Özge Bilgili, PhD. Member of the Utrecht Young Academy. Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Social Science.