Valuing Disciplinary Diversity

UTS supports the creation of a high-performing, talent-based research culture so that our people—academics and professional staff at UTS—are skilled at mobilising their own disciplinary capabilities, and aligning with others, to create cross-disciplinary or transdisciplinary collaborative networks.

Knowledge of:

• How to mobilise deep disciplinary expertise and insights to deliver research with impact.
• Different approaches and models to collaborate across disciplines – transdisciplinary, cross-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary.
• The value of bringing diverse research teams together to solve important and wicked research problems.
• Cultural and personal attributes, and research approaches across disciplines.
• Discipline-specific research methodologies and the transdisciplinary perspective.
• Discipline-specific communication styles and preferences; knowledge transfer across disciplines.
• The value of reading widely, beyond a research discipline.

Ability to:

• Develop a holistic approach to researching complex and wicked societal problems drawing from a diverse set of skills to create real impact.
• Work collaboratively towards a common goal as a member of diverse research teams.
• Communicate with researchers from different disciplines.
• Identify collaborators based on capability requirements.
• Assess the value of different research outputs.
• Use appropriate research practices for given applications.
• React flexibly and creatively regarding the contributions of team members, methods used, and outcomes.

Confidence to:

• Seek and pursue transdisciplinary collaborative opportunities.
• Respect the differences in research approaches, methodologies and the values of researchers from different disciplines.
• Nurture a collegial working environment that gives fair acknowledgement of individual contributions to solving a research problem.
• Value the opportunities to publish and exchange knowledge outside discipline-specific contexts.