The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) recently released a memorandum to federal agencies to offer guidance on implementing the recent executive order on “Restoring Gold Standard Science”. The memo, authored by OSTP Director Michael Kratsios, offered nine key tenets for conducting scientific research, one of which was focused on “Collaborative and Interdisciplinary” research. Interdisciplinary research, the memo says, is “vital for generating new knowledge, as it fosters synergy, leverages complementary skills, and promotes the synthesis of ideas to raise new questions and tackle multifaceted problems that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries.”
The memo directed agencies to prioritize this type of interdisciplinary research, through improved collaboration between agencies and inter-agency divisions. Agencies were also directed to foster partnerships across institutions and sectors and provide access to digital workspaces and tools to promote effective communication and collaboration.
OSTP’s dedication to advancing collaborative scientific research aligns with recent initiatives by CCC and the Computing Research Association (CRA) to explore and enhance interdisciplinary research practices. Our recent “Catalyzing Interdisciplinary Computing Research” best practices documents, informed through five roundtable discussions with over 40 experts embedded in various sectors within computing research, offer tailored guidance for various stakeholders involved in scientific research. The “Best Practices for Funders” document, for instance, recommends that entities like federal agencies provide funding mechanisms to help researchers initiate interdisciplinary work, overcome proposal barriers, and broadly incentivize such research. This includes supporting training, interdisciplinary workshops, planning grants, and seed grants, as well as establishing review processes carefully designed for interdisciplinary proposals.
Furthermore, the “Best Practices for Researchers” offers valuable insights for individual scientists, emphasizing the importance of early engagement with collaborators, transparency regarding disciplinary norms (e.g., authorship, funding, methods), and acknowledging biases. It highlights the need to build trust, create shared vocabularies and research goals, and develop practices that align with research values. Researchers are encouraged to be flexible in their thinking and dissemination methods, and to proactively participate in interdisciplinary events to find collaborators.
Finally, the “Best Practices for Organizational Leadership” provides guidance for leaders across academia, industry, and government on how to facilitate interdisciplinary collaborations. It stresses the importance of providing funding opportunities for all ranks of researchers to build interdisciplinary collaborations, supporting professional development in team science, and ensuring resource allocations are informed by the needs of interdisciplinary researchers. Additionally, it calls for organizational changes such as promoting respect for all disciplines, acknowledging differences in publication cultures, creating opportunities for interdisciplinary discussions, and examining reward structures for systemic biases that might disadvantage interdisciplinary research.
By leveraging these detailed best practices, the OSTP and federal agencies can strengthen their approach to fostering truly collaborative and interdisciplinary scientific endeavors. We encourage the computing community to utilize these resources in preparing for and conducting interdisciplinary work, and we hope you share these resources widely with your networks!
Best Practices Resources
- Catalyzing Interdisciplinary Computing Research: Best Practices for Funders
- Catalyzing Interdisciplinary Computing Research: Best Practices for Researchers
- Catalyzing Interdisciplinary Computing Research: Best Practices for Organizational Leadership
