Levels for integrating knowledge

In the early summer, the research programme

Mistra-SWECIA

held a research seminar on knowledge integration in interdisciplinary research.

Link:
Mistra-SWECIA - Climate, Impacts and Adaptation

Approximately 20 researchers from Mistra-SWECIA and other research programmes participated. The point of departure for the seminar was that knowledge integration in interdisciplinary research projects needs to occur at three different levels: technical, social and cognitive. “To achieve results in interdisciplinary research programmes it is important that the researchers involved create a common language and common goals for the research as early as possible. Therefore, it is not enough to just exchange data with each other for knowledge to be useful," says Richard Klein, a researcher in Mistra-SWECIA and one of the seminar organizers.

Common view
For the technical integration (i.e. data exchange) to succeed, a social integration is necessary that ensures that the researchers from the represented disciplines share a common view of the problem, that they have common motives, and that they understand each other and speak the same language. Richard Klein describes this as every individual researcher being a team member, and that results are achieved together with the rest of the team. Cognitive integration is about creating understanding for each other´s research fields and how one describes knowledge.

Seminars
For Mistra-SWECIA, where researchers from the natural and social sciences collaborate, integration between the disciplines is central. “In Sweden, for example, climate modeling and economic modeling have not previously been used within one project. They are different types of models and we have to learn from each other in all possible ways to be able to draw conclusions about how climate change effects economic development, and vice versa. For us, the seminars provide a way of promoting integration at its different levels," says Markku Rummukainen, Programme Director for Mistra-SWECIA.

Adaption process
Thus far, six seminars have been held. An additional three are planned for this fall. In September the theme will be integration between economic and climate modeling. In October the main theme will be climate modeling and the seminar in November will be about adaptation processes, that is how society meets knowledge of climate impacts and how that knowledge is interpreted and used in decision making.