This book highlights the importance of interdisciplinarity in the academic landscape, and examines how it is understood in the context of the modern university. While interdisciplinarity is encouraged by research funders, academics themselves receive mixed messages about how, when and whether to follow this route. Building upon a series of career history interviews with established interdisciplinary researchers, the author reveals fundamental misunderstandings about the nature of interdisciplinary knowledge, how this is shared, and the skills these researchers bring. The book addresses these issues on both a personal and systemic level, identifying how a resilient researcher can craft their own research trajectory to view interdisciplinarity as a truly embedded approach.

Catherine Lyall is Professor of Science and Public Policy at the University of Edinburgh, UK.

Chapter 1. Introduction: Mixed messages for the interdisciplinary research community.- Chapter 2. "What am I?": The path to becoming an interdisciplinary academic.- Chapter 3. "Are you one of us?" How institutions impact interdisciplinary careers.- Chapter 4. The nets we weave: Consequences for interdisciplinary capacity building.- Chapter 5. Facilitating serendipity?.- Chapter 6. Towards new logics of interdisciplinarity.- Chapter 7. Conclusion: "The funding can only do so much".