Anna Kosmützky (Hannover): Beyond Departments: Clusterized Research as an Organizational Model of the University

Since its founding at the end of the 1960s, Bielefeld University has embraced interdisciplinarity as a defining institutional principle. The Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF) and the Institute for Studies of Science (ISoS) have jointly organized the lecture series Interdisciplinarity in Scientific Research – Perspectives from Practice and Science Studies to explore interdisciplinarity in both theory and practice. This lecture series brings together theoretical reflections and practical experiences on interdisciplinarity in scientific research. The field of Science Studies has long examined the conditions, forms, and implications of interdisciplinary work. Historians,sociologists, and philosophers of science address questions such as: What distinguishes interdisciplinary from multidisciplinary research? How is knowledge integrated across disciplinary boundaries? How do interdisciplinary fields emerge and stabilize? How do researchers navigate conflicting methods, standards, and epistemic cultures in collaborative settings? The series connects these theoretical debates with insights from research, funding, and institutional practice. It highlights interdisciplinary projects in which scholars develop innovative approaches to collaboration and design measures to foster interdisciplinary competencies. The lecture series also offers perspectives on how funding organizations design and implement formats that promote and sustain interdisciplinary research, as well as on how research institutes host, structure, and actively support such collaboration. Partcipation is possible onsite and online. See the website for details.