4. INTERDISCIPLINARY AND COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH
Bernard describes his own work as interdisciplinary. At the beginning of his research career, he realized that he needed to understand not only information systems, but also psychology and social psychology in particular. At times, the sheer volume of knowledge that he had to learn from other disciplines overwhelmed him, but, with practice, he eventually developed the skill of being able quickly to distinguish what was valuable and useful to him and what was not.
Reflection 27: Have you found the need to go outside of your discipline in order to answer some research questions in a more satisfactory way? If so, what difficulties have you encountered in doing this? Were there also other unexpected benefits that came with this?
In the old days, he recalls, NUS did not regard interdisciplinary research as valuable. Department heads would typically discourage their faculty from exploring outside of their own discipline. There was always a risk in younger faculty pursuing research that may not yield results or that yields results that are not readily appreciated by others working in established fields. Later, there was also some difficulty in identifying referees and reviewers who would be sympathetic to the interdisciplinary work of tenure candidates. Many leading journals, steeped in their disciplinary tradition, were resistant towards accepting and publishing interdisciplinary submissions.
Reflection 28: If you do interdisciplinary work or have wanted to do it, do these kinds of problems and obstacles sound familiar to you? How have you dealt with them?
Today, younger colleagues can go into interdisciplinary work without much fear, since there is now greater awareness among scholars and reviewers of the value of knowledge that grows from across or in between disciplines. NUS has been careful to appoint broadminded professors to sit on its highest level promotion and tenure committee. Today, there are large grants available for interdisciplinary work. Even if researchers published primarily within their own disciplines, borrowing ideas from other disciplines can enrich their work. It is also no longer as difficult to get such work published. The editors of leading journals, it seems to Bernard, are now more prepared to take a chance with submissions that engage other fields and disciplines. There are more interdisciplinary journals today and more of them are being included in the upper tiers of journal classification lists compiled by NUS.
Reflection 29: Do you share this optimistic view that the current situation is more supportive of interdisciplinary work?
To Bernard, what should matter most is the significance of one’s research. For instance, the university should value research that addresses ‘significant problems’ facing the world such as the global problem of food shortage. Significant problems are usually complex problems with many different aspects. Bernard sees the potential for different disciplines and fields to contribute parts of what is inevitably a complex solution. He believes that scholars should be aware of how different disciplines and their solutions can work together. Even scholars specializing in pure and abstract research should, Bernard insists, have at least a sense of the practical contribution they might be able to make.
Reflection 30: Do you agree that researchers need always to have a sense of the practical implications of their work, and that research should be judged on how well it addresses ‘significant problems’? What are some of the complications in taking this view?
It is not difficult to see how interdisciplinary research can be greatly facilitated by collaborative approaches. At the very least, collaboration makes it possible for scholars in different disciplines to come together to do different parts of the work, then bring their skills and expertise together to produce outcomes that open up new perspectives. However, Bernard recalls how challenging it was as a relatively junior academic to find willing collaborators among the more established names in cognate fields. It was also not wise, he believes, for younger faculty to take up joint appointments in different units at NUS as a way of advancing their interdisciplinary agenda, at least not before achieving the security of tenure.
Reflection 31: Have you held joint appointments before? If so, what was your experience of it?
In any case, Bernard thinks that most departments or faculties at NUS today are sufficiently big and diverse that one can, without too much difficulty, find good collaborators.
Reflection 32: Are you engaged in collaborative work? If so, what challenges did you face in forging collaborative relationships? What are the challenges of working collaboratively across disciplines?
Bernard also recalls how challenging it was to connect with established academic figures from overseas, in particular those from the US. Bernard made it a point to attend international conferences where such people congregated. In the early years, he would approach editors of US-based journals, talk admiringly about their work, and even take photographs with them (which, in the pre-email era, he would label, sign, and send to them by airmail). Bernard realized how important it was to invest time in cultivating networks and even to work through other people’s networks.
Reflection 33: Have you conscientiously cultivated an international network? How useful are large international conferences for building professional networks? Can you share concrete examples of how your professional network has benefited you?
Unfortunately, as Bernard quickly realized at these conferences, US academics used to have rather low regard for Asian academics. Today, he is happy to say, things appear to have changed. Asian universities are growing fast but universities in the rest of the world seem to have stagnated. Many US academics actually want to work in Asia, where universities seem to be better resourced and offer more opportunities. NUS, for example, has a reputation for being research-driven, welcoming of international expertise, and willing to invest resources into supporting international activities. These qualities helped NUS to attract academic stars, forming a critical mass that has been able, in turn, to attract a range of talented individuals no longer worried that they would be academically isolated in Singapore.
Reflection 34: Do you think this is an accurate description of NUS’s talent management approach? If so, do you think it was or is the best way to do it? If not, how should NUS attract and manage talent?
As a Singaporean academic, Bernard also understands why many local academics might feel like ‘second-class citizens’. However, he notes that the disparities between employment terms for local and expatriate academics have gradually leveled over the years. In the spirit of long-term self-improvement, Bernard has always believed that it is important for Singaporean academics always to benchmark themselves against their international colleagues, striving to improve their relative standing.
Reflection 35: What do you think of the so-called ‘local/expatriate’ divide at NUS? Are these disparities a problem of perception? Are you as optimistic that the disparities, real or perceived, are becoming less significant?
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