A framework for structuring interdisciplinary research management

Bettina König, Katharina Diehl, Karen Tscherning and Katharina Helming

Research Policy, 2013, vol. 42, issue 1, 261-272

Abstract: With project-based research becoming a major form of research organisation, coordination and management has become an important task in interdisciplinary research collaborations and a key determinant of their success. Yet little theory-based information is available regarding the decisive determinants of project management success and the functions it needs to fulfil. Based on the assumption that such projects are temporary organisations, we have adapted the Competing Values Framework (Quinn, 1988; Quinn and Rohrbaugh, 1983), taken from the literature on organisation management, making it usable for project managers in interdisciplinary research projects. Via a case study from a European Integrated Project, we have developed four essential management fields, relating them to the existing literature on management of inter- and transdisciplinary research projects. Our resulting Interdisciplinary Research Management Framework makes coordinator functions explicit and plausible, while also being generic, in that specific coordination duties can be attributed to functions relatively independent of project topic. The framework can facilitate the structured planning, conducting and evaluating of management activities for large interdisciplinary projects. It can be a practical tool for project leaders and scientific administrators, but may also help to facilitate further academic discussion on interdisciplinary research management. The production of results dependent on information transfers between project consortia and target arenas (e.g. the science–policy interface) remains a major challenge. In any case, a “re-invention of the wheel” process, in the sense of personal and project-specific learning, still seems to be somewhat necessary for organising context-specific, temporary interdisciplinary research programmes.

Keywords: Research management; Interdisciplinary projects; Management functions; Impact assessment; Sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733312001436
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:respol:v:42:y:2013:i:1:p:261-272

DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2012.05.006

Access Statistics for this article

Research Policy is currently edited by M. Bell, B. Martin, W.E. Steinmueller, A. Arora, M. Callon, M. Kenney, S. Kuhlmann, Keun Lee and F. Murray

More articles in Research Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().