18 August 2026
Can research really cross disciplines, or does it just fall through the cracks between them?
Interdisciplinary work is increasingly seen as essential for tackling major societal challenges, from climate change to public health. Yet universities remain largely organised by discipline, funding bodies often expect clear and predictable outcomes, and academic journals can be slow to reward work that does not fit neatly into one field. For early-career researchers in particular, this raises a real question: can you afford investing in interdisciplinary collaboration in a system that still runs on “publish or perish”?
SCAIRY (Sustainable Climate Action through Interdisciplinary Research in YUFE) invites to join the hybrid webinar on 15 September 2026 at 13:00–14:00 CET for “Interdisciplinarity in Climate Research,” a panel discussion held during the BioYUFE Annual Meeting in Brussels, and streamed online for anyone who cannot join in person.
This panel will bring together perspectives from academic publishing, funding, and research practice to discuss whether the systems around us are sufficiently supporting interdisciplinary work, and what may need to change.
Confirmed speakers:
- Karl Ziemelis, Chief Applied & Physical Sciences Editor at Nature since 1997, where he leads a team of editors responsible for the journal’s output across physics, materials science, chemistry, and Earth and environmental sciences.
- Professor James Blande, expert in Chemical Ecology at the University of Eastern Finland.
- Olivier Boehme, Scientific Advisor on Research Subsidies and Grants at the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO).
Among the questions to be discussed:
- Are journal and funding processes designed to avoid disadvantaging interdisciplinary research?
- Should interdisciplinary thinking be taught as a distinct skill during undergraduate education?
- And what would need to change in funding, evaluation, and promotion criteria to make interdisciplinary research careers more attractive?
This event has been organised by a team of early-career researchers working across disciplines in Europe: Tihomir Simin, Ho Won Kim, Luz Ma, Aaron Van Poecke, Tania Hernandez Gonzalez, and Kristina Chilver.
