Interdisciplinarity of Ph.D. students across the Atlantic. A Case of Interdisciplinary Research Team Building at the Student Level

This research explores the process of building an interdisciplinary design research team at the doctorate student level across institutions and disciplines. This study aims to establish a case addressing how to: 1) define aligned research goals, 2) outline overlapped approaches, such as methodologies, to achieve the research goals, and 3) organize a research team to conduct an interdisciplinary research project addressing overarching characteristics and research interests of members. This study was conducted in four phases: 1) understanding context, 2) framing inputs, 3) discussing processes (repeatable), and 4) analyzing outputs (products). Framed by Action Research, five data collection methods were used within the interdisciplinary team (participants) over two weeks. The interdisciplinary team building process, the benefits and shortcomings of the methods used, and the resulting research study with aligned research goals are presented in this paper.