Effective interdisciplinary collaboration workshops require thoughtful design and considered facilitation. Earlier this year, the Researcher Development Unit accompanied University of Sydney researchers to the five-day 2025 Universitas 21 ECR Workshop held in Nottingham UK, where we gained insights on conditions and activities that promote interdisciplinary collaboration.

The role of researcher development support

We hear there needs to be more interdisciplinary research to solve complex global challenges of our time, but how do we help to enable those important connections and integrated ideas to surface in a timely manner?

Collaboration requires knowing the right people at the right time. For researchers, this often involves putting in the hard yards to grow and maintain a network of contacts so they can discover and act on opportunities as they arise. 

For those working in researcher development support, we can assist by offering networking opportunities – all the usual things like running workshops and social events, supporting conference attendance (locally, nationally and globally), and knowing the researchers we support well enough to be able to provide tailored connections and contacts when relevant. We can also provide training opportunities on effective relationship-building, communication, negotiation, and networking for those who want to build specific skills relevant to collaborations. 

But what about workshops specifically to create interdisciplinary connections? How can we make these as productive as possible?

What we’ve learned

For those designing an event to build collaborative research connections, finding effective activities can be a challenge. Published literature on design thinking is a great place to start, such as unrelated prompts to generate novel thinking, free flow writing and editing to hone ideas, and improvisation or art to creatively explore options. 

Always be cognisant of your audience – what will they respond to? Is it worth bringing in an expert to support the design or run elements of the workshop for you? Whatever your level of involvement in the facilitation, there is a lot you can do to increase likelihood of success. 

Here are some ways that researchers were able to get the most out of the Universitas 21 ECR experience.

Shared interest

Providing a clear theme or shared interest increases the likelihood of meaningful connections being made. For example, at the Universitas 21 workshop all the attendees were there because they had a shared interest in the theme ‘Living Well Across the Life Course’, was further fleshed out into various sub-themes. 

Research introductions

Enabling researchers to give a brief introduction to their own work, expertise and even what kinds of collaboration they’re looking for facilitated connections. For example, the U21 workshop incorporated two sessions of three-minute lightning talks and an afternoon of poster presentations which led to individuals purposefully seeking each other out.

Diversity of ideas, expertise and experience

Maximising diversity is crucial. U21 is a global network so researchers came from all over the world and had a range of specialisms in addition to health, including technology, design, education and community. These broadened the opportunities for creativity and innovation, putting interdisciplinarity at the centre of the workshop.

Social events and ice breakers

The inclusion of informal activities at the workshop helped people to quickly build rapport and a higher level of comfort with each other. After all, relationships are the basis of collaboration. Social events and ice breakers facilitated connection, ease, and enabled the design-focused activities to move at a more rapid pace – great when you have limited time. 

Design thinking methodology

Putting this at the heart of the workshop’s approach encouraged creative, blue-sky thinking. There were numerous structured activities designed to get people to think broadly and creatively about a topic tocreate new or innovative ideas through previously untapped connections. Many participants found it hard to let go of their current knowledge and expertise and think without inhibition and without a clear answer from the beginning. The facilitator played an important role here, encouraging participants to just give it a go! 

Clarity of instructions, purpose, and people’s roles

Providing this on all aspects of the workshop created safety and understanding. The purpose, the process and who is there and why were important to share from the outset. Then clear explanations for each of the activities meant people who were hesitant felt more comfortable and able to participate.

Explain the benefits

Explaining benefits to participants promoted engagement. For some, the workshop led to potentially long-lasting collaborative connections between people in different disciplines, institutions and countries, opening the door to more future research opportunities. Everyone participating also practiced invaluable skills that support success in group funding applications.  As the academic panel explained to them, the process enabled them to find common ground quickly with new people and come up with innovative and impactful collaborative ideas that could be scaled and pitched in a cohesive and convincing way. 

Incentivise the work

Providing seed funding for research projects that are developed and pitched through the workshop would support researchers to take the initial steps in developing their collaboration and could lead to more tangible outcomes. Although this wasn’t a feature of the U21 Workshop, this can be done more readily in local, institutional programs.
  

And then it’s up to the participants

As researcher development professionals, the most we can do is provide an environment that stimulates connection, information-sharing and the generation of new research ideas and collaborative relationships. Despite all our best efforts, the kind of sparks you want to generate may not occur: it just might not be the right combination of people, the right time, the right activities for that group or another reason. There is always going to be alchemy involved.

The participants who get the most out of workshops specifically designed to build interdisciplinary collaborations are those who have the desire and capacity to create and follow up on new connections and ideas. They are the ones who have to do the real work afterwards if they see genuine value for their research. While that is out of our control, we have an important role to play putting thought into the design and delivery to make it an experience that has the potential to spark impact and inspiration for those involved.

Thank you to Connie Wan and the Researcher Academy team at the University of Nottingham and Debs McAllister from Universitas 21 for allowing us to attend the 2025 U21 ECR Workshop.