PhD Talk for AcademicTransfer: Developing interdisciplinary proposals and projects

This post is part of the series PhD Talk for AcademicTransfer: posts written for the Dutch academic career network AcademicTransfer, your go-to resource for all research positions in the Netherlands.

These posts are sponsored by AcademicTransfer, and tailored to those of you interested in pursuing a research position in the Netherlands.

If these posts raise your interest in working as a researcher in the Netherlands, even better – and feel free to fire away any questions you might have on this topic!

Many proposals and projects these days are interdisciplinary in nature so that they can work towards tackling some of the larger challenges of society. Combining engineering and social sciences is a way to get a better involvement of all stakeholders to, for example, solve transportation challenges.

Yet, working in interdisciplinary groups can sometimes require an adjustment of our working principles. Each discipline has different practices and terminologies, and sometimes project partners can be misaligned.

Here are ways you can make your interdisciplinary proposals and projects a success:

1. Develop a common understanding from the start: Set aside time from the start to discuss the terms you use in your research, and what they mean to you in your field, and how they are technically defined. Classic terms such as “risk” and “vulnerability” can have deviant meanings across disciplines, so having a discussion to see if you intend the same with the same word is a good way to avoid confusion later on.
2. Write a comprehensive research question: Instead of simply merging fields (e.g. “civil engineering + psychology”), start with a question or problem that naturally spans disciplines. This ensures the research is coherent and genuinely integrative. If you start from a research question that balances the different fields, you will also have your methodology aligned with the interdisciplinary nature of the question.
3. Truly collaborate from the start: Bring in collaborators from other disciplines early—not just to validate your ideas, but to shape the project with their perspective. This fosters shared ownership and avoids disciplinary bias. Don’t think you can “read up” on their topic and write the entire proposal yourself.
4. Take your time for extra reading and understanding: Interdisciplinary work means more to read and more to learn. We know how important structured reading is—tools like literature matrices and summary tables can help manage the wider scope. Take the time to get a basic grasp of the other discipline so you can better collaborate moving forward.
5. Align goals and metrics from the start: Different fields often have different standards of rigor, publication styles, and evaluation methods. Agree early on how success will be measured—whether that’s publications, software, community engagement, or practical outcomes. In addition, different fields have different practices in terms of data management, version control of software and spreadsheets, and open science contributions. Make sure you discuss these tools from the beginning as well.
6. Practice clear communication: You’re working across disciplinary languages, so you’ll need to communicate clearly. Practice presenting your ideas to both specialized and non-specialized audiences – an interdisciplinary project will help you get better at communicating your ideas to different audiences.
7. Anticipate administrative hurdles: Interdisciplinary proposals often face barriers in funding structures, departmental boundaries, and supervisor expectations. Be proactive in identifying which department will lead the grant, clarifying intellectual property issues, and building time buffers for coordination delays.
8. Use project management tools: Interdisciplinary work often means dispersed teams. Use shared tools (like Trello, Notion, or shared Gantt charts) to keep everyone in sync. Thinking about planning and to-do systems for long-term clarity never hurts to get a project up and running, and moving forward well.
9. Embrace the learning curve: Don’t shy away from being the beginner in a field. Document your learning journey; it makes great content for storytelling about the project later and helps you keep track of your progress.
10. Design different outputs: A successful interdisciplinary project often creates multiple outputs: a technical paper for your field, a methodological piece for another, maybe even a public outreach article. You can also think about social media material, infographics, policy briefs, or an event for schoolchildren to communicate your findings.
11. Enjoy the stretch: Interdisciplinary research can feel messy. That tension, between methods, definitions, and assumptions, is exactly where innovation happens. It may be frustrating, but remember that when you feel stretched it is a good sign: you are learning.

Have you participated in writing an interdisciplinary proposal or working on an interdisciplinary project? What are you best tips for a good outcome?