Creating an Interdisciplinary Experience through an Undergraduate Research Conference
Summary
Interdisciplinarity is...
Fiona and Emma discuss the International Conference of Undergraduate Research (ICUR) and how it relates to interdisciplinarity. One of the key goals of the conference, Emma says, is “allowing students who participated in research to have the same avenues for dissemination and contributing to the discourse in the area that they're studying as any other person.” At ICUR, presenters are asked to speak in sessions with a panel of students from different disciplines, where they are able to gain insights and knowledge from students from a range of disciplinary areas. Emma and Fiona discuss the background of the conference, how the experience facilitates interdisciplinary learning and what students gain from participating.
Highlights
“Reciprocity of [that] engagement is something that is quite core to the ethos of the event.”
“I think lots of people just need a bit of encouragement to give it a go and to be to be told that it's OK if things don't go absolutely perfectly and that kind of experimentation is part [of the experience].”
Students are pushed to move “into a space where they connect with the other panellists and do find some connections with each other's work.”
Dr Fiona Farnsworth
Dr Fiona Farnsworth is the Student Research Support Officer (Conferences). Fiona completed her PhD at the University of Warwick in English and Comparative Literature Studies where she taught across multiple departments.
See Fiona’s full bio here.
Emma Barker
Emma Barker has oversight of IATL’s student research work. She manages Reinvention: an International Journal of Undergraduate Research and the International Conference of Undergraduate Research (ICUR).
See Emma's full bio here.
Students Say...
Emma notes that by participating at ICUR, students
“see their work more fully as research and [that it is] contributing to the conversation and their discipline, [more] than when it just happens in isolation.”
Fiona also highlights that students say it is
“a safe space to kind of try out out ideas and try out the experience of presenting.”
Further Resources
Curious to learn more?
Please find information on below on other undergraduate research conferences and on IATL’s International Undergraduate Research Journal:
- Present Your Research: Undergraduate Research Conferences
- Reinvention: International Journal of Undergraduate Research
- Conference Road Map
- Introduction to Interdisciplinarity
You can also contact Emma and Fiona: e.barker@warwick.ac.uk and fiona.farnsworth@warwick.ac.uk