Interdisciplinary research and teaching
Many of the challenges of our time are too complex to be resolved within the confines of a single discipline. Leiden University is a broad-based university where an incredible number of research fields converge. That makes us the ideal breeding ground for, and practitioners of, interdisciplinary research and teaching.
Time and space for interdisciplinary* research and teaching
When researchers from different fields join forces, they can come up with fantastic insights and solutions. Archaeologists, for example, possess indispensable knowledge about life in the past, which can be used to shape a sustainable life in the future. And to resolve migration issues, we will need input from economists, historians, legal scholars, social scientists and public administration experts, to name but a few. Interdisciplinary collaboration − when researchers from a wide variety of fields work together on a research or teaching project − is an important way to seek answers to the most complex, pressing issues of our time.
Discover our interfaculty research themes.
* The term ‘interdisciplinary’ here is also taken to mean ‘transdisciplinary’. By this, we mean collaboration between Leiden researchers and other parties (such as citizens, municipalities, businesses and other universities).
Offering time and space
Interdisciplinary collaboration does not just happen. Researchers need time and space – both literal and figurative − to build it. To get to know each other, for instance, to learn each other’s disciplinary language and to see whether there is a good match between their methods and thinking. Leiden University believes it important to support interdisciplinary collaboration, particularly now that we as an academic community wish to move away from a culture where the be-all-and-end-all is journal publications. Interdisciplinary collaboration also ties in closely with our Academia in Motion programme.
Internal funding: Kiem grant
Leiden University is home to a fast-growing community of researchers who work together (or wish to do so) in inter- and transdisciplinary research and teaching projects.
Through the Kiem grant, Leiden University will provide 25 annual seed grants between 2024 and 2026 to develop new interdisciplinary (interfaculty) teaching/research collaborations and encounters. Kiem applications (€10,000 per project) should involve staff from at least two faculties at Leiden University.
Proposals could focus on network building, organising seminars and workshops, conducting a pilot study, revision of an education programme, preparing research proposals, etcetera.