Interdisciplinary Research Signposting

Welcome to a quick guide to support for interdisciplinary research at the University of Birmingham.

Interdisciplinary Research Signposting

The University of Birmingham’s support for Interdisciplinary Research

An introduction from Professor Hisham Mehanna

Do you have an idea?

If you have a research idea you to want explore and develop further but are unsure of where to start, this platform will provide you with the tools needed to catalyse interdisciplinary research projects and highlight sources of support.

Find people to work with

The university is big, and it can be hard to find colleagues with common interests from different schools and colleges.

PURE and the Research Portal are great starting points. Using a key word search in both these, you can find projects that colleagues across the university are involved with, and relevant research outputs relating to your topic. Then you can decide who to approach to discuss your idea. Bear in mind that people across the university might be searching for you too, so do make sure that your own PURE profile is up-to-date.

The Pure (Publication and Research) database stores and integrates information on research activity in a structured way and makes it available and searchable for the wider academic community and the public.
Keywords allow searches for publications, projects, activities, and datasets.

Bring people together

Once you have identified a group of people from across colleges that you would like to work with, you could propose an Institute of Advanced Studies Workshop to bring them together. If you have a potential collaborator from outside the university, consider proposing them as an Institute of Advanced Studies Visiting Fellow.

Interdisciplinary workshops are intended to support University of Birmingham researchers to bring together expertise from across the breadth of the university. Workshops are usually a day long, on campus and once your proposal is accepted, we’ll provide administrative support, so that you can concentrate on getting the best from the day.


If you’d like advice and support for making a workshop proposal please email [email protected].

This programme aims to attract outstanding academics, operating at the cutting edge of their disciplines to work collaboratively with colleagues at the University of Birmingham. The visits allow colleagues to focus on new and existing areas which are timely and relevant to national and international priorities that cross disciplinary boundaries. Fellows are expected to spend a minimum of one month on campus although cases for longer and shorter visits will be considered.


If you’d like advice and support for making a proposal to this programme please email Sue Gilligan [email protected].

Want to learn more?

A shared understanding of what interdisciplinary research is and why it is needed helps to break down the barriers to interdisciplinary working.

Our ‘How to do Interdisciplinary Research’ workshops aim to address barriers and common questions. Based on a series of themes this programme, led by experienced colleagues, facilitates the sharing of challenges to assist others in overcoming similar obstacles.

For any questions about support for interdisciplinary research and funding open to UoB staff, book an appointment with the Institute of Advanced Studies team.

These workshops aim to address barriers and common questions. Based on a series of themes this programme, led by experienced colleagues, facilitates the sharing of challenges to assist others in overcoming similar obstacles. Researchers at a range of career stages, and trained in a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, commonly experience similar challenges when undertaking interdisciplinary research. In these sessions common challenges are discussed, by drawing on the expertise and experience of Birmingham colleagues who are familiar with these barriers, and keen to share their understanding. How to do IDR is open to all post-PhD researchers at the University of Birmingham and is designed to help colleagues planning future interdisciplinary research projects. Topics covered:
What is interdisciplinary research, and why do it?
Stephanie Decker
Gaining funding for interdisciplinary research
Fern Elsden-Baker
Interdisciplinary research and career development
Dominique Moran
Building and managing interdisciplinary teams
Hisham Mehanna/Joht Chandan
Publishing Interdisciplinary research

Fiona De Londras

For any questions about support for interdisciplinary research and the funding programmes open to University of Birmingham colleagues, book an appointment with the Institute of Advanced Studies team.

What next?

To maximise benefit and outputs from workshop and fellowship visits, Principal Investigators have the opportunity to apply for follow-on funding to help cement collaborations and to prepare for major funding applications.

This pump-priming research fund seeks to ensure that interdisciplinary ideas generated in the University both intra-Birmingham and through collaboration with leading international visitors, are realised.