Multi- Inter- and Trans-disciplinary research promoted by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST): Lessons and experiments

摘要

Multi-, inter-, trans- disciplinary research has gained a lot of interest and investment during the past two decades as a result of the realization that many of today's challenges are resistant to traditional research approaches and require cross-fertilization between different disciplines and integrated knowledge from heterogeneous sources. Despite these needs, evaluation of multi- / inter- / trans- disciplinary research remains one of the least defined aspects. For the purpose of this paper multi-, inter- and trans-disciplinarity will be indicated with the acronym MIT. The objective of this paper is to share with research managers the experience garnered with this evaluation process of MIT proposals for the formation of research networks at COST. The discussion also includes, the advantages and disadvantages of this process and how it compares to other evaluation procedures implemented by several European research funding agencies.