By April Lanux

Complex problems cannot be solved if examined only through a narrow lens. Enter interdisciplinarity. It is now widely accepted that drawing on varied expertise and perspectives is the only way we can understand and tackle many of the most challenging issues we face, as individuals and as a species.

So, there is a growing movement towards more cross-disciplinary working in higher education, but it faces challenges. Interdisciplinarity requires a shift of mindset in an academy built on clear disciplinary distinctions and must compete for space in already overcrowded curricula.

We speak to two leading scholars in interdisciplinary research and teaching to find out why it is so important and how they are encouraging more academics and students to break out of traditional academic silos.

Gabriele Bammer is professor of integration and implementation sciences (i2S) at the Australian National University. Her books include Disciplining Interdisciplinarity, and she is inaugural president of the Global Alliance for Inter- and Transdisciplinarity.

To support progress in interdisciplinarity around the world, she runs the Integration and Implementation Insights blog and repository of theory, methods and tools underpinning i2S. She has held visiting appointments at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center at the University of Maryland and the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Potsdam, Germany.

Kate Crawford is an international scholar of the social implications of artificial intelligence who has advised policymakers in the United Nations, the White House and the European Parliament on AI, and leads the Knowing Machines Project, an international research collaboration that investigates the foundations of machine learning. She is a research professor at USC Annenberg in Los Angeles, a senior principal researcher at MSR in New York, an honorary professor at the University of Sydney, and the inaugural visiting chair for AI and justice at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. Her award-winning book, Atlas of AI, reveals the extractive nature of this technology while her creative collaborations such as Anatomy of an AI System with Vladan Joler and Excavating AI with Trevor Paglen explore the complex processes behind each human-AI interaction, showing the material and human costs. Her latest exhibition, Calculating Empires: A Genealogy of Technology and Power 1500-2025, opened in Milan in November 2023 and won the Grand Prize of the European Commission for art and technology.

By Flint Jurgens

Research from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Business suggests that political uncertainty, often seen as a hindrance to economic stability, may actually have a silver lining. The study reveals that companies tend to increase investment in research and development (R&D) when political uncertainty is high, particularly during closely contested gubernatorial elections.

In the paper, "The Bright Side of Political Uncertainty: The Case of R&D," published in the Review of Financial Studies, Julian Atanassov, associate professor of finance, found that firms see R&D as a strategic growth option in uncertain times.

“This is because R&D functions as a growth option, allowing firms to explore potential future opportunities. If they increase investment when the uncertainty is higher, they have the option to invest more in the future, if there is a favorable resolution,” Atanassov said. “If they do not invest, they will reduce their growth opportunities and lag behind their competitors in the future.”

This finding contrasts with previous research that predominantly focuses on the negative impact of political uncertainty on capital expenditures, mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings and other corporate decisions.

“R&D is considered as one of the most important contributors to long-term economic growth. Therefore, by influencing R&D investment, political uncertainty has a surprising impact on growth and development,” Atanassov added. Understanding the Link Between Political Uncertainty and R&D

To quantify political uncertainty, the researchers analyzed gubernatorial elections with narrow victory margins of less than 5%.

“The advantage of using gubernatorial elections is that they are outside of the control of the individual firm because gubernatorial elections occur every four years, and the year of elections cannot be changed by the firms,” Atanassov explained. “That allows us to make a causal statement that political uncertainty influences R&D investment and not just document correlations.”

Atanassov illustrated the reasoning with an example: A firm considering an initial R&D investment in solar panels faces an uncertain future due to differing policy stances of two gubernatorial candidates—one who opposes incentives for green technology and one who supports them.

“The value of an initial $9 million R&D investment in a stable environment would have the Black-Scholes value of $7.26 million, which wouldn’t be worthwhile. However, if political uncertainty increases—such as during an election that could change environmental policy—the Black-Scholes value of the R&D opportunity rises to $11.23 million, making it a profitable move.” Implications for Businesses and Policymakers

Atanassov and co-authors Brandon Julio at the University of Oregon and Tiecheng Leng at the Harbin Institute of Technology in China, highlight that businesses in politically sensitive and high-tech industries are the most likely to increase R&D spending during uncertain times. Instead of freezing investments, they leverage uncertainty to prepare for multiple future scenarios.

“This research has important implications for corporate managers, politicians, and policymakers. Our conclusion is that if investment is sometimes positively correlated with uncertainty, policymakers have less reason to be concerned. Warnings that policymakers should reduce lengthy policy debates and political uncertainty because of their negative effects should be made with caution and only after considering all types of investment,” Atanassov said.

By viewing uncertainty not just as a risk but as an opportunity, businesses can use it as a catalyst for innovation, ensuring they remain competitive regardless of the political climate.