Young scientists face career hurdles in interdisciplinary research
Scientists agree that solving some of society’s greatest challenges in biomedicine such as food sustainability, aging and disease treatment will need researchers from a variety of scientific fields working together.
But a new study finds that the young scientists who most embrace interdisciplinary research face “career impediments” not seen in their peers who focus their work only within their own disciplines.
The results are troublesome and pose a “grave challenge” to efforts to increase interdisciplinary research, the authors of the new study write.
“As an economist, you would think that the most interdisciplinary young researchers would get the most rewards, because that is the type of research that is seen as most valuable. But that doesn’t appear to be the case,” said Bruce Weinberg, co-author of the study and professor of economics at The Ohio State University.