This seminar consisted of two presentations addressing the challenges of collaborative work, and offering strategies to make this a reality of academic life. Addressing division within the academy: A model of collaborative working for higher education, Lorraine Walsh, University of Dundee and Peter Kahn, University of Liverpool

Lorraine and Peter presented a model, detailed at length in Walsh and Kahn (2009), which was developed through a theoretical synthesis of perspectives from a body of literature and experience on collaborative working. The work draws on critical realist perspectives, including Bhaskar’s (1998) notions of stratification in social reality. The presentation focused on professional dialogue and social structures with a view to stimulating discussion around the role of collaborative working as an informed and meaningful approach in addressing the current challenges to cohesion of academic practice.

"Living on the ceiling": how and why interdisciplinarity turns everything upside down, Jason Davies, University College London

Jason’s talk gave a sketch of the dynamics specific to interdisciplinary work and evoked the way that disciplinary norms are (completely) inverted, leading to enormous difficulties in collaboration. The talk outlined ways that `the disciplined' can work together to survive in -- or even thrive in - interdisciplinary settings.