On the Emergence of Interdisciplinary Culture: The York Centre for Complex Systems Analysis (YCCSA) and the TRANSIT Project

Abstract

The York Centre for Complex Systems Analysis (YCCSA) is an interdepartmental, cross-disciplinary centre at the University of York with a focus on interdisciplinary research on complex systems. At an early stage, YCCSA was awarded a 3 year grant, the TRANSIT programme, whose goal was the development of a research culture that lowered the barriers to interdisciplinary engagement. TRANSIT was conceived as a (complex) system of interrelated activities that focused on “coming together”, “thinking together” and “working together”. Experimental activities included non-traditional seminar formats with eclectic programming, a focus on group orchestration through facilitation and thinking systems, and mechanisms for supporting feasibility studies though lightweight access to funds and to summer students. The programme was community-driven with an ethos of openness, creativity and risk-taking. This period saw the emergence of a distinctive culture of deep interdisciplinarity, exemplified in new language and patterns of interaction, novel and reflexive proposals for (the organisation of) processes of interdisciplinary research in complex systems, a levelling of the academic hierarchy, and the self-organisation of teaching, learning and supervision.