Five Key Strategies for Organizing Interdisciplinary Scientific Events to Strengthen Careers, Collaborations, and Creativity

Abstract

Synopsis Science is becoming increasingly interdisciplinary; the widespread emergence of dedicated interdisciplinary journals, conferences, and graduate programs reflects this trend. Interdisciplinary scientific events are extremely valuable in that they offer opportunities for career advancement, especially among early career researchers, for collaboration beyond traditional disciplinary echo chambers, and for the creative generation of innovative solutions to longstanding scientific problems. However, organizing such events can pose unique challenges due to the intentionality required to meaningfully break down the barriers that separate long-independent disciplines. In this paper, we propose five key strategies for organizing and hosting interdisciplinary scientific events. The recommendations offered here apply both to small symposia aiming to contribute an interdisciplinary component to a larger event and to broad interdisciplinary conferences hosting hundreds or thousands of attendees.