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Evaluating Collaborative Readiness for Interdisciplinary Flood Research
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Evaluating Collaborative Readiness for Interdisciplinary Flood Research

Eric Tate, Valerie Decker and Craig Just
Risk analysis, Vol.41(7), pp.1187-1194
07/2021
DOI: 10.1111/risa.13249
PMCID: PMC8359342
PMID: 30536453
url
https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.13249View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Increasing trends in global flood risk are driven by a complex web of interactions among natural, built environment, and social systems. As a result, flood resilience research is an ideal topic for an interdisciplinary approach. Core characteristics of interdisciplinary research are team collaboration and the systematic integration of disciplinary knowledge, in both problem formulation and analytical methods. Indicators of interdisciplinarity tend to focus on scholarly outcomes, but collaborative processes may be even more important for knowledge integration. In this Perspective piece, we outline and advocate a two‐pronged approach to enhance potential for integrating knowledge: using collaborative proximity to assess team readiness to conduct interdisciplinary research and employing program evaluation to assess change in proximity components over time. To do so, we draw on scholarship in economic geography, team science, and program evaluation. We then connect the findings to a case study of collaboration within our interdisciplinary team of flood researchers, program evaluators, and local stakeholders, as we navigate a multi‐institutional project on flood resilience.
Flood resilience program evaluation proximity

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