Griffin, G., T. Green, et al. (2005), 'The Relationship between the Process of Professionalization in Academe and Interdisciplinarity: A Comparative Study of Eight European Countries', University of Hull, UK

This report focuses on the relationship between the process of professionalization in academia and the opportunities for interdisciplinary research in Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK.

All, except Norway, are members of the EU, and all are signatories to the Bologna Agreement. They are partners in a specific targeted research project (STREP)1 on ‘Changing Knowledge and Disciplinary Boundaries Through Integrative Research Methods in the Social Sciences and Humanities’, funded under the European Commission’s Framework 6, Priority 7: ‘Citizens and Governance in a Knowledge Based Society’. A key objective of this project is to understand the barriers to interdisciplinarity in the social sciences and humanities.

This report specifically centres on the question of how the professionalization of academics in universities impacts on their ability and opportunities to research in an interdisciplinary manner.