The joy of interdisciplinary collaboration! Yes, there are barriers and challenges, but in setting up the Centre for Unusual Collaborations (CUCo) the main surprising outcomes were joy, a sense of meaning and creativity. We coined this ‘collateral happiness’.

With due pride we share: new paper out now! Recounting the journey of the first two years of the Centre for Unusual Collaborations; its origins, lessons learned and recommendations for universities and funders to better support unusual collaborations.

The paper elaborates on three roadblocks to funding inter- and transdisciplinary research, as well as how these were overcome – or not! The three roadblocks are:
1) Rewards and recognition – and this remains a major hurdle to this day!
2) Funding trust-building and interdisciplinary collaboration
3) Competencies, tools and approaches

Congratulations to all the authors! And great thanks to Springer Nature Group Humanities and Social Sciences Communications for the smooth reviewing and editorial process.

View the publication here