Beyond buzzwords: The challenges of interdisciplinarity –An analysis of an interdisciplinary summer school on snakebite envenoming
Authors: Hosemann Deborah , Rae Jade , Blessmann Jörg , Damm Maik , Kuch Ulrich , Lüddecke Tim , Kreuels Benno 
Published: April 2024

Background

Interdisciplinary approaches are particularly important when it comes to complex research areas such as snakebite envenoming. To achieve the World Health Organization’s (WHO) goal of halving the number of deaths and disabilities from snakebite by 2030, researchers and experts from different fields need to work together. To promote interdisciplinarity in snakebite research and educational work, a one-week hybrid summer school was organised in September 2023 at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany. The week’s topics were arranged logically, from snake biology and venomics to clinical implications, new therapeutics and public policy. All lectures were held in English.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Attendance was recorded for in-person and online participants, transcribed into Excel, and anonymised. Data were then summarised according to the participant’s field of expertise, country of residence, and attendance at each session.

Results

The summer school successfully promoted interdisciplinarity, with individuals attending from a wide range of scientific fields. However, fluctuations in attendance over the week highlight some challenges in maintaining interdisciplinarity at such events. By mode of attendance, in-person participants attended more of the sessions (76.9%) than those joining in a hybrid format (50.0%) or online only (32.0%). Among those who did not attend all sessions, attendance was highest on Monday (77.6%) and Wednesday (81.3%) but decreased for individuals from all fields over the week.

Conclusion/Significance

For future international interdisciplinary events, we suggest hybrid events with in-person and online options to encourage more international participation, supported by travel grants. However, the online experience could be improved through online networking and interdisciplinary activities. Future events should also consider hosting events in low- and middle-income countries or satellite locations. An appeal to organizers of future events is that participant data should be collected, analysed and published for continuous improvement of such interdisciplinary events.

Author Summary

Promoting collaboration between researchers from different disciplines is important for improving the understanding of and ability to tackle complex research areas. However, it is unclear whether courses designed to promote interdisciplinarity are successful or whether interdisciplinarity remains merely a buzzword. To determine the success of interdisciplinary courses and identify areas for improvement, attendance and participant satisfaction during these courses must be assessed. Interdisciplinarity is particularly important for strongly interlinked fields, such as One Health topics involving humans, animals, and the environment. One of these research areas is snakebite envenoming, which poses a health threat to millions of people worldwide. We organised a snakebite summer school in September 2023 to promote interdisciplinarity in this area. The data analysed here shows patterns in participation, highlighting where interdisciplinarity was achieved and where it was lacking. Based on these findings, we recommend hybrid events that allow in-person and online attendance but suggest a range of approaches to improve the experience of online attendees, including providing access to online networking opportunities, and coordination between international organisations to allow for some in-person events in satellite locations for those who are unable to attend the main event location in person.