This issue embraces agriculture, economics, international trade, cultural diversity, law and international relations, sustainability and fisheries, and probably others as well. You can t come up with good research-based predictions without involving top quality researchers from all of these disciplines. The existing disciplinary framework of most universities doesn t allow for easy assembly of researchers who can tackle these complicated and broad issues. The UBC structure, through the Faculty of Graduate Studies, fosters easy communication and collaboration among researchers. Given its size and diversity, UBC has tremendous potential to seize the new initiatives that are emerging in interdisciplinary research.
Funding is the eternal challenge for researchers.
Funding agencies in Canada are increasingly moving toward programs that support interdisciplinary work. For example, the National Science and Engineering Research Council and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation are both very interested in collaborative, broadly-based research proposals. In addition, the federal Parliamentary Caucus on Higher Education and Research has recommended that the federal budget should include higher financial support for research and particular emphasis on social sciences research in the coming year. I am very pleased by the recognition of social sciences, since they make a very important and fundamental contribution to all forms of research. Since I m only just into the job, I m still working on figuring that out.