Across disciplinary boundaries: A road less travelled

It is my strong belief that true interdisciplinary research is imperative to solve today’s societal challenges, whether they be obesity, inequality or climate change. The crossing of disciplinary boundaries makes it possible to see a fuller picture and (hopefully) find solutions.

Having written my PhD thesis in microeconomics at a small, rather traditional German university, I, by accident, tumbled into outlandish worlds called the MSC department (former IKL) at CBS and the integrated IDEFICS EU project. Perceiving qualitative methods (which represent the predominant approach at the department) as very soft, suddenly we economists were the soft ones in the medical IDEFICS EU project on childhood obesity. After a certain adjustment period, the benefits

of these outlandish disciplines became obvious: learning about the “soft methods” and talking to “hard core” epidemiologists made research possible that I as an economist would never have been able to carry out on my own. Having once spanned beyond my disciplinary boundaries, I then dared to take on the world of fashion where designers as well as chemists or other species were found.

Today, I collaborate closely with environmental engineers to identify consumers’ most impactful behaviors regarding climate change, and with communication experts to reach those consumers and induce sustainable behavior change.

Now, someone might conclude that there is no real red thread. But, I would conclude that there is my curiosity and commitment to strengthening interdisciplinary collaboration – all still with this naïve belief to make the world a little bit better, i.e., promote sustainable consumption and healthy lifestyles.