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Getting involved with YCCSA

Interdisciplinary work needs people from different disciplines to come together, think together, and work together.  YCCSA has some tried-and-tested mechanisms for bringing this about at York.

Coming together

  • Come along to the Friday afternoon meetings.  These roughly alternate between YCCSA cake seminars given by external speakers, and YCCSA discussion sessions led by a facilitator.  The sessions are two hours (1:30-3:30), allowing in-depth discussions.  Turn up and join in: listen, discuss, suggest speakers and sessions
  • Come to the monthly Wednesday YCCSA/CMODS Complexity Reading Group meeting, and spend an hour discussing the paper of the month [link]
  • Come informally – contact one or more people and drop in for a chat

Thinking together

  • Are you about to prepare a proposal that includes interdisciplinary work?  Do you have a draft a proposal that includes interdisciplinary work?  Do you want some input from the “other” disciplines?  YCCSA can provide input, comments, suggestions, partners
  • Start small: preparing a UoY pump-priming proposal, to explore an interdisciplinary concept, is an ideal way to focus on an idea
  • Start big: a large consortium proposal, tackling a grand challenge, provides an opportunity to bring a wider group together and “think outside the box”

Working together

  • Co-supervising a studenton a project of mutual interest is an excellent way to start working together
    • YCCSA runs the Summer School programme, with 8-10 excellent undergraduates resident over the summer vacation, each working on a mini project.  Each project is supervised by at least two researchers from different departments.  Projects are proposed early in the Spring term
    • The Individual Project for a taught Masters student is another route to working across Departments.  If you have a project idea that would benefit from a co-supervisor from a different Department, or would like to be co-supervisor on a project in another Department, contact a relevant YCCSA person 
    • For more substantial working together, co-supervising a PhD student can lead to a really in-depth collaboration.  It can be hard to find the right student and project, and even harder to find funding; one route is through the CIDCATS DTC where YCCSA is a partner.
  • If your research project is already running, and you discover you are looking at an interdisciplinary problem, YCCSA can help in various ways
    • An initial small discussion, maybe based around a Friday seminar or discussion group
    • If there is a specific piece of work needed, add an YCCSA member in to the  project as a consultant or partner, for example to provide expertise to help supervise an RA
    • Affiliate your project with an YCCSA one, for example, through a case study: one side gains a valuable case study to apply their techniques; the other side gains extra and different analysis of their problem
  • If your research projectis near its end, and you need help analysing masses of data that you have collected…
    •  â€¦ unfortunately, it’s then probably too late to help.  Ask, but often, when this happens, we find that all we can say is, “well, I wouldn’t start from here”.  Speak up sooner, and avoid this issue!

How can I join YCCSA?

  • If you want to be a member of YCCSA, just ask!  There are two mailing lists: a “friends” list for those who want to know about the main events, and a “members” list, for those who want to know all that’s going on.  You can ask to be added to either list.  To be a member of YCCSA, all that’s needed is participation in YCCSA activities.

Contact points

  • Look at the list of YCCSA staff and contact someone with relevant interests.  If they can’t help, they can point you at someone who can
  • Alternatively, contact Sarah Christmas, the YCCSA manager, who can give you information about events, add you to mailing lists, and help point you at relevant researchers
  • Explore the YCCSA wiki to see how YCCSA puts interdisciplinary ideas into practice.  Follow the link to ask for a login
  • For our address, maps and travel information see our Contact page.

Example collaborations

Have a look at some of the interdisciplinary work going on with YCCSA members