Towards the Recognition of Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Researchers

Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research are widely considered necessary to addressing complex, often called ´wicked´, problems. Moreover, national and international funding schemes, institutional structures, and education programs have been created to foster interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research. However, there is a largely silenced ´wicked´ problem in the heart of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research: the precarious situation of academics engaging in such research in their individual work. Relying on STS and ID/TD scholarships, we identify the institutional, social, cultural, and psychological challenges of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary researchers in the contemporary scientific community. Based on Caniglia and Vogel (2023), we compare the position of these researchers to that of queer people in a heteronormative and sexually binary society. We argue that the challenges of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary scholars, and their queer-like status, should be conceptualized as a problem of recognition of these scholars. Following Fraser (2003), we understand denial of recognition –either through maldistribution of resources, or misrecognition of identity, or both– as a set of obstacles in equal participation in academic life. Finally, we distinguish between social and institutional recognition, concluding that while researchers can contribute to social recognition through their own actions, institutional recognition requires science policy interventions by research institutions and funders.