Interdisciplinary working UCL Centre for behaviour change Director: Prof Susan Michie Interdisciplinary working Susan Michie Professor of Health Psychology, UCL www.ucl.ac.uk/behaviour-change @SusanMichie

Benefits of multidisciplinarity Multi-, Cross-, Inter-, Trans-disciplinarity Each discipline brings own Theories and models Methods Body of evidence This provides part of the picture – but the big issues of the day need many lenses on them e.g. a productive economy social justice, including equitable resources sustaining our environment implementing research evidence ….

What does good interdisciplinary work look like? Productive outcome: The whole is greater than the sum of the parts Problems solved Greater impact Productive process: All disciplines learn from each other New ways of thinking and doing New reflections on own discipline Rewarding experience: People enjoy the interactions

What is needed to make it work? Behaviour change e.g. Listen to others and show interest and engagement Respect and don’t put others down Seek to understand others’ goals and agendas, and ways of working Speak in language that others can understand Negotiate e.g. shared goals, methods of working If don’t understand or agree, seek to find out why and take the time to educate oneself

For behaviour to occur, requires an interaction between three necessary conditions (COM-B model) Michie et al (2011) Implementation Science

How to achieve this? Capability Opportunity Motivation Training, mentorship Opportunity Provide structures and time for learning and collective thinking Motivation Seeing the point; aligned incentives

UCL’s Grand Challenges Cultivate cross-disciplinary collaborations to explore joined-up solutions in 6 areas related to matters of pressing societal concern: Global Health Cultural Understanding Sustainable Cities Human Wellbeing Justice and Equality Transformative Technology