WATCH: Interdisciplinary research – “absolute heaven.”
10 Dec 2025
How our researchers – and our University – are stronger when they work together across disciplines.
Honorary Research Fellow in Drama, Keisha Thompson is delighted to be working with Mathematicians.
“It’s absolute heaven for me because I don’t like to be bound,” Keisha explains. “I really relish opportunities to work with various partners…And to do that specifically working with mathematical pedagogy has just been super juicy.
“And to have young people at the centre of it has just been brilliant.”
Her Manchester Institute of Education co-researcher, Professor Laura Black explains that their project, Exploring and Enacting Very Local Cultures of Mathematics aims to “reinstate the joy and creativity back into mathematics for young people.”
It is one of four projects highlighted by research platform Creative Manchester, which convenes, develops and sustains interdisciplinary research communities across all three faculties, connecting them to strategic partners in Greater Manchester and beyond.
Fostering interdisciplinary research lies at the heart of the University’s Manchester 2035 strategy and informs Creative Manchester’s focus to support and enable research projects that span from vastly different corners of the University.
As a researcher from another project, Dr Ingrid Hanson puts it: “Our research is like rope. Our individual research is like strands…when we weave these together, it makes something richer and stronger.”
Her co-researcher on the Manchester’s Mosses project, Dr Anke Barnau adds: “I saw the potential of interdisciplinary work in its full capacity. I saw questions and answers that I hadn’t anticipated. I found things that I wasn’t looking for.”
In preparation for the upcoming UMRI Interdisciplinary Research Pump-Prime funding call, Creative Manchester has created a suite of digital resources providing information and inspiration for prospective applicants. This includes four short films to provide insight and inspiration to our research community.
You can watch all the videos at:
Further information
Building Collaboration and Interdisciplinarity is one of four themes in our University’s Research Culture and Environment framework.
The University’s research culture is defined as the way that we collaborate, communicate, and interact with each other; the behaviours, attitudes, and values that shape how our research is developed, conducted, and used; and the mechanisms by which we support research and recognise and reward that work. The funded projects align to one of the University’s four research culture themes: Supporting diverse and rewarding careers; Enabling open and impactful research; Upholding the highest levels of responsible and ethical research; and Building collaboration and interdisciplinarity.
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