Description of the TRANSIT project

1. TRANSIT
University of York Discipline Bridging:
The TRANSIT Programme
Brief overview
26th October 2007

2. bridging the gaps (BTG)
EPSRC Call:
 Aims to lower the barriers to interdisciplinary
research
 Promote interdisciplinary collaboration
 Develop novel and creative research
 (Focus within an institution)
 2nd Call - end July 2007
 (Inspired by MRC BTG programme)

3. bid
York can demonstrate:
 Interdisciplinary Research Centres (YNIC, IIU,
CMR, Nano, etc)
 Cross-departmental Academic Appointments
 YCCSA
Cross-campus community
Seminar series
Bulletin Board
Physical centre with co-located cross-disciplinary
researchers
YCCSA as platform for York BTG bid
(model for interdisciplinary interaction)

4. team
 Leo Caves (Biology)
 Gustav Delius (Maths)
 Angelika Sebald (Chemistry)
 Susan Stepney (CS)
 Jon Timmis (CS/Electronics)
 Jamie Wood (Maths/Biology)

5. proposal
 strategy: to identify the gaps to interdisciplinary
collaboration - based on our experience in
developing YCCSA
 proposal: A programme of people-based and
virtual activities and resources -
A process to enhance interdisciplinary collaborative
research
- TRANSIT -
(TRANSition from Interdisciplinarity to Transdisciplinarity)

6. gaps
 awareness
 interaction
 resources

7. TRANSIT
schematic
overview

8. objectives
1. To increase awareness of expertise and initiatives
across disciplinary boundaries at UoY by establishing a
dedicated day of activities – TRANSITday – to include
seminars and visitors supported by a Help Desk
(“coming together”)
2. To enhance interactions and the development of
novel ideas through the explicit fostering of creativity
(“thinking together”)
3. To provide resources to support cross-disciplinary
feasibility studies through targeted pump-priming and
a scholarship programme (“working together”)

9. elements
 people-based activities and resources
 virtual platform and resources

10. coming together
 seminar and discussion series: A series of
seminars/discussions from internal and external
(including international) speakers.
 visitor programme: A visitor programme to
bring distinguished external researchers to UoY.
cross-fertilise the research environment
establish strategic international collaborations.
typically resident for 1-2 weeks

11. thinking together
creativity - needs nurturing and explicit support
through structured thinking techniques designed
to support creativity
 adopt Six Thinking Hats and Lateral Thinking
Systems of Edward de Bono
 training by external consultants
available to members of the TRANSIT community
small group of staff to receive additional training to
create a team of Creative Facilitators

12. working together
venture fund:
 provides pump-priming resources for feasibility
studies.
 Equipment e.g. software licenses, specialised hardware
or consumables
 Personnel e.g. to develop software, evaluate methods
 Events e.g. Training/Workshop/Sandpit activities
scholarship programme:
 take forward cross-disciplinary feasibility studies:
 target highly able students from UK, EU and
overseas
 raises international profile of programme

13. virtual resources (1)
TRANSITweb virtual platform:
 facilitate announcements of news and events,
 host thread-based discussion fora
 archive of TRANSIT activities
recorded seminars and discussions,
venture fund proposals and pitches,
technical/summary reports,
prototype software and demonstrations, etc
promotes the programme across the
institution (and public interface)

14. virtual resources (2)
TRANSITmap community network - an
overview of expertise, resources and
collaborative interactions across the UoY
members’ research interests, expertise and resources;
initiatives, projects, collaborators and useful contacts
feedback profiles
investigate virtual tokens – TRANSITtokens - to
acknowledge and promote collegiality
a resource for identifying relevant expertise
and resources, promoting interaction and
providing feedback

15. delivering TRANSIT (1)
TRANSITday
 every Friday
 seminars/discussions/workshops etc.
 focus on TRANSITlunch
TRANSITdesk
 provide technical / demonstrator support for
TRANSITday activities
 training for TRANSITmap
 respond to scientific / methodological queries

16. delivering TRANSIT (2)
Creativity Training
 “Users” - 1 day workshop(s)
 Facilitators - 2 days workshops
Biddable Resources
 Bi-annual call
 Venture Fund (£8k per call)
 Visitor Programme (3 months per year)
 (Visiting Scholars) (4 per year / 10 weeks each)
 Bids to TRANSITpanel for review and ranking

17. research themes (1)
Complexity and Computation in
Biological and Material Systems
 bio-computation
 material informatics and computation

18. research themes (2)
 bio-computation
understanding the emergent behaviour of
biosystems through computer simulation
application of biosystem principles to complex
computational systems
 material informatics & computation
substrates for understanding emergent physical
properties
novel computational substrates and metaphors

19. management & administration
 Coordinator
Leo Caves
 Discipline Champions
Angelika Sebald (Chemistry, Susan Stepney (CS), Jon
Timmis (CS/Electronics), Jamie Wood (Maths/Biology)
 VRE Research and Development
Gustav Delius
 Administrator
TBA
 TRANSITpanel
drawn from Discipline Champions, TRANSIT members
and external experts

20. monitoring
TRANSITmap provides resource for representing
community network of interactions.
 community structure and dynamics
hubs, brokers, cliques etc.
subgroup activity
 strategic planning tool?
emergence of themes, critical mass
rapid scoping of capability, capacity

21. value
 provides over-arching framework for
engagement targeted at the development of a
cohesive community of cross-disciplinary
researchers;
 provides training in structured thinking for
harnessing the creativity of the community of
researchers;
 establishes a people-based collaborative
research culture to fully exploit and integrate the
dedicated physical facilities UoY campus
expansion (est. October 2009).

22. vision
 develop an interdisciplinary research community
with a collaborative ethos
 foster creativity and risk-taking; acknowledge
collegiality
 move towards new transdisciplinary approaches
to scientific research and training

23. current status (10/2007)
 TRANSIT start date: 07 January 2008
 Creativity training dates: 14-15 April 2008
 TRANSITweb already up
prototype structure
drupal-based
hosting U/G student projects
www.transit.york.ac.uk

24. contacts
 scientific themes
Susan Stepney susan@cs.york.ac.uk
 virtual resources
Gustav Delius gwd2@york.ac.uk
 creativity training & AOB
Leo Caves lsdc1@york.ac.uk
www.transit.york.ac.uk