Reflexivity and Interdisciplinarity: The Reflexive Journey of an Interdisciplinary Research Team in Disaster Risk Reduction

Forino, Giuseppe; Barclay, Jenni; Armijos, Teresa; Phillips, Jeremy; Córdova, Marco; Sevilla, Elisa; Filippi, Maria Evangelina; Apgar, Marina; Snijder, Mieke; Andrade, S. Daniel; Mejia, Adriana; Bedoya, Malena

Abstract

Purpose: Reflexivity supports research teams in developing and implementing interdisciplinarity perspectives, but there is still limited literature on this topic. To fill this gap, we explore how reflexivity can support a research team in its interdisciplinary efforts to create new knowledge for disaster risk reduction.

Design/methodology/approach: We present the reflexive journey of our interdisciplinary research team consisting of Ecuador- and UK-based researchers from the social sciences, physical sciences and the arts and humanities and conducting multi-hazard research on Quito. By triangulating data obtained from different material collected during the reflexive journey, we discuss examples of how our team employed reflexivity towards interdisciplinarity.

Findings: The reflexive journey allowed our interdisciplinary team to acknowledge and give value to its diversity; to discuss disciplinary language differences, and to gradually develop interdisciplinary working practices and conversations. The journey demonstrates how reflexive practices within research teams allow researchers to overcome disciplinary differences and promote interdisciplinarity to reach research outcomes.

Originality/value: Our reflexive experience shows that adopting reflexivity can be effective in both enhancing interdisciplinarity and addressing the complex nature of risk.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 17, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Sep 16, 2024
• Deposit Date: Oct 22, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 22, 2024
• Journal: Disaster Prevention and Management
• Print ISSN: 0965-3562
• Publisher: Emerald
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm-09-2023-0222
• Keywords: Disaster Risk Reduction, interdisciplinarity, reflexivity, research process