Getting it together: Feminist interdisciplinary research on women and engineering Julie E. Mills a, ⁎, Judith Gill b , Rhonda Sharp c , Suzanne Franzway d a School of Natural and Built Environments, Mawson Lakes Campus, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA 5095, Australia b School of Education, University of South Australia, Australia c Hawke Research Institute, University of South Australia, Australia d School of Communication, International Studies and Languages, University of South Australia, Australia article info synopsis Available online 13 November 2010 Multidisciplinary research is promoted by feminists and university administrators alike as a means for solving increasingly complex world problems. What is less recognised is that multidisciplinary research comprises, by its very nature, a complex mix of political and epistemological issues. The political question demands that researchers negotiate both the collaborative research relationship and the nature of academic work in a neo-liberal climate. The epistemological challenges involve melding diverse world views and ways of knowing while retaining the integrity of each researcher's discipline. These processes inevitably take time. Since 2001 the authors have collaborated in research projects related to women in engineering in both the professional workplace and education contexts. The team comprises feminist scholars in economics, sociology, education and civil engineering. This paper unpacks four interrelated themes of feminist commitment, uneven paradigmatic engagement, negotiated knowledge and material conditions that we argue are integral to successful multidisciplinary research. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction Interdisciplinary research has received considerable sup- port in recent years. In 2004 US researchers heralded its development with the claim: “Intellectual activity that spans traditional disciplines has redefined academic accomplish- ment” (Frost, Jean, Teodorescu, & Brown, 2004, p. 461). Indications of the currency of interdisciplinary research are evident in the emergent field of engineering education research. For example, Borrego and Newswander (2008) suggested that in their field it seems particularly important to involve social science along with physical science. They cited acceptance statistics for journal articles submitted to the Journal of Engineering Education as “20–30% when a social scientist is a member of the author team, but only 2–3% if the authors were all engineers” (2008, p. 123). In the resource- starved climate of the current Australian neo-liberal univer- sity (Davies, Edwards, Gannon, & Laws, 2007; Thornton, 2008) an interdisciplinary approach is thought to operate in ways more effective for real-world, complex problems — and hence be more attractive for industry funding — than when research occurs within the boundaries of just one discipline, faculty or department. However, although we are increasingly urged to work collaboratively and to adopt interdisciplinary approaches by our university leaders, there have been very few analyses of the complex processes involved in interdisciplinary work (Massey et al., 2006; Borrego, Newswander, & McNair, 2007). The current paper addresses this silence by identifying four themes and reflecting on how they have shaped our interdisciplinary research. We are a four-person interdisciplinary team comprising professors from civil engineering, economics, education and sociology. We have a common interest in gender issues and we each had previously published in related areas. The civil engineering professor has extensive industry experience, has Women's Studies International Forum 34 (2011) 13–19 ⁎ Corresponding author. 0277-5395/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2010.09.014 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Women's Studies International Forum journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wsif