Project management as information management in interdisciplinary research: “Lots of different pieces working together”

Project Management (PM)1 in publicly funded interdisciplinary research (IDR)2 is an emerging practice for academic scholars, one that derives from PM's origins in the industrial sector. The naturalistic paradigm that guided this case study of the third Digging Into Data Challenge (2014-2016) relied upon qualitative methods, a case study reporting mode, purposive sampling, and inductive, grounded data analysis. Fifty-three researchers representing eleven projects were interviewed. Results suggest that the grant's PM requirement provided researchers with a mechanism of information management. Project managers, whether externally hired or internally designated, were instrumental in coordinating project resources in light of governance issues, data handling, and data sharing across international boundaries. In conclusion, optimizing PM documentation from project inception through closure is recommended to facilitate communications among funders, researchers, and stakeholders. PM documentation is a mechanism for ensuring data integrity and its readiness for valuation metrics at project's end. Future research may explore the merits of mandating formally trained project managers versus supporting academic mentoring trends for project-based training, which apply domain-specific expertise to the role and enable IDR teams to exercise autonomy.