The evolution of interdisciplinarity over 20 years of global change research by the IAI

Global change cuts across human and natural systems. Addressing it requires interdisciplinary research across the human and natural sciences. We show that the promotion of interdisciplinarity requires more than changing the requirements of funding calls. Successes have relied on leveraging the motivations of natural and social scientists by, firstly, providing space for experiential learning by researchers, secondly, facilitating networking and teamwork across disciplines, thirdly, exposing researchers to new concepts or tools, fourthly, maintaining persistent mentorship and support for cultivating cross-disciplinary thinking, fifthly, connecting research to tangible problems, and sixthly, monitoring program calls, project selection and implementation. Here we present the experience of 20 years of motivating scientists to engage in interdisciplinary research, providing an environment for learning across disciplines, and structuring research programs to advance knowledge for decision making on global change.