THE and Schmidt work towards interdisciplinary science ranking

Participate in THE’s Interdisciplinary Science Rankings 2024

Times Higher Education is partnering with Schmidt Science Fellows with the aim of developing a new ranking measuring universities’ contribution to interdisciplinary science, it has been announced.

Responding to the view that the world’s pressing problems can be solved only with insights from a range of scholarly fields, THE and Schmidt Science Fellows said a ranking would seek to improve scientific excellence and collaboration among universities, aiming to provide institutions with benchmarking data and rewarding campuses that incentivise cross-disciplinary work.

As a first step, preliminary data gathered from participating global universities will be discussed at the THE World Academic Summit in Sydney on 26 September, ahead of the publication of an initial report in mid-October.

THE and Schmidt Science Fellows – which is funded by former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt and his wife, Wendy Schmidt – hope to publish a full Interdisciplinary Science Ranking in 2024.

Duncan Ross, THE’s chief data officer, said the collaboration “will help progress scientific collaboration and research in the higher education sector, and beyond, in so many ways”.

“The new and groundbreaking Interdisciplinary Science Ranking will enable universities to benchmark their interdisciplinary scientific work, which we hope will spur far greater collaboration in universities and between universities both locally and globally,” Mr Ross said.

Executive director Megan Kenna said Schmidt Science Fellows believed “in the power of interdisciplinary science to accelerate discoveries to benefit the world, and drive innovation that improves quality of life for all”.

“Working with the data and ranking experts at THE is one the most effective ways we can celebrate and recognise the institutions that are doing this well and help all universities assess how they can encourage more disciplinary-crossing research and innovation in the future,” Dr Kenna said.

Dr Kenna will join Mr Ross and Billy Wong, THE’s lead data scientist, to discuss the project at the Sydney summit.