Interdisciplinary and intercultural collaboration

Participants in the course came from a variety of disciplines. Whereas the UvA students had backgrounds in Econometrics, Data Science and Business Administration, the students from Dublin mainly brought knowledge from the social sciences. Students not only had to deal with different academic perspectives, but also diverse cultural practices . ‘’For example, what within a team makes people start to trust each other? Do you want to organise social activities with each other, eat together, or that everyone turns in their work on time. And what is ‘on time’ for all team members? Is that a few days, a day(part) or on the minute? Do team members feel more comfortable with a company and working together or rather individually, where everyone works separately from each other?’ says lecturer Lotus Arian.

Within the project, students themselves chose a, as the name of the course suggests, local and global social problem that they linked to one of the SDGs. Students were challenged to solve a global problem, on a local scale. The issues ranged from analysing recycling behaviour in the university canteen to developing a concept to reduce returns in the fashion industry. ‘One team devised a system where customers could use 3D technology to see how clothes would fit before they ordered. This reduces unnecessary returns of clothes,’ Arian explains.

The challenge of international collaboration
The collaboration between the Dutch and Irish students also brought practical challenges. ‘In the Netherlands, attendance at the course was compulsory, while in Ireland it was not. That sometimes caused lopsided relationships in the working groups,’ Arian said. In addition, students had to make their own appointments through Zoom of Teams. This required organisational skills. Intercultural communication was therefore at the heart of this project. Students did exercises to better understand how cultural differences affect collaboration.

Lessons for the future

The international collaboration gave the subject an extra dimension and offered students valuable experience in interdisciplinary and cross-cultural work. ‘For Econometrics and Data Science students, for example, it was a first introduction to sustainability issues, while Social Science students learned to think in quantitative models again,’ says Arian.

For future editions, expansion with other partner universities is being considered so that more students can actively participate. ‘Despite the challenges, this project has shown how valuable international and interdisciplinary education can be’ Arian concludes.

More information on Building Bridges for Local Global Partnerships can be found here.