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Short abstract:

This paper reflects on methodological practicalities, disciplinary divisions and interdisciplinary expectations within a research project on urban heat. It discusses a research process enacted within this particular project in the context of a wider academic system and its challenges.

Long abstract:

There is a growing scientific recognition of the need and urgency to conduct interdisciplinary research on climate and environmental change. There are, however, many epistemic difficulties and institutional challenges in conducting such research. 'Interdisciplinarity' often remains just a buzzword, something that is preached but not practiced. This paper discusses the research process enacted within a project “Embodying Climate Change: Transdisciplinary Research on Urban Overheating” (EmCliC), which combined social anthropology, sociology, economics, physics, climate science and epidemiology to study older adults’ vulnerability and adaptation to urban heat in two European cities.

The paper showcases, first, the practicalities of conducting mixed-methods research, focusing on what did and did not work and why. Second, the paper demonstrates that it is the people – the researchers and their established relationships – who are the most important ‘tools’ in continued interdisciplinary collaboration and analysis. Third, I situate the project and our collaboration within a broader context of academic system, which underappreciates the role of people and relationships in the research process. I reflect on balancing between disciplinary and interdisciplinary expectations of different team members, our institutions, project funders, and journal editors.