Research across multiple disciplines to respond to health shocks
Research that spans clinical specialties and research disciplines beyond health and healthcare is a priority for planning equitable responses to manage future health shocks, argue Amitava Banerjee and colleagues Health shocks are “high consequence events that have a major disruptive effect on society,”1 with health, social, economic, and psychological effects, and are not limited to pandemics. Whether responding to shocks related to antimicrobial resistance, climate change, or conflict, siloed research cannot deliver the science needed quickly enough at the required scale. When science encounters new diseases and challenges, it can cross disciplinary boundaries in three complementary ways, as occurred with vaccines. “Multidisciplinary research” combines knowledge from different disciplines, each within its confines. “Interdisciplinary research” “analyses, synthesises and harmonises links between disciplines into a coordinated and coherent whole.”2 “Transdisciplinary research” “integrat
