Challenges ahead: how the conduct of research needs to change The emergence of scientific discovery at the interface of disciplinary fields is not necessarily driven by the academic system - rather, discovery happens despite it. Marilyne Andersen (EPFL) considers the paradoxical characteristics of interdisciplinarity, that is both declared as a needed research approach but is also rarely recognised as an asset in academic practice. In a landscape of conflicting objectives, built environment research may have something unique to offer to the question of academic interdisciplinarity.