This paper by Patel et al. offers a concise and practical introduction to starting collaborative projects across disciplines. It is especially useful because it focuses on the early design choices that often determine whether interdisciplinary work succeeds: building the team, assigning roles and responsibilities, agreeing ground rules, discussing authorship, and creating the conditions for trust and psychological safety. For established researchers – who are often at the point of convening interdisciplinary work rather than simply participating in it – the paper gives a clear basis for thinking through the practical mechanics of collaboration, rather than treating interdisciplinarity as an abstract aspiration.

• Surfaces the assumptions about roles, language, and authorship that most often go undiscussed in interdisciplinary teams
• Provides practical grounding for early-stage conversations that shape whether collaboration works
• Manageable in length and immediately applicable to live projects