scienceacross

ScienceAcross is a cross-disciplinary science initiative designed to promote collaboration across traditional disciplinary boundaries. It seeks to accelerate discovery by integrating methods, data, and expertise from fields such as biology, physics, chemistry, the social sciences, and engineering to address complex problems that do not fit neatly within a single discipline. The program emphasizes open data, reproducible research, and the translation of findings into policy, education, and public understanding.

Scope and activities include supporting collaborative research consortia, cross-disciplinary training, and shared infrastructure such as data standards and repositories. Participants typically include universities, national laboratories, industry partners, and non-profit organizations. Key activities comprise joint grant programs, multi-institution centers, annual symposia, and the development of interoperable software tools and measurement frameworks that enable researchers to combine experimental, computational, and qualitative methods.

Governance arrangements commonly feature a steering committee, a scientific advisory board, and liaison offices at participating institutions. Funding comes from a mix of government research agencies, philanthropic foundations, and university consortia, with a focus on long-term sustainability and broad access to resources.

Impact and reception have included support for numerous cross-disciplinary projects, the production of policy-relevant briefs, and expanded training opportunities for researchers. Critics note challenges in achieving true integration, aligning performance metrics, and maintaining funding continuity, while supporters argue that ScienceAcross fills a gap for sustained, large-scale collaboration and for addressing problems that span traditional disciplinary borders.