Meet Martijn van der Kamp: AIC Team Science Fellow

The Australia-Indonesia Centre welcomes Dr Martijn van der Kamp as its Team Science Fellow, and as the Team Capability Coordinator for the PAIR program.

 As we shift away from a model where there is a sole researcher at the helm, to collaborating in teams, the Science of Team Science started by asking whether working across disciplines adds any value.

“Luckily now, the research is in,” says Martijn, “we know that interdisciplinary teams perform better than teams within disciplines, especially in solving complex problems.”

Dr van der Kamp’s research focuses on the value of diversity in teams, and how to get the most out of diverse teams, and networks of teams.

“I think that a lot of researchers are trained with a very strong scientific background … but they’re not necessarily trained on working together across disciplines and across institutes and this is what the AIC aims for. This is what we want to do.

“In South Sulawesi, we are interested in how a railway connects different communities and what are the effects of that on the communities, in terms of access, in terms of youth health – in a variety of different areas – we see that we need this diversity, and I think the AIC is ultimately equipped to provide that.”

As Team Capability Coordinator for PAIR, he aims to set things up from the outset in a way that maximises the synergy and, ultimately, the impact of the research team – where members will differ by research discipline, cultural background, gender, level of experience, and more.

“The AIC,” Martijn asserts, “is really committed as a whole to using PAIR for example, or the AIC [overall], as a living laboratory, and to some that might sound really scary, but I think it’s a great opportunity. It’s an opportunity to learn from each other and to make teamwork conscious practise within the AIC network.”

Read more about Dr Martijn van der Kamp.

The AIC Fellowship Program draws together a network of researchers and industry practitioners that bring with them a diversity of experiences and perspectives to help advance the AIC’s research and outreach agendas.