Science vs. Arts: Why choose?
Katie McClure is a first-year researcher studying towards a PhD in History of Art. Her doctoral research explores the use of chemical analysis for the identification and colour preservation of historical textile dyes in museum collections. She specifically researches the remarkably fade-resistant Caledon dyes, manufactured in Grangemouth throughout the twentieth century.
Back in 2013, I was applying for my undergraduate degree, feeling conflicted about which path I wanted to take. I’d thrived in the chemistry lab at school but spent most of my free-time in the art department. After much deliberation, I opted to study Chemistry and resigned my interests in art to extra-curricular activities and short courses. Whilst I enjoyed the great programme, continued to love chemistry, and found a good balance between my studies and hobbies – I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do after graduating.
Fortunately, in my final year, I was introduced to a field called heritage science which combined science and arts. My dissertation was part of a wider project developing cutting-edge science to combat degradation on the historic Mary Rose shipwreck. This was the first time I had seen real science and humanities collaboration. I was then lucky enough to have the opportunity to undertake an Erasmus masters in Archaeological Materials Science. I spent time in Portugal, Greece and Italy: experiencing first-hand how history and science are interlinked. This piqued my interest and led to my current research, which focusses on the scientific analysis of historical dyes in our museum collections. Dyes are particularly interesting for cross-disciplinary study, as their chemistries, histories and artistic uses are intrinsically intertwined. Demand for new art materials has driven scientific innovation and conversely, newly discovered colours have influenced design trends. In this field, it is easy to see that science and arts are strongly connected, and that the boundary between them is not always easy to draw.
Taking my field as an example, interdisciplinary approaches add new dimensions to our understanding of historical objects. Historians of art and design can glean a huge quantity of information from a historical object by considering its style and any accompanying documentation. Chemical identification of the dyes can then supplement and deepen this understanding. When we only take one of these approaches: focussing only on the humanities methodologies or the scientific approaches, we neglect half of the information available about the object in question. Through interdisciplinary collaboration, we can obtain a much more holistic view of a historical object: its manufacture, use, life in museum collections, and future conservation needs.
Stepping into the College of Arts for my PhD was slightly daunting, but the resources available have equipped me with a range of new skills and ideas little discussed in science departments, which have improved the quality of my research. For example, having the opportunity to spend time with archival collections has enhanced my understanding of the science behind the manufacture of dyes, their use in colouring textiles, and how this was scaled up in industry throughout the twentieth century.
Interdisciplinarity is a bit of a buzzword right now, but I think it’s important to see it as more than that. By reaching beyond our comfort zones, we can see what new perspectives other disciplinary approaches can offer our research. Through this, we can strengthen our arguments, challenge our assumptions, and achieve a more well-rounded understanding of
the topics we research. Right now is the perfect time to think about incorporating interdisciplinarity into our research here at the University of Glasgow, with the recent opening of the new Advanced Research Centre – which offers opportunities to build cross-disciplinary collaboration. We have a unique opportunity to build new connections between seemingly diverse departments and potentially unveil the hidden stories we are blind to in our own research.
However, interdisciplinary research is not without challenges and barriers. Personally, I think that a key barrier is lack of confidence. For example, my educational background is not in History of Art – how can I contribute to this space? Very few people are likely to be experts in both Chemistry and History of Art, so the answer lies in connecting with researchers from different fields – combining your knowledge to create something greater than the sum of its parts. Many of the most thought provoking questions and suggestions posed about my research have come from people from very different fields – who have different methodological skillsets and ideas.
A further barrier is misconceptions about the nature of research on “the other side”. Arts researchers might consider science research as solely logical, lacking in creativity; and science researchers may think of arts research as more abstract, creative work, without analytical methodology. In contrast, my experience has shown me that scientific research demands creative thinking: in experimental design, visualisation, and communication of complex data; and arts research requires rigorous methodology and logical management of large and complicated datasets.
Beyond this, there are some challenges in balancing expectations and administration concerns in cross-college collaboration. Stylistic preferences vary widely between disciplines, but the Academic Writing Advice service has been a useful resource for navigating this. Likewise, figuring out your place within the university administration system (training requirements, financial processing) takes time; but the knowledgeable and kind administrative staff are excellent guides in this. Overall, I think that overcoming these barriers and challenges is worth it to reap the wide-ranging benefits possible through interdisciplinary research.
In discussions with colleagues across the academic spectrum, I have come to understand that both science and arts touch all research. Some examples are obvious: heritage science; the history of science and medicine; artworks inspired by lived experience of illness; and technological development for the production of art. But even in less obvious cases, which seem to fit firmly within a single discipline, the way humans interact with the world – what they write, what they make, what they say, what they do – is all connected to the technological environment they find themselves in. I believe that by including interdisciplinary thinking in our research practices, we can produce unique, substantial, creative contributions to our respective fields. Best of all, by finding an interdisciplinary approach to research – I haven’t had to choose between arts and science.
Header image: by Kindel Media on Pexels.
