(2) what proportion of research commissioned by the research councils in each of the last five years is considered multi-disciplinary.
Research councils define multidisciplinary research as research that brings together knowledge and modes of thinking from two or more disciplines or established fields of study. The proportion of research supported by each council classified as multidisciplinary research is set out in the following table:
Percentage Research Council 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) 9 14 27 Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) 29 31 31 Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 44 40 41 Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) 37 42 59 Medical Research Council (MRC) 39 36 36 Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) 42 47 39 Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) 8 6 11 Note: 1. Individual Councils use different ways of classifying multidisciplinary research and of collating relevant data. In addition, BBSRC, MRC, NERC and STFC also fund their own institutes and centres, which are intended to foster multidisciplinary research. Data on these are not included.
Equivalent data are not readily available for research funded prior to 2005-06.