In this blog, Dafni Lima writes about her experience completing a transdisciplinary placement.
How is public health relevant to my research in family law and assisted reproduction? What can I learn from colleagues who work in public health, and what would they gain from the legal perspective I would bring to their work? These were the main questions that I wanted to answer when I applied to do a NIHR SPHR Transdisciplinary Placement (TDP) with Fuse as part of the Population Health Sciences Institute at Newcastle University.
The importance of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research
I have always been interested in interdisciplinary research – looking beyond my discipline to discover new perspectives into legal research. Sometimes in academia it feels like certain discussions are going on in parallel in different disciplines, and researchers would have a lot to gain from being in the same room. On a more personal level, looking back on my academic journey, I can tell that I was always interested in exploring legal issues by bringing in perspectives from other disciplines, notably philosophy and social sciences.
Through this placement I also understood better the importance of transdisciplinary research. I became more familiar with Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE), how it works in practice, and how it can enrich academic research. PPIE integrates members of the public and patients in a meaningful way so that they can inform and shape research. Through my TDP, I was able to engage with partners beyond academia, especially the work of Children North East. I believe transdisciplinary research can push boundaries in academic research and lead to impactful work.
Deciding to apply for a NIHR SPHR TDP
I joined Durham University as an Assistant Professor in 2022, specialising in family law and human rights. In the past couple of years, my research interests have revolved around assisted reproduction technologies. I have taken a particular interest in the regulation of surrogacy and access to assisted reproduction. I found myself having interesting ideas for empirical research in the field of assisted reproduction, but felt my skill set in empirical research needed developing.
When I learned of the NIHR SPHR TDP programme, it immediately seemed like the perfect opportunity to combine my interest in interdisciplinary research with learning more about multi-method empirical research. As an early career researcher (ECR), the context of doing a placement felt like a good space to explore those areas under the mentorship and support of more experienced colleagues, before taking the plunge on my own. Being new to the North East, I also viewed the placement as an opportunity to develop connections with researchers in Newcastle and Fuse more widely that could help me build a network of future collaborators.
Working on SEAMS during my placement
For my placement I participated in SEAMS – Supporting engagement with and access to maternity services. The SEAMS project is examining the barriers that pregnant women and people on low incomes face when trying to access maternity care. The project also aims to identify solutions to these barriers to enable better access to maternity care for those living on low incomes. This project was the perfect fit for what I aimed to get out of my placement. It involved empirical research with pregnant populations, which is where I want my future research to focus. It also allowed me to develop connections within public health and with researchers at Newcastle University.
During my placement, I encountered many learning opportunities, both expected and unexpected. I was involved in designing and implementing components of the project, and I come away from this experience feeling much more confident as an ECR aiming to do empirical research. I gained a much better sense of what public health involves – initially, it was challenging to navigate the many acronyms involved in public health research and the NHS structure! The project’s principal investigator and the researchers I worked with were incredibly welcoming and very generous with their time as I was navigating a new field.
The relevance of public health to my research in family law and assisted reproduction
I applied my legal background both by offering a lawyer’s perspective at different stages of the project and by presenting to the team on legal issues that were relevant to their research, such as anti-discrimination law.
What did I take away from my TDP?
I realised in practice how many aspects of public health research I was not aware of and how different some things are done from what research in law looks like. I cannot think of a better way to learn this than being integrated with a team and being able to see how a research project develops over time. I was able to see what the challenges of doing empirical research are and how an experienced team navigates them. The research team was also very interested in learning more about how law relates to their research.
As an ECR, this opportunity was incredibly valuable. It was so useful that we agreed to extend my time on the placement beyond the original end date, and even now after it has formally ended I will keep being involved in the project on my own research time going forward. I have met wonderful colleagues and I am already developing an interdisciplinary funding application with one of them. I was able to get in touch with organisations that might be important contact points for my future research.
Engaging with this placement with an open mind was the best approach – I did not know how much I would stand to learn and to gain, and I am very glad I took the chance.
Fuse event at Durham Law School
Dafni Lima presented at the Fuse event ‘Exploring the spaces where public health, ethics and law overlap’ which took place on Friday 14th March 2025. View the presentations
