The University’s Interdisciplinary Research Centres are established cross-School initiatives that have demonstrated a critical mass of academic support in at least three Schools and have the explicit endorsement of the University’s Research Policy Committee. They extend the research priorities and strategies of the individual Schools by tackling cross-disciplinary challenges and creating a shared cross-School vision in key thematic areas. An Interdisciplinary Research Centre generally builds on the aims and achievements developed by a Strategic Research Initiative over a period of six years. 

Current Interdisciplinary Research Centres

Our current portfolio of Interdisciplinary Research Centres includes:

Cambridge Centre for Data-Driven Discovery

Bringing together established areas of research excellence across a wide range of disciplines to drive the underpinning research base of data science and address challenging economic and societal issues.

Cancer

Promoting collaborations at the interface between disciplines by bringing together researchers from the University and the Cambridge region (affiliated institutes, Addenbrooke’s Hospital and the biotech community) whose work has current or potential application to cancer research.

Cardiovascular Disease

Harnessing excellence in multi-disciplinary cardiovascular research and clinical services to deliver improved therapies, disease management, healthcare and preventive strategies.

Cambridge Academy of Therapeutic Sciences

Connecting world-leading academic and industry expertise to drive therapeutic development and support the education and training of the next generation of world-leading researchers.

Conservation

Delivering transformational approaches to understanding and conserving biodiversity through collaborative research, education, policy and practice, based on a unique partnership between the University and leading biodiversity conservation organisations.

Energy

Tackling grand technical and intellectual challenges in energy by leveraging University expertise across formal departmental and discipline boundaries from technology, physical and life sciences to the humanities and social sciences, business and management.

Engineering Biology

Delivering sustainable and socially acceptable new technologies through transformational research, interdisciplinary exchange and open technologies for innovation

Global Challenges

Enhancing the contribution of University of Cambridge research towards addressing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals through cross-disciplinary research and innovation programmes, founded on a properly localised understanding of the needs and contexts where impact is sought.

Global Food Security

Integrating scientific and technological innovation in food quality, yield and sustainability with interdisciplinary approaches to understanding the behavioural, social and political conditions of food security.

Infectious Diseases

Promoting programmes of research collaboration and capacity building to meet the challenges of infectious diseases in both developed and developing countries, with particular emphasis on global health.

Language Sciences

Connecting language science researchers and practitioners across the humanities, social sciences, biology, medicine, computer science and engineering, spanning University Departments, affiliated research institutes, the University Library and Cambridge Assessment.

Neuroscience

Connecting multidisciplinary neuroscience research and teaching across the University of Cambridge and affiliated Institutes, to increase our fundamental understanding of brain function and enhance quality of life.

Public Health

Working together across the University and its regional health partners to create a sustainable infrastructure and interdisciplinary skills base for research that will improve population health and wellbeing at the international, national and local levels.

Stem Cells

Creating a world-leading centre for stem cell biology and medicine that focuses on harnessing the genetic and biochemical mechanisms that control cell fate to enable advances in disease modelling, drug discovery and regenerative medicine.