“Is this part of the process or is it just me?” An Autoethnographic Case Study on the Facilitator’s Role in Interdisciplinary Research

This paper explores the activities of a researcher in an interdisciplinary research project. It aims to compare their project management role with that of a facilitator inspired by agile and transformative approaches. In complex interdisciplinary settings, the need for a facilitator may emerge as an essential role within the research team. Using analytical autoethnography, this case study addresses the challenges of facilitating interdisciplinary knowledge co-production. To enhance reflexivity, an autopraxeological approach was developed, triangulating theory with a comprehensive data corpus of process documentation, team communications, field notes, and journal entries. Key findings highlight the difficulty of distinguishing between process and content-related tasks, underscoring the importance of skilled facilitators in research teams, similar to roles already practiced in private sector contexts like agile coaches and scrum masters. The paper situates these findings within the discourse on the convergence of roles and processes in science and technology studies.