Multi-disciplinary approach to research made project possible
Bob Kull's research may be unconventional, but it has wide-spread support from the University of British Columbia, a leading university in Canada.
'Bob's research is located in a university where innovative dissertations are supported by a significant number of faculty,' said Professor Carl Leggo, of UBC's Faculty of Education.
Kull's advisers are drawn from a wide range of disciplines - biology, commerce (the adviser from that faculty studies environmental factors that promote and inhibit self-realisation), education and forestry. Professor David Tait, of the Faculty of Forestry, said: 'Bob's programme is expanding, by example, the domain of reflection available in a leading academic institution.
'Any exploratory venture into uncharted domains, at a minimum, fuels a social involvement with wonder ... Bob's programme adds the question: 'Who and what are we, particularly if we are stripped of much of our cultural surroundings and support?''
Professor Lee Gass, a zoologist who has specialised in the evolution of animal intelligence, and another adviser, said: 'We on the committee don't know what Bob will produce, or whether our peers will find it satisfactory for a PhD. But we believe in Bob and we believe in the process Bob has asked us to participate in.'
He said if Kull were younger it would have been easy to discourage him. 'But Bob is a grown man who has great talents, deep and broad experience, and clear ideas about what he needs to experience next,' he said. 'If he can propose something that makes some sense to us in the university and if he can assure us that he can do what he proposes without killing himself, why not?' The project worked, Gass added, because of its inter-disciplinary nature.
'From within science, Bob's pro-ject would be very difficult to promote as PhD level research, primarily because science is predominantly about 'out there',' he said. Similarly, it would likely be seen as inadequate from the narrow perspective of any other discipline.
The interdisciplinary studies programme, which is supported by all faculties within the university, allowed the development of unique, personalised programmes for each student, Tait said.
He believes Kull's work can easily surpass the academic standards required by the university. 'But, like Bob, I remain in a state of 'wonder' as to just what the thesis will turn into,' he said.
