Throughout my career I have always tried to resist the almost irreversible process of specialization and disciplinary parochialism triggered by the expansion of knowledge. A fortuitous encounter with a novel sort of fellowship has helped me do so. It's also helped me reflect on the impact that my work could have on society.

A graduate of University College London, I pursued my doctoral studies at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany. During those years, I recognized the need to frame the proceedings of science and their impact as part of a larger context. I pursued this aim by becoming a member of the EMBL Science and Society committee. When I began to search for postdoc opportunities, I looked for a formal way to embrace transdisciplinarity and to bridge science and society. Unfortunately, few funding organizations offered opportunities at my career stage.

Then, in 2003, Swiss entrepreneur Branco Weiss set up an innovative Society in Science fellowship to explore new avenues in the relationship between the two. It is aimed primarily at life-science postdocs seeking to incorporate novel social and cultural aspects into their work. Starting with a rigorous scientific question related to their field, fellows are given the intellectual freedom to develop a sound transdisciplinary research agenda incorporating perspectives from areas such as the history and philosophy of science, sociology, anthropology, public health and law. Fellows receive support for up to five years and carry out projects at one or more institutions of their choice.

With this fellowship, I am now conducting research on behavioural neuroscience while carrying out sociological studies of the impact such experimentation has on society, with special focus on the growing use of psychopharmacological drugs. This has helped me be more critical of my own work and interact with scholars outside my own field.

Natural scientists often debate with social scientists or humanities scholars on important societal issues. But they rarely have much knowledge of each other's jargon and methods. This type of postdoctoral research offers the opportunity to merge two worlds into one unique experience — and to widen the prospects for a more stimulating career.