Fostering creativity in the scientific research process

How can we integrate creativity into the scientific research process from the very beginning? By equipping students with creativity tools during their training. This is the message of a group of renowned researchers, which they published in a letter in the journal Science.

The lead authors are Professor Dr. Martin Lercher, a bioinformatician at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), and Professor Dr. Itai Yanai from New York University. They are both advocates of the importance and promotion of creativity in science.

Creativity must be taught in science curricula. That’s the central message of the authors, developed during an “exploratory seminar” at Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. In addition to the tools needed for research, students also need to learn the creative processes that are often the key to making truly revolutionary new discoveries.

Professor Lercher, corresponding author alongside Professor Yanai, says: “Creativity can be taught, nurtured and encouraged. Key teachable aspects include openness to new ideas, the ability to identify novel questions and the generation of a wide range of ideas. Analogies and metaphors can be helpful here. It is also important to look for connections between disciplines and, above all, to learn to accept contradictions.”

According to Professor Yanai, “demystifying the scientific creative process can make science more accessible to many young people. This in turn strengthens researchers’ confidence in their self-efficacy and identity as scientists.”

Several American universities, the HHU in Germany and the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) have begun to integrate creativity into their curricula. “These organizations can serve as models for others. We are convinced that training in scientific creativity, which addresses the complexity of modern challenges, will improve the accessibility, effectiveness and quality of science,” says Lercher.

Professors Itai Yanai and Martin Lercher focused on the creative side of scientific progress, drawing on a concept developed by Nobel Prize winner François Jacob. “Day science” refers to modern science as a systematic and well-planned process, guided by hypotheses developed in advance, while “night science” refers to the unsystematic and creative part of science, namely free thinking and the often intuitive exploration of ideas. And it is precisely this creative process that leads to qualitative scientific advances.