Interdisciplinarity
Interdisciplinarity integrates knowledge, methods, or perspectives from multiple academic disciplines to address a question or problem.
Multidisciplinarity: The juxtaposition of contributions from multiple disciplines without necessarily integrating them. It places disciplinary contributions side by side, unlike interdisciplinarity’s integration.
Conceptual framework: An organized set of concepts and relationships used to interpret a problem or guide inquiry. A shared framework can make concepts from different disciplines mutually intelligible.
Climate change research: Research into the causes, impacts, and responses to long-term changes in Earth’s climate. It combines climate science with economics, politics, engineering, and other fields.
Academic discipline: A recognized branch of learning with its own subject matter, methods, and scholarly institutions. Disciplinary structures provide the boundaries and incentives interdisciplinarity must negotiate.
Julie Thompson Klein: An American scholar known for research and writing on interdisciplinarity and its practices. Her work has shaped definitions and frameworks used to study interdisciplinary scholarship.
Transdisciplinarity: An approach that integrates academic disciplines and often includes knowledge from outside academia. It often extends integration beyond academic disciplines to practitioners and communities.
Boundary object: An object flexible enough to serve different communities while retaining a recognizable shared identity. Shared objects can coordinate work across disciplines without requiring identical interpretations.
Bioethics: The study of ethical questions arising in biology, medicine, and health care. It brings ethical reasoning into conversation with biomedical knowledge and practice.
Academic journal: A periodical publication that presents scholarly work, commonly through peer review. Journal scopes and review practices influence where interdisciplinary findings can be published.
William H. Newell: An American scholar and educator associated with the development of interdisciplinary studies. He helped establish interdisciplinary studies as a field of scholarship and education.