Monitieteisissä

Monitieteisissä is Finnish for “in multidisciplinary contexts” and refers to activities, research, or education that integrate knowledge, theories, and methods from multiple disciplines. The corresponding noun form is monitieteisyys, and a project or study described as monitieteinen typically aims to address questions that cannot be fully understood from a single discipline.

Linguistic note: Monitieteinen is an adjective, and moni- means many while tiede means science or discipline. The phrase monitieteisissä denotes a location or context (the inessive plural), as in “monitieteisissä tutkimuksissa” (in multidisciplinary studies/research). Related terms include monitieteisyys (multidisciplinarity) and monitieteinen tutkimus (multidisciplinary research).

Applications and contexts: The concept is widely used in higher education, research policy, and industry collaboration in Finland. It describes efforts that combine natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, engineering, design, data science, and other fields to address complex problems such as climate change, public health, urban planning, and sustainable development. Multidisciplinary work often involves mixed methods, cross-disciplinary teams, and shared objectives across disciplines.

Benefits and challenges: Multidisciplinary approaches can yield more holistic explanations, innovative solutions, and practices that are more applicable to real-world problems. They require coordination, effective communication across epistemic cultures, and clear project governance. Challenges include potential conflicts over methods, terminology, timelines, and funding structures that favor single-discipline work.

Relation to broader concepts: Monitieteisyys sits along a spectrum with interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity. Interdisciplinarity emphasizes integrating concepts across academic disciplines; transdisciplinarity extends collaboration to non-academic stakeholders. Monitieteisissä contexts often prioritize practical collaboration and integrative problem-solving within institutional settings.