interdisciplinaires

Interdisciplinaires is the plural form of the French adjective interdisciplinary and is used to designate approaches, projects, or curricula that integrate knowledge, methods, and perspectives from multiple disciplines to address questions or problems whose complexity exceeds the scope of a single field. In practice, interdisciplinaires work seeks a synthesized understanding or solution by combining theories and techniques from two or more disciplines, rather than treating them in isolation.

Interdisciplinarity is distinct from multidisciplinary work, where disciplines contribute in parallel without deep integration, and from transdisciplinarity, which also involves non-academic stakeholders and knowledge forms. The aim is to create new frameworks, concepts, or methods that transcend individual disciplinary boundaries and enable more comprehensive analyses.

Historically, the concept gained prominence in the 20th century with the growth of complex systems, sustainability, public health, and emerging technologies. It has become a standard feature of many universities’ research centers, graduate programs, and policy initiatives, reflecting a need to tackle cross-cutting problems such as climate change, urbanization, and data-driven decision making.

Applications span science, engineering, humanities, social sciences, education, and public policy. Examples include environmental studies that blend ecology, economics, and sociology; urban planning that integrates geography and civil engineering; and data science that draws on statistics, computer science, and domain knowledge.

Implementation often involves joint research teams, shared conceptual frameworks, integrative curricula, and mechanisms for translating findings across fields. Institutions may create interdisciplinary programs, co-funded laboratories, and funding schemes designed to reward collaboration and long-term integration.

Benefits include broader perspectives and innovative solutions, while challenges involve epistemological differences, communication barriers, incompatible incentives, and difficulties in assessment and authorship.