interdisciplinares

Interdisciplinares refers to approaches, projects, or teams that integrate knowledge, theories, and methods from two or more disciplines to address questions or problems that cannot be adequately handled by a single field. The term is commonly used in education, research, and public policy and often signals an effort to bridge different ways of knowing. In Portuguese, interdisciplinares is the plural form of the adjective describing such work.

In academic discourse, interdisciplinares contrasts with disciplinary work, which stays within a single field; with multidisciplinary work, which collects contributions from several disciplines without a unified integration; and with transdisciplinary work, which seeks to co-create knowledge with non-academic stakeholders and to move beyond traditional boundaries.

Applications of interdisciplinares are wide-ranging. They appear in curriculum design that blends science, humanities, and social sciences; in research programs tackling complex issues such as climate change, public health, urban planning, and technology ethics; and in industry settings where cross-functional teams combine engineering, design, and social science perspectives to develop new solutions.

Methodologies associated with interdisciplinares emphasize integration over mere juxtaposition. They include joint problem framing, cross-disciplinary collaboration, the use of common or bridge concepts, and mixed-methods approaches. Successful work often requires formal coordination structures, time for collaboration, and institutional incentives that reward integrative results.

Challenges include differences in terminology and epistemology, communication barriers across disciplines, resource intensity, and evaluation criteria that may favor single-discipline outputs. When supported by policy, funding, and culture that value integration, interdisciplinares can foster innovative insights and more holistic responses to complex problems. See also interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity.