Search

Prompted by William Newell's 2013 call for the Association of Interdisciplinary Studies (AIS) to consider whether to rethink its mission in light of other organizations' interests, this article begins by reflecting on similarities and differences among five of the founding organizations of a recently formed Global Alliance for Inter- and Transdisciplinarity. In chronological order of their own founding dates they are AIS, the Network of Transdisciplinary Research, the Integration and Implementation Sciences network, the International Network for the Science of Team Science, and the Center for Interdisciplinarity at Michigan State University. Descriptions of the five in Part I account for their emergence, communication venues, keywords of representation, website features, and prominent outputs. Given the centrality of integration in both inter- and trans-disciplinarity, it also describes their stances on this prominent topic. Part II reflects on implications of the current heterogeneity of the core concepts, focusing initially on generalizations including distinctions between Zurich and Nicolescuian approaches to transdisciplinarity followed by the premise of distinct Franco and U.S. traditions of the field of nanomedicine. It then draws further insights from case studies of institutionalizing interdisciplinarity across Europe, Russia and the South Caucuses, Africa, Latin and North America, Australia, and Asia. After commenting on signs of change in AIS, discussion turns to historical precedents for prioritizing problem solving, followed by future horizons for both inter- and trans-disciplinarity with emphasis on implications of their heterogeneity and overlaps with other prominent concepts such as Convergence and Mode 2 Knowledge Production. The closing section presents final reflections for answering Newell's challenge for AIS members to consider expanding its definition of interdisciplinary studies and conception of integrative process in light of other organizations' interests.

This article places William Newell's work on interdisciplinary studies (IDS) within the larger landscape of definitions, theories, and practices of interdisciplinarity. It begins by benchmarking three of his major contributions to the field of interdisciplinary studies read in the context of expanding literature on related topics: specifically his efforts to make integration the foundation of process-based best practices, to establish a theoretical framework grounded in complexity, and to professionalize the field of IDS. It then examines two challenges to AIS today that Newell alerted members to in a 2013 reflection on the state of the field -- transdisciplinarity and team science -- followed by added insights from two areas -- policy sciences and interprofessionalism. The article closes by reflecting on current conflicting priorities, renewed debate on the relationship of disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity, and efforts to explore intersections of multiple organizations vested in inter- and transdisciplinarity today.