Description
Content: This module provides a theoretical grounding in interdisciplinary research, and practical insights into its application. Over the course of the term we will examine the nature and meaning of interdisciplinarity; the particularities of interdisciplinary research; and the value of various approaches. We will also engage with relevant debates over whether and when to take an interdisciplinary approach, its advantages and disadvantages. Finally, students will encounter interdisciplinary research in action as we look at case studies of interdisciplinary fields such as Bioethics, Digital Humanities, and Refugee Studies.
Teaching delivery: This module is taught in 10 weekly three-hour sessions. Each session combines a lecture and seminar discussion.
Indicative topics: based on module content in 2023/24, subject to possible changes:
- What is interdisciplinarity?
- Decolonisation and the origins of disciplines
- Interdisciplinarity and Psychiatry
- The Challenge of AI
- Regional and thematic studies
- Public health: An interdisciplinary approach
- Interdisciplinary approaches to tackling planetary health
- Parasitology and the environment
- Humanitarianism, bioethics and interdisciplinarity
- Reflecting on approaches to interdisciplinarity
Module aims and objectives: Upon successful completion of the module students will be able to:
- Critically evaluate the evidence in favour of and against the benefits of interdisciplinary research and practice.
- Demonstrate a strong understanding of a number of central concepts associated with interdisciplinarity.
- Display a thorough and critical understanding of the literature associated with interdisciplinary research in the field of non- clinical/creative interventions in health.
Recommended readings
- S.B.J. Menken and Machiel Keestra (2016). An introduction to interdisciplinary research: theory and practice
- Christina Clark-Kazak (2023). Research Across Borders: An introduction to interdisciplinary, cross-cultural methodology
- Harvey J. Graff (2016). ‘The “Problem” of Interdisciplinarity in Theory, Practice and History’, Social Science History 40:4
This module is taught on the UCL EAST campus in Stratford.
Module deliveries for 2024/25 academic year
Last updated
This module description was last updated on 19th August 2024.