Comments

Overall, I believe this Manifesto is a valuable, highly-accessible, lucid, and succinct compendium of up-to-date scholarly insights into interdisciplinarity. (William H. Newell, Professor Emeritus, Miami University of Ohio)

This self-appointed manifesto of and for interdisciplinarity is more than a proclamation intended to alert academic and public opinion and to bring out revolutionary ideas in the field of interdisciplinary studies. Without dogmatism or pamphleteous violence towards the disciplinary system, this text proposes in a very pertinent way a synthetic vision of the current issues of interdisciplinary research. The manifesto not only denounces the resistance, obstacles, misunderstandings and criticisms of interdisciplinarity, but shows the different facets of a highly complex process at the epistemological, philosophical, historical, institutional, administrative, and other levels. It also provides documented advice on these complementary dimensions for consistent implementation of interdisciplinarity. In the eyes and ears of all readers, open-minded disciplinarians as well as convinced interdisciplinarians, this manifesto should sound like a call for dialogue and the gathering of forces for a better understanding of interdisciplinarity and its application in the service of creativity and innovation. (Frédéric Darbellay, Université de Genève)

Here Szostak gives us – especially those of us who are new to the field of interdisciplinary studies – an accessible and streamlined set of principles that should not only guide us but also help us to understand any resistance we might encounter when discussing ideas about interdisciplinary approaches to our work in higher education. This discussion isn’t only about the field of interdisciplinary studies as a scholarly enterprise and the research conducted under the umbrella of interdisciplinary studies; it is also about the benefits of an interdisciplinary education -- about the role of interdisciplinarity in teaching and learning. Number 5 in this manifesto is of such extreme importance in today’s climate. We cannot possibly begin to face these challenges in isolation. This is an excellent reminder about why we are engaging in this work and how we can make use of our knowledge and skills to move the needle closer to solving some our most significant issues. We must share our disciplinary expertise and consider how we can work with our colleagues and students to address the challenges we face as a society. (Anna Weinstein, Auburn University).

I posted this manifesto to the Integration and Implementation Sciences blog and received several more comments there in March of 2019..