Uncovering design considerations for embedding transdisciplinarity in higher education – an empirical exploration of a transdisciplinary global health program
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21556038 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Amber D L Mers (0009-0001-2373-7887, Vrije Universiteit, corresponding author), Sarju S Rai (0000-0001-5914-1471, Vrije Universiteit), Marjolein Zweekhorst (0000-0001-7015-4951, Vrije Universiteit) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 1158-1175 |
| Publication date | 2025-07-04 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Higher Education Research & Development (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0729-4360 • E-ISSN: 1469-8366 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/07294360.2025.2463515 |
| OpenAlex | W4407697467 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 35 |
To address twenty-first century global health challenges, higher education institutions must train future global health leaders in transdisciplinary competencies, promoting diverse knowledge integration and stakeholder collaboration. In response, we redesigned the ‘Global Health’ minor of Vrije University Amsterdam, by embedding a Transdisciplinary Global Health Challenge (TGHC). In this program students from different disciplines, universities, and countries worked with societal partners on real-life global health-related challenges for five months. This article describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of the TGHC, showcasing how educational programs can integrate transdisciplinarity. Through an action-research approach, project progress, and stakeholder experiences were monitored using qualitative methods such as focus group discussions (FGDs), reflections, and narrative documentation. While complex, the transdisciplinary collaboration journey facilitated diverse co-learning experiences and lessons on design considerations. The process led to positive transformations, with students developing competencies in transdisciplinary collaboration, strengthened university-communities ties, and enhanced teaching skills for educators. The study highlights the complexity of shifting to transdisciplinary learning in global health education as well as the need for concerted design and implementation strategies to optimize these models
Educational research · Embedding · Empirical research · Engineering ethics · Epistemology · Higher education · Management science · Pedagogy · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Transdisciplinarity · Biomedical and Engineering Education · Computer Science · Engineering · Interdisciplinary Research and Collaboration · Psychology · Sustainability in Higher Education · Artificial Intelligence
Project-based learning
Memoing in qualitative research
Scaffolding in Teacher–Student Interaction
Thematic Analysis
Content analysis and thematic analysis
Competencies for Advancing Transformations Towards Sustainability
Health, sustainability and transformation
Practical actions for fostering cross-disciplinary global health research
Training students for complex sustainability issues
Analysing Transdisciplinary Education
‘Undisciplining’ higher education without losing disciplines
Thematic Analysis
Characteristics, potentials, and challenges of transdisciplinary research
Advancing transdisciplinarity
Holistic competence orientation in sustainability-related study programmes
Transdisciplinary research in sustainability science
Key competencies in sustainability
Knowledge integration
Action Research and Minority Problems
Enhancing teaching through constructive alignment
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |