So-called "wicked" problems in human-environmental systems are characterized by 1) the irreducible complexity of interactions and feedbacks among multiple domains of a system, and also 2) the fragmentary and divergent understandings, perspectives and values of people engaged in those systems. Interdisciplinary graduate training empowers students who want to bring ecological and economic perspectives to address the challenges presented by wicked problems. However, interdisciplinarity is a broad concept, and can be manifest and pursued in several different dimensions, including: the range of topics or subject domains that are bridged, the diversity of epistemologies and methodologies that may be embraced, and the ways and degree to which non-academic perspectives are engaged. Graduate training and programs offer a variety models and approaches for addressing different interdisciplinary dimensions, which will vary in their alignment with the particular forms of interdisciplinarity that students personally value and aspire to. Drawing from recent literature, a sample of interdisciplinary program curricula, and our experiences with one interdisciplinary graduate program, we sought to evaluate the competencies that training in each dimension can afford for tackling wicked human-environmental problems, as well as pedagogical approaches for developing those competencies.
Results/Conclusions
Of the dimensions we explored, graduate training most often focuses on bridging subject domains. Students learn to build broader scientific knowledge regarding the nature of complex problems, thereby helping address the first criterion of wickedness. However, this does not necessarily build students' capacity to address the second criterion. When the bridged domains all share a common quantitative, objectivist research approach, such experiences may not train students in epistemic pluralism – recognizing and embracing the value of multiple ways of building knowledge. Interdisciplinarity without epistemic pluralism may, in fact, reify and further polarize debates that arise from fundamentally different views and tacit values, rather than empower students to understand and contend with divergent perspectives. Transdisciplinary research is co-produced with non-academic knowledge-holders and end users, whose worldviews may diverge even further beyond those found in academic disciplines; the negotiations and collaborations entailed are powerful training experiences to build competencies for navigating the challenges posed by the second criteria of wicked problems. Some interdisciplinary training programs offer innovative pedagogy to promote epistemic pluralism and transdisciplinarity, but these competences aren't and shouldn't be aspirations for all interdisciplinary students. However, students so trained can be invaluable assets for endeavors to solve wicked problems.