Interdisciplinarity is a way of thinking human beings have been doing for millennia. Many real-world complex problems have been solved using an interdisciplinary approach throughout history. One such problem dating back hundreds of thousands of years was that of how humans feed themselves. Gardening, or agriculture, has been answering this question interdisciplinarily for generations. This thought struck me recently as I have begun planning my own garden for this summer. In order for a bountiful harvest one must understand the interconnectedness that exists in nature between the soil, the sun, the air, water, the seed and human labour. It isn’t simply plant a seed and it will grow. A successful garden requires a little bit more effort. It involves the synthesizing of each element to produce the final fruit. It requires understanding soil composition, the climate and location of the garden, the direction and intensity of the sun, the type of seed being planted and which seeds compliment each other and which do not. It involves the constant overseeing and maintenance of the process to yield a bountiful harvest.

Typically mainstream academia teaches us to think and study disciplinarily but our every day lives require us to do the opposite, to approach situations and problems interdisciplinarily. To solve my complex real-world problem of feeding myself I am required to research and apply various parts of different disciplines to generate the final outcome – food. During this process I am constantly making adjustments, tending to my garden either by adding fertilizers, removing weeds or pests, or providing structural help to assist a plants growth. I consider science (soil composition), geography (my location), climate (weather affects, sun, air, water and shade), landscape design (garden layout), seed selection (those that do best beside one another) and location for planting, and human labour (time and effort).  Each of these components plays a part in the creation of a successful garden because each of these have a common thread, they can all be used to influence and contribute to the growth of a garden. Interdisciplinary research is used in much the same way. Its value is its complexity.   Applying various components from different disciplines can synthesis or bring together the area of research studied in a more comprehensive manner. Tending to the research, choosing what is required to support your question or statement and choosing what is not, constantly overseeing and creating structure throughout the process is necessary, valuable and leads you to the final outcome – an answer, or at the very least, more knowledge.

An interdiscplinary approrach allows the researcher to integrate parts of science with parts of history and geography and economics and political science to answer the ‘so what?’ question from a more cognizant position. It considers the value each perspective has to offer and how they can be used in addressing large and complex puzzles. The BIS program allows students to pick and choose which ‘seeds’ they wish to plant and foster to grow a deeper understanding of various real world problems they wish to solve. It encourages students to synthesis knowledge from a variety of disciplines creating in individuals skills and abilities that enable them to consider approaching the job market, their own lives and their involvement in the community with a more open-minded position. The BIS program also instills the importance individual disciplines have to both academia and to the interdisciplinary process because they provide a fundamental foundation in which to build upon.

Approaching the world with a foundation in interdisciplinary studies is like a gardener approaching a piece of land with the goal of planting, growing and harvesting enough food to feed themselves and the masses. Understanding that everything is interconnected in some way (earth, air, water, sun and human labour) by one common factor (the seed) can a gardener produce a successful and bountiful harvest. In the same way, interdisciplinary research and the tools used to answer complex real world problems, or to at least contribute to the knowledge of them, begins by understanding that disciplines can be integrated, their parts interconnected to produce a more comprehensive approach to learning and understanding. We do this in our lives everyday, make connections between different parts of our lives to create order or understand something. The BIS program and the interdisciplinary approach encourages us to engage with this integration in our personal and professional lives now and in the future so that we may see that everything is connected, including the vegetable that starts out as a seed that sits on your plate at dinner time.