Advancing with Transdisciplinarity: Effective Responses for Coronavirus

Abstract

The term ‘transdisciplinary’  was discussed 50 years ago at the International Seminar on Interdisciplinarity in Universities in Nice, France. Then, transdisciplinary contributions were defined as those establishing a common system of axioms for a set of disciplines using systemic logics and the synthesis of higher order disciplinary relationships that distinguish transdisciplinary from multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary contributions. These key principles are recalled because societal challenges and problems, such as the current coronavirus pandemic, highlight the difficulty of many scientists, public administrators and politicians to think systemically within and beyond the conceptual and methodological boundaries of their discipline and profession. Although discipline-based expertise is needed about coronavirus, alone, it cannot provide a comprehensive understanding necessary for effective responses to its multiple impacts within and beyond the public health sector. This article proposes that the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 pandemic should be considered as an emergent, complex, contextual, and systemic societal challenge that requires concerted actions involving not only disciplinary and professional expertise but also other types of knowledge and know-how. The article includes a conceptual framework that represents this transdisciplinarity.