More than Ticking a Box: Interdisciplinarity in Doctoral Education

Tara Brabazon; Lauren Gray

doi:10.53103/cjess.v6i2.471

Authors

Tara Brabazon Flinders University, Australia
Lauren Gray Libraries Tasmania, Australia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53103/cjess.v6i2.471

Keywords:

Interdisciplinarity, Socio-legal Studies, Doctoral Studies, PhD Examination

Abstract

The examination of a PhD is saturated in experiential ideologies and subjectivity. For students, these events summon anxiety, fear, and worry. These emotions are intensified in interdisciplinary theses. This article develops a matrix to present, track, and verify interdisciplinarity in doctoral theses. Reflecting on the experience of defending the interdisciplinarity of a doctoral thesis situated within the socio-legal tradition, the imperative of this paper offers wider relevance and resonance, probing the management of subjective examination processes and protocols. In the case study of the socio-legal doctoral thesis explored in this article, the interdisciplinarity was questioned by one examiner who asked for verification. In response, a process for evidencing interdisciplinarity was developed, constructing a matrix of scholars, theoretical influences, and disciplinary intersections. Extending and disseminating this matrix as an exemplar to ‘prove’ interdisciplinarity, this article offers insights into the practical demonstration of interdisciplinarity and the epistemic tensions it continues to provoke within traditional disciplinary assessment frameworks, including doctoral education.

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References

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