Interdisciplinarity and interprofessionalism: Implications for Biotechnology Education

Great advances have often occurred at the intersections of disciplines or in association with literal or metaphorical migrations of practitioners between disciplines. One only needs to look back as far as the explosive development in modern biology that took place when physicists and physical chemists turned their attention and methods to biology. The convergence of three revolutions in science (in molecular biology, bioinformatics and instrumentation) has changed the way biological research is done. Biotechnology is practised at the intersection of these revolutions. It is interdisciplinary and draws on core knowledge and skills in the areas of chemistry, physics, engineering and biology. In biotechnology, interdisciplinarity emerges between the natural sciences which develop knowledge involving biological systems. This is followed by an interprofessional integration of knowledge and skills from the social sciences and from business, to set research priorities, to develop ethical and regulatory frameworks, and to develop the scientific knowledge into products of value. We review and discuss definitions of interdisciplinarity and interprofessionalism, then propose a novel model for the evolution of disciplines (and interdisciplinarity). We consider the challenges posed by interdisciplinarity and interprofessionalism, for the structure of biotechnology programs and their modes of delivery