A Study of Transdisciplinarity in the Context of the Transformation of Knowledge Production
The transformation of the knowledge production model is accompanied by fundamental changes in the logic of knowledge production and the features of educational activities.Going through transformation and development stage from model 1 to model 2,and then to model 3,it no longer follows rigorous academic tradition or takes academic researches as the ultimate goal,but applies knowledge to application and market.The new knowledge production models serve the society instead of serving the universities only,create the interdisciplinarity and organizational diversity of the universities and capture the gradual development of the paradigms of the discipline,from multidisciplinarity,interdisciplinarity,cross-disciplinarity to trans-disciplinarity.The complexity and specificity of the research objects concerning higher education determines that we should place the study of the construction and operation mechanism of the existing transdisciplinary organizations under the threshold of the transformation of the knowledge production model.By doing so,it helps to summarize the experience of building trans-disciplinary organization suitable for China's reality.Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability,MIT Schwarzman College of Computing and Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering,University of Chicago are the typical representatives of the transdisciplinary teaching and research entities,and they respectively demonstrate three unique transdisciplinary modes:sustainable development-led model,digital-driven model,and new-technologies-oriented model.Among them,Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability adheres to the concept of sustainable development,with eight centered research areas,two institutes,Woods Institute for the Environment and the Precourt Institute for Energy and a three-pillared sustainability accelerator as an important mechanism to achieve speed and scale for global impact.MIT Schwarzman College of Computing takes digitalization as a means to reshape the future directions of other disciplines(including arts and the humanities)and artificial intelligence,reshapes computing changes in various disciplines and integrates social groups and social forces to create a multidimensional gathering of personnel.Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering is driven by advances in basic science and relies highly on the Argonne National Laboratory that provides a transdisciplinary knowledge platform,to apply molecular-level science to the enhancement of the quality of human life.The concept,cognition,paradigm and practice of transdisciplinarity have so far provided new inspirations to China's construction,organization and researches,regarding disciplines.It further promotes China's universities to make corresponding adjustments and changes in the aspects of knowledge production,academic research orientation,disciplinary organizational changes,and collaborative and institutional innovations:Firstly,set up a certain transdisciplinary direction,field and system,that consists of the integration of proximate and remote disciplines,and achieve discipline convergence that aims at realizing public interests;Secondly,construct a transdisciplinary organization that relies on the advantageous disciplines and build multifaceted transdisciplinary research centers or innovation platforms that are comprised of research centers,research institutes and national laboratories;Thirdly,establish a mechanism that links closely with the industry,the region,the public,and improve the cooperation between the government,the society and the university,so as to construct a research community.
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