Benefit of interdisciplinary concept for postgraduate space programs
- Paper number
IAC-13,E1,4,2,x19488
- Author
Dr. Veronica La Regina, Italian Space Agency (ASI), Italy
- Year
2013
- Abstract
If space is defined as a complex item dealing with technological challenges, policy matters and economic constraints within an international context including intercultural interactions; thus a comprehensive education offer should take care of the overall setting. For this purpose, a postgraduate space program shall be envisaged to adopt an interdisciplinary approach to build capacity and transfer knowledge useful for solving problems and making challenges affordable. The paper presents current debate about interdisciplinary concept in order to identify its differences from intra-disciplinary, multi-disciplinary, pluri-disciplinary, inter-disciplinary, cross-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary. Some existing cases of postgraduate space education programs are presented in these respects (i.e. International Space University, ASI-SIOI Master program in Space policies and Institutions). The epistemological distance of disciplines, proposed by Turnbull S. in Design Criteria for a Global Brain in 2001, is, here, adopted in order to assess and amend existing cases. Thus, the final goal of the paper is to provide a valuable and feasible workplan of postgraduate space education program, complaint with the main institutional academic requirements. The outcome has the ambition to reduce epistemological distance of involved disciplines in order to reach interdisciplinary.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-13,E1,4,2,x19488.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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