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Interdisciplinarity for a better society

Interdisciplinary education and research have always been an important part of what makes us LiU. This is where researchers, students and collaboration partners meet across borders to find new perspectives and solve complex societal problems.

How interdisciplinarity takes us further

A cell phone hovering over a hand

The future of healthcare starts in your mobile

Imagine your smartphone becoming a diagnostic tool that helps you detect early signs of illness or monitor your health between doctor’s visits. That is the vision behind the ECIU University course “Health in Your Hands”.
Pregnant women in a room.

Better care of expectant mothers in focus for new research centre

It should not matter where in the country a woman gives birth. Nor should her background. A new research centre is therefore being set up, to make the entire care chain for expectant and new mothers more equal and based on their individual needs.
Woman looking up from working at her computer.

New research centre meets challenge of longer working lives

More and more people are working later into their lives – but what happens when health fails and this leads to sick leave? A new research centre at LiU is to find solutions for returning to work later in life and for a sustainable working life.
Reseracher in lab.

New master’s programmes in world-leading materials science

¸ŁŔűĽ§ is one of the world’s leading universities in materials science. The autumn of 2026 will see the launch of two new master’s programmes in this field. The students can look forward to an excellent labour market.
CMIV's MR scanner Philips 3T

From inside the body to the future of healthcare – 25 years of CMIV

25 years ago, an idea was born in Linköping: to unite research, healthcare, and industry in developing the medical tools of the future. Two years later, that vision became reality when CMIV was founded and its operations began.

“Skin in a syringe” a step towards a new way to heal burns

Researchers have created what could be called “skin in a syringe”. The gel containing live cells can be 3D printed into a skin transplant, as shown in a study conducted on mice. This technology may lead to new ways to treat burns and severe wounds.

Interdisciplinary work should be rewarded

We need to constantly find new paths and ways of working to become even more interdisciplinary. We are to contribute to the development of society in the best possible way, and one way that we do this is by having a more interdisciplinary mindset.
Jan-Ingvar Jönsson, vice-chancellor of ¸ŁŔűĽ§

New award for interdisciplinary initiatives

A woman sitting in a couch.

Award winner with an interest in how people solve practical problems

Blood. Engineers. Housewives. The list of subjects Boel Berner, professor emerita at LiU, has taken an interest in is long and still growing. She is now awarded the Ingemar Ingemarsson interdisciplinarity prize.

What is interdisciplinarity?

In an increasingly complex world, research is needed that can see both breadth and depth in the major societal issues.

LiU was born out of interdisciplinarity

Without interdisciplinarity, no university in Linköping? We can’t know for sure. What is certain, however, is that interdisciplinarity has always been strong at LiU and has played a significant role in the university’s development.

In the early 1970s, when LiU was still a university college, the Department of Medical Technology was an important bridge between the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Medicine. This may have been crucial when the government decided where Sweden’s sixth university would be located. They chose Linköping! The university college became a university in 1975.

A few years later, it was time for a new milestone. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Linköping University had been spun off from Stockholm University which meant that its focus was mostly on education and not so much on research. LiU argued that we need interdisciplinary research to solve contemporary and future societal problems.

And the government listened. In 1980, the Department of Thematic Studies was inaugurated, which meant something new and untried in the Swedish research community. Its work was organised in interdisciplinary themes, where researchers could meet across traditional subject boundaries and address complex issues together. The first themes were Technology and social change and Water in nature and society. These were followed by more and we now find interdisciplinary research throughout the university.

There are also many good examples when it comes to education programmes. Sweden’s first Master of Science programme in Industrial Engineering and Management linked economics and technology, and in the world’s first clinical teaching department, students from various health care programmes have met many patients over the years. Today, there are interdisciplinary programmes and courses in everything from environmental science to e-health that give our students the tools to create a better society.

But we are not done yet. Our best time is soon!

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