Studies in Higher Education Vol. 32, No. 2, April 2007, pp. 167–185 ISSN 0307-5079 (print)/ISSN 1470-174X (online)/07/020167–19 © 2007 Society for Research into Higher Education DOI: 10.1080/03075070701267228 Interdisciplinary foundations: reflecting on interdisciplinarity and three decades of teaching and research at Griffith University, Australia Daniel Franks, Patricia Dale*, Richard Hindmarsh, Christine Fellows, Margaret Buckridge and Patti Cybinski Griffith University, Australia Taylor and Francis Ltd CSHE_A_226633.sgm 10.1080/03075070701267228 Studies in Higher Education 0307-5079 (print)/1470-174X (online) Original Article 2007 Society for Research into Higher Education 32 2 000000April 2007 PatriciaDale P.Dale@griffith.edu.au Interdisciplinarity is widely practised and theorised. However, relatively few studies have reflected on university-wide attempts to foster the concept. This article examines interdisciplinary teaching and learning at Griffith University, Australia. It reflects on the foundations of interdisciplinarity at the university and situates them within the broader context of innovations in worldwide practice; it draws from the literature on interdisciplinarity to traverse the broad understandings of the term; it discusses the Griffith University innovations implemented in support of the concept; and, it reports on the likely outcomes of current methods designed to improve interdisciplinary practice. Whilst challenging barriers to interdisciplinarity continue to exist, compounded by varied conceptions of what interdisciplinarity entails, positive learning and research outcomes have been accomplished at the university from its interdisciplinary foundations, which also provide a platform to go forward. Introduction Universities have the production of knowledge as core business. There are several ways of producing this knowledge, and Gibbons et al. (1994) have identified an evolu- tion from discipline-based knowledge (mode 1) to what they term transdisciplinarity (mode 2), that tends to focus on applications. We can distinguish between transdis- ciplinarity and interdisciplinarity, but both have the common quality of bringing disciplines together and allowing knowledge to cross disciplinary boundaries. Whilst ‘interdisciplinarity’ is commonly practised and extensively theorised, relatively few * Corresponding author. Australian School of Environmental Studies, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland 4111, Australia. Email: p.dale@griffith.edu.au