Crossing borders, building bridges: A reflective case of interdisciplinary PhD co-supervision in health sciences and education

Abstract

This article offers a reflective account of co-supervising a doctoral study that drew on elements of Health Sciences and Education to explore interdisciplinary supervision. Rather than uniting entire disciplines, the collaboration brought together specific epistemological and methodological traditions from both fields, grounded in the lived experience of an interdisciplinary doctoral journey. The focus is not the doctoral thesis per se, but the supervisory process and how interdisciplinary practice reshapes research design, supervisory relationships, and student development. Rather than offering a generic account, the article draws on situated experience to provide practical insights into supervision practice, examination challenges, and institutional dynamics. A central tension emerged between institutional commitments to interdisciplinarity and the persistence of disciplinary expectations. The study highlights the challenges of navigating methodological dissonance, sustaining coherence in co-supervision across paradigms, and managing assessment processes that often default to monodisciplinary standards. It underscores the need for better support for both students and supervisors engaged in cross-border research. Ultimately, the article calls for more responsive supervision models and institutional cultures that recognise and accommodate the complexity of interdisciplinary doctoral journeys.
Contribution: This article contributes to ongoing debates on interdisciplinary doctoral supervision by offering a grounded, practice-based reflection on how academic structures and supervision models shape knowledge-making across disciplines. It emphasises reflexivity, dialogical engagement, and institutional responsiveness as key enablers of epistemic hybridity, and encourages closer attention to how supervision practices can evolve to support complexity, fluidity, and collaboration in doctoral education.