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The article focuses on the supervisory process rather than the thesis itself, examining how interdisciplinary practice reshapes research design, supervisory relationships, and student development. Grounded, practice-based insights address supervision challenges, examination issues, and institutional dynamics, highlighting tensions between interdisciplinarity commitments and persistent disciplinary expectations. It discusses methodological dissonance, coherence across paradigms, assessment processes, and the need for responsive models and supportive institutional cultures.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/crossing-borders-building-bridges-a-reflective-case-of-interdisciplinary-phd-co-supervision-in-health-sciences-and-education/582303/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/crossing-borders-building-bridges-a-reflective-case-of-interdisciplinary-phd-co-supervision-in-health-sciences-and-education/582303.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Margaret","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-15","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":44},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What does the article focus on during interdisciplinary doctoral co-supervision?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It focuses on the supervisory process and how interdisciplinary practice reshapes research design, supervisory relationships, and student development, rather than on the doctoral thesis itself.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does the study describe the key challenge in institutional support for interdisciplinarity?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"A central tension is described between institutional commitments to interdisciplinarity and the persistence of disciplinary expectations that often shape supervision and assessment.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What improvements does the article call for regarding interdisciplinary doctoral journeys?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It calls for more responsive supervision models and institutional cultures that recognize and accommodate the complexity of interdisciplinary doctoral co-supervision.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},582303,1792161701,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":44,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":52,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},137451207643,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","Transformation in Higher Education  \nISSN: (Online) 2519-5638,(Print) 2415-0991  \n~~ ~~ Page 1 of 10  \nOrigina~~l Research ~~  \nCrossing borders, building bridges: A reflective case of interdisciplinary PhD co-supervision in health sciences and education  \nAuthors:  \nRowena Naidoo1  Michael A. Samuel2   \nAffiliations:  \n1Discipline of Biokinetics, Exercise and Leisure Sciences, School of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa  \n2Department of Higher Education Studies, School of Education, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa  \nCorresponding author:  \nRowena Naidoo, [naidoor3@ukzn.ac.za](naidoor3@ukzn.ac.za)  \nDates:  \nReceived: 01 July 2025  \nAccepted: 20 Nov. 2025  \nPublished: 29 Jan. 2026  \nHow to cite this article:  \nNaidoo, R. & Samuel M.A., 2026,‘Crossing borders, building bridges: A reflective case of interdisciplinary PhD co-supervision in health sciences and education’, Transformation in Higher Education 11(0), a638 . [https://doi.org/10.4102/the](https://doi.org/10.4102/the). v11i0.638  \nCopyright:  \n© 2026. The Authors. Licensee: AOSIS. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4 .0) license ([https://](https://)[ ](https://)[creativecommons.org/](creativecommons.org/)[ ](creativecommons.org/)[licenses/by/4.0/](licenses/by/4.0/)) .  \nRead online:  \nScan this QR code with your smart phone or mobile device to read online.  \nThis 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 perse, 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.  \nContribution: 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.  \nKeywords: interdisciplinary supervision; epistemological fluidity; institutional tensions; doctoral education reform; knowledge integration; higher education.  \nIntroduction  \nSupervisors and students crossing borders  \nIn contemporary higher education, there is a growing emphasis on interdisciplinarity as institutions seek to respond more effectively to complex social challenges (ed. Frodeman 2017) . This shift involves moving beyond rigid disciplinary silos and fostering integrated approaches to knowledge-making and doctoral-level supervision within postgraduate education. While the discourse surrounding interdisciplinar","cbCaipzKIpkcc7IU","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaipzKIpkcc7IU","pdf",481692,"English","# Introduction\n## Supervisors and students crossing borders","[{\"question\":\"What does the article focus on during interdisciplinary doctoral co-supervision?\",\"answer\":\"It focuses on the supervisory process and how interdisciplinary practice reshapes research design, supervisory relationships, and student development, rather than on the doctoral thesis itself.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the study describe the key challenge in institutional support for interdisciplinarity?\",\"answer\":\"A central tension is described between institutional commitments to interdisciplinarity and the persistence of disciplinary expectations that often shape supervision and assessment.\"},{\"question\":\"What improvements does the article call for regarding interdisciplinary doctoral journeys?\",\"answer\":\"It calls for more responsive supervision models and institutional cultures that recognize and accommodate the complexity of interdisciplinary doctoral co-supervision.\"}]","Crossing borders, building bridges - A reflective case of interdisciplinary PhD co-supervision in health sciences and education | PDF",1792043001,25]