The Interdisciplinary Studies (IDIS) program covers the scope of multiple disciplines, enabling faculty from other graduate programs to participate in this program. Therefore, the IDIS Graduate Program welcomes all faculty members eligible to be supervisors to participate in the IDIS Graduate Program.

Not all advances in knowledge, or in creativity, take place within established disciplines. In fact, innovative thinking and creativity may be unleashed by diminishing, bridging, or deliberately removing the boundaries between disciplines. The University of Northern British Columbia provides two options for interdisciplinary inquiry.

The MA option in Interdisciplinary Studies is specifically designed to enable students to pursue intellectual development outside the constraints of traditional disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences. The MSc option in Interdisciplinary Studies is specifically designed to enable students to go beyond the constraints of traditional disciplines in the Physical and Life Sciences. Applicants interested in interdisciplinary studies should consult the Chair of the IDIS Program directly for advice on which option would be most appropriate for their research interests, and on how to tailor a course of study appropriate to their interests.

Applicants may undertake an Interdisciplinary Studies Program under the following circumstances:

• The applicant has a well-conceived idea of the courses needed for the IDIS Program and of a thesis topic that the applicant wishes to pursue.
• The intellectual rationale of the thesis must be truly interdisciplinary; that is, it must draw from at least two of the university programs described in the UNBC Graduate Calendar.

Students in the Program must complete the following requirements:

• All interdisciplinary programs shall include a 12 credit-hour thesis, and shall be composed of a minimum total of 27 credit hours.
• The number of courses included in an IDIS Program shall be at least four in addition to the IDIS core course.
• A student may not take all courses, nor all but one course, from the same program.