Training for complexity: Fostering interdisciplinary thinking in one health graduate education

Graduate training in One Health must equip students to think across disciplines and address complex health challenges through integrative approaches. While case-based and project-based learning are increasingly used to support these goals, there is limited research on how graduate students engage in interdisciplinary exchange, particularly through peer feedback. This study examined structured peer interactions in a graduate-level One Health seminar at North Carolina State University. Six doctoral students from diverse disciplines – ranging from engineering to ecology to technical communication – shared their research projects and provided written and verbal feedback on each other's work. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, we analyzed how peer engagement shaped interdisciplinary thinking. Students consistently identified connections across One Health domains and offered insights that expanded the scope, setting, or methods of their peers' work. Notably, students contributed more ideas outside of their own disciplines than within them and frequently generated new research questions for themselves in the process. Thematic analysis revealed shared interests in environmental and ecological impact, sociocultural context, epidemiological pathways, genetic research, and policy relevance. Findings highlight the value of structured peer feedback as a tool for developing core One Health competencies, particularly systems thinking and interdisciplinary communication, and for fostering collaboration. Students demonstrated readiness to engage across disciplinary boundaries and apply One Health principles in thoughtful, practice-oriented ways. This study contributes to growing efforts to design graduate education that helps students engage meaningfully with the complexity at the heart of One Health work.