Key challenges for the future Systems Engineering (SE) include practically converting concepts into actions that solve complex problems and implementing formalized Transdisciplinary Integration (TDI) approaches to achieve this. This paper starts with a literature review, which exposes specific gaps: Transdisciplinarity in SE as a mindset is not well established and Transdisciplinary Integration Processes (TDIP) are not formalized and rigorously applied. Challenges are collected with a focus on “Transdisciplinarity in SE” as a meta-discipline in supporting TDI meta-model development. To this end, a TDI conceptual capability model comprising ends, ways, and means that coalesce transdisciplinary knowledge, methods, and stakeholder perspectives, and a TDIP model applicable across wide-ranging problem spaces and dimensions are proposed. A Disciplinarity Index (DI) is introduced to analyze a spectrum from Intra- to Alter-Disciplinarity; determine proportionality of problem dimensions, factors, and bounding aspects; and define a solution approach. The models are validated by applying the DI to four socio-technical problem domains ranging in scope and scale. This study concludes that the diverse challenges are approachable using the proposed conceptual foundation and models, which are unique in establishing a mechanism to blend disciplines, meet the challenges, and achieve Transdisciplinarity in the SE community while forming relations in the broader systems and transdisciplinary communities.
Bataleblu et al. (Wed,) studied this question.