Interdisciplinary Futures

The Edinburgh Futures Institute’s undergraduate degree programme places interdisciplinary learning and complex challenges at the centre of the learning experience.

Our approach begins with profound questions about the world we live in - questions about sustainability, inequality, global health, and conflict. A sustainable, ethical and equitable future for society and the planet cannot be addressed within a single discipline or be superficially ‘solved’ or ‘fixed’.

This approach, bringing together people with diverse skills, experiences, interests and worldviews, will help us create better futures and address personal, local and global challenges together.

This degree programme is designed so you can connect with the communities, businesses, employers and environments you will find in the professional world.

Our approach equips you with the teamwork, critical and creative skills most valued by employers. You will:

• develop the confidence, knowledge, and skills to work, live, and make a difference in a rapidly changing world

• gain key employability skills and collaborative experiences with different communities and partners - preparing you for a career of your choice

• access leading research and award-winning teaching from a wide range of disciplines and subjects at the University of Edinburgh

• benefit from a choice of courses across subject areas, dedicated student support, and opportunities for personal development

• learn to apply your knowledge to complex problems, and your skills and insight toward building better futures

We feature a high level of support and guidance that is a core part of teaching and learning while ensuring that you will benefit from a self-directed approach.

This programme is a launching pad for developing confidence, taking risks, exploring uncertainty and challenges and applying critical thinking.

Programme benefits

• Interdisciplinary study is designed to give you the confidence, knowledge, and skills to work, live, and make a difference in a rapidly changing world. It has a strong focus on developing key employability skills.

• Experience active learning, engage with open questions, and dive into challenge-led teamwork at the Edinburgh Futures Institute. You will build the experience and the skills that employers value while gaining a degree that prepares you for the unpredictable.

• Interdisciplinary study is designed for collaborative experiences with different communities and partners. You will focus on complex local or global challenges, with learning and teaching linked to cutting-edge research and the big future issues facing our planet and societies.

• You will have access to the University of Edinburgh’s world-leading research and award-winning teaching across a wide range of disciplines and subjects and you will be able to study chosen areas in depth.