Introduction
We live in an increasingly complex environment. At the time of writing, society is at the confluence of a devastating pandemic, unprecedented vaccine development, violent civil unrest fueled by rampant online disinformation, and more frequent and extreme weather, amongst a host of life-changing phenomena. No discipline truly exists in a vacuum, nor can researchers work in a silo to satisfactorily address real-world opportunities or challenges. Inter- and transdisciplinarity are better understood as fundamental approaches, rather than nice-to-have, in order to achieve a variety of objectives, whether academic, industrial, governmental, or beyond.
The research community has responded to the need to adapt. Collaboration across the boundaries of traditionally distinct disciplines is detectable simply from the new, enigmatically branded institutes, centers, and working groups that have been established worldwide over the last few decades. Fields such as Digital Humanities and Computational Social Science are now ubiquitous and reflect a wider societal trend of modernizing things historically considered the domain of the Humanities, Social Sciences, or Arts (HSSA) by weaving of contemporary computer-powered and data-centric (computational data) tools and methods into their fabric.
The influence of this trend to transform using computers and data has, however, trickled only gradually from research to education. In the UK the topic of interdisciplinary teaching has been less of a priority for universities \cite{academy}. This could explain the Royal Society having to draw attention in a report as recently as 2019 to the interdisciplinary nature of computational data skills and the need for further consideration around how universities can teach these effectively \cite{2019}.
Indeed, when it comes to revamping HSSA curricula with computers and data, without first tackling the existing gap in STEM education itself, any ambition for higher complexity is futile. This impracticality is further compounded by the likelihood of myopic attitudes in earlier stages of education, as adulthood and the consideration of future-readiness are conceptually furthest away.
Despite these and other challenges, however, the signals of interdisciplinarity from both undergraduate and secondary education are strengthening. In London, UK, an Arts and Science BASc was launched back in 2012 by University College London, offering and requiring students to take a mix of non-science and science courses. From an original intake of 87, just 4 years later by 2016, this had grown to 450 students in steady state \cite{academy}. Additionally, at the secondary level one institution, North London Collegiate School, is piloting a Digital Humanities toolkit that will enable their students to undertake modern interdisciplinary learning activities, a project I am involved in.