SHAPE-ID member Prof Catherine Lyall was a keynote speaker at the University of Bologna's international event titled “Back to fundamentals of research: Interdisciplinarity” for their recent position paper, on October 9, 2024. The event featured distinguished speakers and experts from national and international institutions who shared their insights on interdisciplinary research and recommendations on how to foster this approach. Highlights of Prof Lyall's presentation "Interdisciplinarity: a continuing interplay of perspectives?" drew on central SHAPE-ID outputs including the 2023 Foundations of Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Research. A Reader. Click here to read the highlights of Prof Lyall's presentation, as well as more…

The International Transdisciplinary Conference 2024 (ITD24) is taking place on November 4-8, 2024, at Utrecht University, Netherlands. This year's theme is "Inter- and Transdisciplinarity Beyond Buzzwords: Educational Pathways for Sustainable Research Collaborations." In their conference video, Dr Isabel Fletcher, Dr Doireann Wallace, and Dr Giovanna de Moura Rocha Lima introduce the rationale and development of the SHAPE-ID toolkit before discussing ways in which they promote best practice in the conduct of inter- and transdisciplinary research using the Toolkit, and what further resources are needed to improve the support they provide to researchers and other research professionals. Click here to watch…

The University of Oulu and Oulu University of Applied Sciences are hosting the 47th Association for Interdisciplinary Studies Conference at the Linnanmaa campus from June 4th to 6th, 2025. This marks the second time the AIS organization has held its conference in Europe, following the 2019 event at the University of Amsterdam. The conference will focus on the theme "Shaping the Future in the Era of Polycrisis" and it is intended for all those interested in multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary research and teaching at all stages of their research career and in all staff groups. Registration and Session Call for…

Last December in snowy Hannover, two SHAPE-ID partners, Dr Isabel Fletcher and PD (dozent) Dr Bianca Vienni-Baptista, took part in a workshop organised by the UNDISCIPLINED project, an initiative of the Research on Research Institute (RoRI). RoRI is a collaboration between researchers, funders and data providers, that aims to use research evidence to improve research systems, cultures and decision-making. There is a clear overlap between these aims and SHAPE-ID’s role in advising the EU about best practice in the funding, conducting, and evaluating inter- and transdisciplinary research.   The UNDISCIPLINED project focuses directly on the funding, evaluation, measurement and impacts of transdisciplinary…

Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research involving the participation of Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts (SSHA) with STEM disciplines is key for addressing societal challenges in a meaningful and impactful way. But how can universities, and in particular research and knowledge transfer officers, contribute to supporting inter- and transdisciplinarity? Doireann Wallace, Interdisciplinary Research Funding Officer at Trinity College Dublin and the former Project Manager for SHAPE-ID, explored this question on November 3 2021 during the ASTP event “The Monthly Online SSHA and Impact Flashlight #7”. Doireann provided an overview of the key findings of the SHAPE-ID project and some initial pointers on how to…

Coimbra Group Training Event: Pathways to Inter- and Transdisciplinary Research On November 2nd 2021, Prof. Catherine Lyall and Dr Isabel Fletcher from the University of Edinburgh, delivered training to the Coimbra Group on the SHAPE-ID Toolkit. The event was moderated by Prof. Adriana Zait, Vice-Chair of the Coimbra Group Doctoral Studies Working Group and Director of the Doctoral School of Economics and Business Administration at the University Alexandru Ioan Cuza Iasi (Romania). The purpose of this training event was to introduce key stakeholders to the SHAPE-ID Toolkit and to discuss Pathways to Inter- and Transdisciplinary Research. Participants were also introduced to some of the resources that are valuable for research performing organisations and their communities,…

One of the final events of SHAPE-ID took place in Poland on the 28th of October 2021, where the Instytut Badań Literackich Polskiej Akademii Nauk (IBLPAN) team shared the project outcomes and insights on interdisciplinary cooperation between digital humanities and cultural heritage. The humanities and social sciences are an indispensable component of inter- and transdisciplinary research. The European Commission emphasizes their special role in the missions of the European Union . Many Horizon Europe competitions must consider and describe the role of HS science in the project, even if it relates to other fields. In Polish science, under the third evaluation criterion , we try to show the social impact of the sciences of…