On May 4th of next year, the Pufendorf IAS will host a conference to explore transdisciplinarity. Questions on the boundaries of transdisciplinary research and its consequences for practice and theory will be in focus.

These questions are of central relevance according to Eva Persson, who is leading the work with the conference at the Pufendorf IAS, together with Director Sune Sunesson.

- Even though we at the Pufendorf IAS have been reluctant to define the term transdisciplinarity, we feel that it is essential to discuss the topic. It has consequences for who gets the prerogative of interpretation – as in who gets the right to speak, whose perspective is being represented, who gets to collaborate, and who does not.

She adds that it also has bearing on the consequences for basic research: - What fields do normally work cross-boundary? Can these fields be broadened? Does the trend towards increased transdisciplinary thinking transform the established boundaries of knowledge?

The model of facilitating collaborative research at the Pufendorf IAS - where researchers from at least three different faculties within Lund University themselves organise their work in a bottom-up approach – will also be scrutinised at the conference.

- What other models are there for facilitating the incorporation and transcendence of multiple and joint research into new ideas and initiatives? We see it as important to assess how we work, and how our model compares to others.

A detailed programme and invitations to the conference will be issued in the autumn of 2017.

For questions about the conference, please contact Eva Persson, eva [dot] persson [at] pi [dot] lu [dot] se (eva[dot]persson[at]pi[dot]lu[dot]se)

Read more about Transdisciplinarity. How is it done and what does it mean? Conference in May 2018