New Networks of Knowledge: what works, what doesn’t and why it matters

October 28th

Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, starting at 14.00

Particpiation Form

Inter/Multi/Transdisciplinarity – New Networks of Knowledge: What Works, What Doesn’t, and Why It Matters

An Advanced Intensive, Exploratory Workshop for early-career researchers (master’s, PhD, postdoc). This isn’t just a seminar. It’s a think-action lab for early-career researchers who may have already stepped beyond their domains or are planning to:

Work across or between disciplines;
Engage in hybrid projects or speculative collaborations;

And are now asking what kind of interdisciplinarity actually works, what remains theoretical, and where these new alliances can truly lead.

What is this workshop about?

This workshop will critically and practically engage with the three primary modes of knowledge integration:
Multidisciplinarity
Interdisciplinarity
Transdisciplinarity
Each of these forms of collaboration brings different challenges, power structures, risks, and institutional resistances. We will analyze real-world cases. Each of these projects will become a testbed for examining what kind of interdisciplinarity was attempted, what worked, what didn’t—and why.

Why to attend?

Critically examine your own interdisciplinary practice: Are you working with another discipline, across disciplines, or already beyond them?
Get practical: Participate in collaborative exercises, and methodological mashups.
Debate failure openly: Interdisciplinary work often fails silently—here we’ll talk about why, and what that tells us about institutional, cognitive, and methodological constraints.

Who should come?

This workshop is designed for early-career researchers (master’s, PhD, postdoc) who are already, or want to be:

Working across or between disciplines,
Engaging in hybrid projects or speculative collaborations.

Join the event:

Date: October 28th, 2025
Time: 14.00–16:30 CET
Venue: Hybrid
On-site: Building D20, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Janiszewskiego 8 Street, Room 115, Wroclaw.

Admission is free. Limited spots are available for on-site participation. Register here:

Workshop Paricipation Form

Deadline for On-site Registration: October 20, 2025

Deadline for On-line Registration: October 25, 2025

Workshop leaders

This workshop will be led by Milena Fuchs and Steve Evans, who bring diverse expertise and long-standing engagement with interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary practices. Together, they will guide participants through exercises, case studies, and critical debates, drawing on their combined experiences to illuminate both the possibilities and pitfalls of interdisciplinarity.

Milena Fuchs is Professor Emerita of the University of Zagreb, Fellow of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences and member of Academia Europaea. Prominent areas of expertise are Cognitive Linguistics, Semantics, Pragmatics and Cognitive Science. She served as the Croatian Minister of Science and Technology and was Chair of the Standing Committee for the Humanities of the ESF. During her various mandates in EU bodies, she instigated policy incentives for Multi/Transdisciplinary Research as well as Digital Humanities. In 2018 she was appointed a member of the JRC (Joint Research Centre) High-Level Peer Group of the European Commission, the European Commission’s science and knowledge service, which supports EU policies with independent scientific evidence throughout the whole policy cycle. Currently she is a member of numerous Science Advisory Boards at European level, especially in the domains of SSH and Research Infrastructures. She was a member of the EC High Level Group on Maximising Impact of EU Research and Innovation Programmes, chaired by Pascal Lamy. She is currently Member of the ERC Scientific Council and Member of the Academia Europaea Board.

Steve Evans – MAE, FIET, FLSW, FIEMA, FRSA, CEng is Director of Research in Industrial Sustainability at the University of Cambridge. After 12 years in industry, Steve moved to academia and pioneered many new topics in sustainable business models, eco-efficiency and other topics within industrial sustainability. His research asks ‘how to deliver a sustainable industrial system at the speed and scale that the planet needs?’ and is conducted with leading practitioners such as Toyota, Chanel, Airbus and hundreds of other companies. He started his first research on Circular Economy in 1995. Steve has founded various cleantech start-ups and served as Special Advisor to the UK House of Lords. Steve was recently elected to serve on the Board of the Academia Europaea. Throughout his academic career, Steve has demonstrated the capacity to build research collaborations to deliver high-quality use–inspired research underpinned by innovative fundamental research. (e.g. the COGENT project with Nissan and 120 suppliers; COGENT Construction with BRE and 20 suppliers; LIFEcar with Morgan Motor Co, Oxford, Qinetiq etc; THERM with Airbus, Toyota and IES ltd., and leading the UK National Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Industrial Sustainability with Toyota, M&S, Unilever, Adnams, Riversimple and others). This approach has been combined with thought leadership, holding the first UK grants in Eco-Design, WEEE take back and product service systems.