Short Abstract

We explore how interdisciplinary collaborations create new ways of knowing, acting, and imagining resilient futures. Can engaging across (inter-)disciplinary perspectives shape flourishing futures? What possibilities emerge when we work alongside others whose ways of knowing differ from our own?

Description

Interdisciplinary research challenges not only the boundaries of knowledge but also the ways we understand and act in the world. This panel asks: can engaging across (inter-)disciplinary perspectives generate insights and actions powerful enough to shape resilient and flourishing futures (Kenney 2024)? Or, what concrete possibilities emerge when we work alongside others whose ways of knowing differ from our own?

Working across disciplines often surfaces tensions—differences in worldviews, assumptions, and interpretations—but these tensions can become sites of learning and innovation (Yates-Doerr 2019, following de la Cadena 2015). Attention to how words are used, how contexts shape meaning, and how data are collected and interpreted can open new ways of seeing and acting in complex interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary spaces (Roberts & Sanz 2018; Yates-Doerr 2019).

Questions that will be addressed but not exclusively are:

- What is the potential of research grounded in seeing the world from one’s own interdisciplinary perspective, while also working alongside others who work from other disciplinary perspectives? What else do we learn to see this way?

- How do inter- and cross-disciplinary collaborations reveal the epistemic and ontological assumptions embedded in our own disciplinary perspectives, and how can moments of miscommunication become productive sites of knowledge-making and sense-making rather than obstacles?

- What are the ethical, epistemic, cultural, and practical tensions inherent in co-laboring with other disciplines? How can reflecting on these tensions inform the design, interpretation, and societal relevance of interdisciplinary research?

- What futures become possible through these collaborative efforts?

We invite STS scholars engaged in interdisciplinary, cross-disciplinary and transdisciplinary research to contribute reflections, case studies, and analyses that explore the potential—and limitations—of this work. The panel aims to foster exchange, critical dialogue, and practical insights into what interdisciplinary research can do, and how it can contribute to more just and equitable futures.

This Traditional Open Panel has 1 pending paper proposal.
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