Conference on interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research for sustainable development
transit |
Fifth edition (2025): Integration scientific knowledge and producing actionable scientific knowledge through interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research
Friday 21 November 2025
Aula Magna, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
On 21st November 2025, the fifth edition of the “Conference on Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Research for Sustainable Development" will be held in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
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Programme
The conference on interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research for sustainable development brings together researchers from the universities that are members of the Circle U. alliance.
The presented contributions reflect the diversity of scientific and methodological approaches mobilized around sustainability issues. They explore a wide range of topics, including agroecological and food transitions, participatory and digital governance, energy transition, planetary health, urban resilience, and social and environmental justice.
Some communications will present the results of ongoing research projects, while others will propose innovative research protocols currently in development.
The conference provides a unique forum for exchange and reflection on ways to rethink knowledge production for ecological and social transition.
Beyond the presentation of concrete research outcomes, the conference also serves as a space for critical reflection on the conditions that enable and sustain transdisciplinary research within academia.
By weaving strong connections between science, society, and practice, this type of approach challenges existing institutional, epistemological, and methodological frameworks of academic research. It raises new ethical, organizational, and valorization challenges, calling for a re-examination of collaborative modes, evaluation criteria, publication formats, and training structures.
The conference thus provides an opportunity to collectively reflect on the transformations required within academic institutions to fully embrace and support inter- and transdisciplinary research.
The full program can be downloaded here.
Scope
Both interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches are increasingly required to address ecological and social transition challenges involving interdependent technical, economic or socio-cultural dimensions and a plurality of social actors at the level of society. These social actors include both actors from the NGOs, private enterprises, public administrations, non-university research institutions or engaged citizens. Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches mobilize specific disciplinary knowledge from all sectors of the university (Sciences and Technology, Social sciences and Humanities, Health Sciences), but they also attempt to integrate different types of knowledge through processes of co-construction of knowledge between researchers from different disciplines and social actors involved in transition initiatives.
Such research often requires specific support in terms of methodological tools, types of partnerships with social actors or visibility in academic journals and international conferences.
In this context, since 2021, UCLouvain has annually organized a “Conference on interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research for Sustainable Development” in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. This conference, initially centered around UCLouvain research teams and their extra-academic partners, quickly opened up to the partner universities of the European University Alliance Circle U. Since 2022, it has been co-organised with Circle U.
Scientific and organising committee
Organising committee
Prof. Marthe Nyssens (UCLouvain - Vice-rector “Transition et Society”)
Prof. Tom Dedeurwaerdere (UCLouvain - LPTransition)
Pierre Mersch (UCLouvain - Louvain4 Coordinator – Research Administration)
Scientific committee
Prof. Isabelle Aujoulat (UCLouvain –IRSS - Institut de Recherche Santé et Société)
Prof. Patricia Luis Alconero (UCLouvain – IMMC - Institute of Mechanics, Materials and Civil Engineering)
Prof. Mathieu Berger (UCLouvain – IACS - Institut d'analyse du changement dans l'histoire et les sociétés contemporaines)
Prof. Matteo Cacciari (Université Paris Cité) Prof. Vinicius De Carvalho (Kings College London)
Prof. Florence Degavre (UCLouvain – IACS - Institut d'analyse du changement dans l'histoire et les sociétés contemporaines)
Prof. Tom Dedeurwaerdere (UCLouvain -JURI - Institut pour la recherche interdisciplinaire en sciences juridiques)
Prof. Ulrike Felt (University of Vienna)
Prof. Julie Hermesse (UCLouvain – IACS - Institut d'analyse du changement dans l'histoire et les sociétés contemporaines)
Prof. Tommaso Luzzati (University of Pisa)
Prof. Patrick Meyfroidt (UCLouvain – ELI - Earth and Life Institute)
Prof. Ivan Mihajlovic (University of Belgrade)
Prof. Anaïs Perilleux (UCLouvain – LIDAM – Louvain Institute of Data Analysis and modeling in economics and statistics)
Prof. Daniela Perrotti (UCLouvain - LAB Louvain Research Institute for Landscape, Architecture and Built Environment SST/LOCI Faculty of Architecture, Architectural Engineering and Urban Planning)
Prof. Jean-Pierre Raskin (UCLouvain – ICTEAM - Institute for Information and Communication Technologies, Electronics and Applied Mathematics)
Prof. Laurent Taskin (UCLouvain – LOURIM - Louvain Research Institute in Management and Organizations)
Prof. Sandy Tubeuf (UCLouvain –IRSS - Institut de Recherche Santé et Société)
Prof. Martin Wagener (UCLouvain - IACS - Institut d'analyse du changement dans l'histoire et les sociétés contemporaines)
