A community day for everyone at WUR working or interested on inter- transdisciplinarity in all its forms.

WUR transdisciplinary community day 2026 

Date: July 2nd, 2026 
Time: 09.00 to 17.00 We will finish the day with a borrel 17:00-18:00 
Location: Wageningen Campus, Orion building

Join us on July 2nd 2026 for the WUR transdisciplinary community day 2026, also known as the TRED community day 2026! A dynamic moment for exchanging ideas and exploring inter- and transdisciplinary approaches and themes.

Register here

The goal of this interactive day is knowledge exchange and community building around inter- transdisciplinary, and transformative approaches. This year’s theme is Navigating Complexity, Sparking Change. 
Please see the session information and programme below. 
Do you want to be part of this inspiring day? Then don’t forget to register! 

Everyone withing WUR working on or interested in inter- and transdisciplinarity in all its forms is welcome to join. Participation when registered is free. Come explore new ideas, experience different approaches, and link up to the WUR-wide inter- and transdisciplinary community! 

We look forward to seeing you there! 

Plenary with keynote by Birgit Boogaard 

Title: Transforming colonial legacies in transdisciplinary research: from deconstruction to reconstruction

Summary: In this talk, Birgit will provide an introduction on colonial legacies in transdisciplinary research. Based on (personal) research examples and experiences in food systems research, she will illustrate how colonial legacies can easily reinforce or perpetuate epistemic injustices, despite good intentions. To transform colonial legacies – and do things differently - she will provide insights from the recently published edited volume  “African Philosophy and Politics of Food Systems” (2026). The book provides theoretical insights from African philosophy, combined with concrete case studies on food systems research. Through interactive (and fun) exercises, the audience will be invited to participate actively. 

Bio: Birgit Boogaard works as Senior Lecturer at the Knowledge, Technology and Innovation Group (KTI). She has an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Rural Sociology and Animal Science from Wageningen University. She was post-doctoral researcher at the International Livestock Research Institute, for which she lived two years in Mozambique. Currently, she teaches courses on African philosophy and Social justice, technology and development. Her courses have won multiple ‘Excellent Education Awards’, and she was WUR’s Teacher of the Year 2022. In 2023, she was awarded National Teacher of the Year in the Netherlands. Her research interests include African philosophy, food system transformation, international development, social and epistemic justice, and educational innovation. Her research resulted in multiple peer review articles, including the recently published edited volume “African Philosophy and Politics of Food Systems” published by Springer (2026). 

Session information

In addition to interactive plenaries, we will have two types of interactive sessions during the day:

 
•    Approach-based—share and experience methods (e.g. futuring, living labs, citizen science, creating tangible future landscapes, transformative approaches, mixed classrooms, more than human approaches).   
•    Mixers—ignite interactive discussions and experiences on cross-boundary themes (e.g. science & art collaborations, project insights, leadership, creative practices, research quality, reflection, dialogue).

Session overview 

Round 1 

Session 1: How can WUR leverage regional networks for societal change? Towards a strategic agenda 

Leading the session: Alwin Gerritsen, Esther Ronner  

Summary: Regions have the capacity to serve as transition niches (Fuenfschilling, 2019). What may seem impossible in the wider, national system, can suddenly become viable and valuable at the regional level. Increasingly, regions can act as powerful accelerators of structural change. But this doesn’t happen by co-incidence. It requires deliberate strategies that place knowledge, learning, and innovation at the heart of regional development.  
WUR researchers are often involved in different regional networks in the Netherlands (e.g. Soil Valley, Northern Netherlands, the Green Hart) or abroad, through projects focused on topics such as food systems, biodiversity, or biobased and circular initiatives. However, how do we move beyond individual projects to strategic levers? 
In this session, we would like to reflect together on the role that WUR, as a knowledge institute, currently plays in such networks, and explore how we could move from individual projects to strategic leveraging of such networks to contribute to societal change and transformation on a more structural basis. Together, we will work towards developing a strategic agenda based on shared experiences and challenges involved in such collaborations. For those interested in more, participants are also welcome to contribute to further development of this agenda beyond the session. 

Session 2: SparkleFire: increasing awareness of wildfire risk through serious gaming 

Leading the session: Adriana Solovei, Cathelijne Stoof 

Summary: SparkleFire is an interactive serious game developed in the SparkleFire project (coordinated at WUR) that challenges participants to manage wildfire risk in different bioregions in Europe. Wildfires are a highly interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary challenge, involving ecological, social, economic, and governance dimensions. Through collaborative gameplay, participants will explore how different perspectives come together in decision-making concerning wildfire risk. 

Session 3: Navigating inter- and transdisciplinary research as PhD candidates: Exploring collective strategies.  Early career researchers (like PhD students, Postdocs and researchers with a similar level of juniority) are welcome to join this session. 

Leading the session: Inez Dekker, KTI, WUR 
Nqubenhle Mbokazi, KTI, WUR 
Anna Ravizza, KTI, WUR 
Maliene Kip, TU Eindhoven 

Summary:Transdisciplinary PhD research is often experienced as both intellectually rewarding and structurally challenging. This session aims to create a safe space for PhD candidates to 
collectively unpack these tensions and conditions, such as the “double burden” of doctoral identity that hovers between institutional constraints and the demands of  knowledge co-production within an inter- and transdisciplinary setting.  Furthermore, we aim to co-develop strategies that can help PhD candidates navigate working in inter- and transdisciplinary research. Through interactive exercises aimed at  making the lived challenges visible, we hope to develop applicable collective strategies  for PhD candidates in their respective settings.

Session 4: Turning the tide: Using play to explore human and more-than-human perspectives in achieving water security

Leading the session: Catherine Sinnom, Kevin Matson, and Aliki Marmara of All In The Same Boat

Summary: How might we empower the public to take an active role in achieving water security? We, All In The Same Boat, believe this starts with education and awareness generated through play. Thus, we developed an educational game, Wonderfully Waterful Wishes, that engages young children and their families in the complexity of achieving water security in shared landscapes. In this session, we will take on human and more-than-human perspectives as we dive into dynamic landscapes full of dilemmas. Explore with us how play may stimulate thought in young children about achieving water security and, ultimately, turning the tide.

Round 2

Session 1: Beyond Wishful Thinking: Hope as a Tool for Transformation 

Leading the session: Wietse Wiersma

Summary: This workshop critically explores the role of hope in (Dutch) sustainability transitions. We will use creative methods to articulate diverse conceptualizations of hope, and think through the implications for tackling global environmental and biodiversity crises.

Session 2: Synerlysis - An exploratory shared systems thinking exercise to bridge the research-implementation gap  

Leading the session: Glory Edwards

Summary: How can we integrate research outputs from various disciplines to generate collective insights towards implementation and actionable policies?  While a meta-analysis combines results to derive a statistical outcome, Synerlysis (Synergy-analysis) focuses on the result (enhanced outcomes), thereby encouraging researchers to search for new connections, find unexpected insights, identify obstacles and hidden solutions. As an institution, we generate data and insights, but these often sits within departments, rather than this, we can use shared systems thinking and 'synergy-analysis' to enable our research in practice. During this session, participants will get an introduction to this approach and then participants will work together in groups to 'synerlyse' WUR research outputs and solve a complex social ecological problem, proposing a policy. 

Session 3: Break the Deadlock: Dialogue Dilemma Tool for Agriculture, Food & Nature 

Leading the session: Sophie Galema & Marlies van Ree 

Summary: In this session, you will get to know the developed dilemma dialogue toolkit, developed by WUR and Stop the Food Fight as follow-up of the publication of the report WUR Perspectives on Agriculture, Food and Nature. You will experience how various dialogue tools can help break through stalled conversations or polarised debates by exploring underlying values together. Through guided exercises, participants are invited to step into different viewpoints, challenge your assumptions, and explore new directions rooted in curiosity and mutual understanding. 

Round 3

Session 1: Roles & Relics: A card-deck journey of collaborative worldbuilding

Leading the session: Jet Vervoort

Summary: Step into the unknown to find the familiar. A card-based exploration of strange societies, unexpected expertise, and the shared imagination that connects us all. Roles and Relics is a game designed to explore and open-up worldviews and spark discussion between participants. In small groups you will make use of prompt cards to collectively build new worlds. In the process, you will engage in discussion, reflection, and exploration.

Session 2: Unlocking Research Potential: Making Data Talk to Each Other 

Leading the session: Lingtong Gai 

Summary: Research data is growing rapidly in volume and complexity, but much of it remains difficult to combine and reuse across projects and disciplines. Without better ways to structure and connect data, valuable research time is often spent on cleaning and translating datasets instead of generating new insights. This interactive workshop combines a theoretical framework with practical approaches to achieving data interoperability using a lightweight BYOD (Bring Your Own Data) format. Through hands-on activities that help “level up” the interoperability of your own data, you will be exposed to tools and practices that can be applied to your day-to-day work, enabling more effective data sharing and reuse for interdisciplinary collaborations.

Session 3: 4D map: mapping the system of transdisciplinary collaboration at WUR 

Leading the session: Hubertie Kroon

Summary: 4D system Mapping is a structured method developed by Arawana Hayashi and faculty of Social Presencing Theater, based on Theory U.  This method is used to gain new insights about a system that are often deeply, unconsciously or otherwise hidden. 4D mapping explores how the highest aspiration in a system might come forward. We assume there is an underlying wisdom – in spite of the diverse values or goals of stakeholders in a system – that could come to the surface and be visible as we move from Sculpture 1 to 2. 4D mapping is about surfacing and noticing what shifts in a system might be significant in going from a current reality to an emerging future reality.

The session consists of three phases:

1.    Definitions of Roles & Introduction of method. There are two basic types of roles in 4D mapping: players and space-holders.
2.    Participants are asked to embody key stakeholders within the system of transdisciplinary collaboration at WUR. One by one the roles are called out, and a participant steps forward who feels like stepping into this role. One by one, the stakeholders step into the space, choosing their position, sensing into the current reality (sculpture 1). When everyone has positioned themselves, they together are going to slowly move, exploring the near future that is emerging (sculpture 2). By letting go of what thet think is going on, and of what they think should happen, they are going to sense into what is currently happening (sculpture 1) and the direction the system is currently moving (sculpture 2). It is not about solving the system, but about sensing into the direction the system is moving towards right now. 
3.    Reflection & Generative dialogue. This embodied practice will give important insights in patterns, relationships, as well as in emerging possibilities. In a dialogue we are going to make sense of the experience, and together define possible next steps to take.

Programme

Sessions in purple are ‘mixers’, while sessions in green are ‘approach-base’.

Cost 

Participation is free. Lunch and drinks included! To avoid food waste, make it easier for the session organisers to prepare, and to not take up space that you are not going to use during a session, please make sure to register via the link below and update your registration if you are no longer available. In case of No-Show, we will charge a 25-euro fee.  

Venue 

The event will take place in Orion building of the WUR campus. Information on specific rooms will follow.

Registration

Through this link you can register to confirm your participation and to select the session/s that you would like to join. Please note that full is full. Register as soon as possible to make sure you have a spot in the session(s) you are interested in. And if you can’t attend a session you have signed up for, please amend your registration so that someone else can join. 

Register before 25 June.

Do you have questions? Feel free to reach out to wimek@wur.nl   

Do you want to look at TRED community day 2025? Here you will find all the details from this past edition. 

This community day is organised by TRED (Transdisciplinary Research Education Dialogue) and WIMEK graduate school.