Transdisciplinary Competencies Course 2026

Addressing today’s sustainability challenges requires (new ways of) collaborating across disciplines, sectors and perspectives. Yet, these collaborations require ways of learning with one another, asking questions, and exploring approaches that are rarely trained in traditional academic paths.  

Pathways to Sustainability and the Centre for Unusual Collaborations are pleased to offer the Transdisciplinary Competencies Course on 18 and 19 November 2026. Building on the experience and insights from editions in the past two years, we are once again opening registration to researchers and staff across Utrecht University. Whether you are just starting to work with societal partners or already have experience with transdisciplinary collaboration, this course will help you strengthen the competencies needed to navigate complexity, build meaningful collaborations and create lasting societal impact. The course offers an intensive, experiential, hands-on learning experience that combines practical methods, reflection, and peer learning to strengthen your transdisciplinary practice. 

Why Join?

During this course you will:  

• strengthen the core competencies and sensibilities needed for transdisciplinary collaboration;  
• experience practical approaches that you can apply in your own work;  
• reflect on your own collaborative practice while learning from other participants from different disciplines, faculties and professional backgrounds;
• explore how to work constructively with different forms of knowledge, perspectives and expertise and how to create space for this diversity 
• expand your network by connecting with researchers and staff committed to addressing complex societal challenges. 

This training is a great introductory guide to transdisciplinarity - highly recommended for the new paradigms in research and education in a time of transitions.

About the course

Developed in collaboration with the Centre for Unusual Collaborations (CUCo), this course is designed for researchers, staff and practitioners. Building on CUCo's Spark training and the PtS Transdisciplinary Field Guide, the course offers a practical, reflective learning environment.

In this course, we explore together what it is like to work across different epistemic cultures and ways of knowing, learning to better discern the conditions that make transdisciplinary work possible and to navigate complex collaborative environments. Rather than providing a single recipe for ‘how to td’, we aim to sensitise participants to what’s needed for transdisciplinary collaboration across all its phases: from the initial encounters between different perspectives, to building long-term collaborations between researchers and societal partners, and to framing and carrying out joint projects that integrate diverse kinds of knowledge. The course focuses on how transdisciplinary collaboration can move beyond joint problem-solving, highlighting the possibilities for more meaningful engagement. Through various activities, participants will reflect on their experiences, explore what makes knowledge both reliable and socially relevant, and discover the practices and skills that help teams work successfully across disciplines and sectors.

This course enables participants to ‘taste’ and develop competencies including deep listening, process co-design, collaborative leadership, reflexivity, and knowledge integration. Participants become more attuned to the needs and disruptions that shape collaborative processes and are better able to respond skilfully in diverse settings. 

The course gave us a deep-dive experience in building meaningful connections with other course members. It taught us to facilitate encounters that sow the ground for potential collaborations in transdisciplinary project settings, and gave methods and ideas to navigate transdisciplinary work with a diversity of stakeholders and hold space for different perspectives.

Practical information

• Dates: 18 November (9.00-17.00) & 19 November (9.00-14.00)
• Location: UtrechtInc Garage room - Vening Meinesz Building C
• Costs: the course is free of charge. Lunch is included on both days. 

Please note that participants are expected to attend the full programme, in person. Because the course is designed as one integrated learning experience, you cannot attend only part of it. 

Who is this course for?

The course is primarily open to researchers and staff from Utrecht University. If places remain available, we will open registration to participants from other EWUU organisations. 

Registration

Sign up for the course via: Transdisciplinary Competencies Course 2026 Registration form

Places are limited, so we encourage you to register early. If you have any questions, please contact us at pathwaystosustainability@uu.nl.