Identifying and Overcoming Hierarchies That Hinder Interdisciplinary Research

Since its inception, CircleU has prioritized bringing together universities and academics from diverse backgrounds and disciplines to tackle major global challenges. This commitment is reflected in the creation of key hubs and seed funding for innovative research. Through three dedicated workshops - funded by CircleU and held in Louvain-la-Neuve, London, and Oslo, we emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary research and explored the conditions needed to foster supportive environments. Our research provides real-life experiences of interdisciplinary research. Discussions have highlighted how institutional hierarchies and disciplinary silos can hinder scientific collaboration. More broadly, we have examined how political shifts and structural barriers undermine democratic knowledge production. These dynamics make it difficult to sustain inclusive, critical, and interdisciplinary research practices, precisely the kind needed to respond to global issues.