PASTE 2025

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Abstract

In 2021, the Australian National University committed to embedding transdisciplinary problem-solving across all undergraduate degrees. This whole-of-institution initiative prompted structural changes to over 40 programs, spanning generalist and professionally accredited degrees. Alongside this reform emerged a clear need to develop transdisciplinary competencies that cut across disciplinary boundaries. In response, the SoCIETIE Initiative was established to build students’ capacity for transdisciplinary practice through engagement with social change and transformation. Supported by a philanthropic gift from the McCusker Charitable Foundation and an innovative curriculum model, the McCusker Institute has become a focal point for this work. This presentation outlines the foundations of the SoCIETIE Initiative as a collaborative approach to advancing transdisciplinary academic practice for staff and students.

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Biography

Associate Professor Chris A. Browne is a researcher and educator at The Australian National University (ANU), specialising in systems approaches in transdisciplinary contexts. His work focuses on developing systems literacy to support research-led education and responsible innovation. Chris leads the ANU Curriculum Framework and Graduate Attributes project within the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) portfolio and convenes the SoCIETIE Initiative at the ANU McCusker Institute. He holds a PhD, a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours), and a Bachelor of Asian Studies from ANU, and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. His research explores conceptual modelling of complex systems and methodologies for problem-solving across domains, including critical infrastructure, healthcare, climate change, and education.

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Abstract

Over the past twenty years, I have come to see design not merely as a method or a discipline, but as a unifying philosophy at the heart of transdisciplinary education. At Kyoto University, this idea has shaped the curricula of both the Department of Social Informatics (since 1998) and the Design School (since 2013), where design has served as a conceptual bridge connecting diverse fields. In this talk, I will reflect on how design has functioned as a shared language among students and faculty from a wide range of academic backgrounds. I will also discuss how design fosters the curiosity and collaboration necessary to engage with the complex, interconnected challenges of our time.

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Biography

Toru Ishida is Professor Emeritus at Kyoto University and has held visiting professorships at numerous institutions across Europe, Asia, and North America, including Hong Kong Baptist University. He is a Life Fellow of IEEE, served as President of IEICE and was a member of the Science Council of Japan. At Kyoto University, he was a founding member of the Department of Social Informatics and led the university’s Design School. His research spans autonomous agents and multi-agent systems, with practical applications such as the Digital City Kyoto. In 2002, in the wake of 9/11, he launched the Intercultural Collaboration Experiment (ICE) in cooperation with scholars from China, Korea, and Malaysia. Based on this experiment, he initiated the Language Grid project to build a multilingual service infrastructure. More recently, he has turned his attention to the use of Large Language Models in higher education.

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Abstract

As global challenges grow more interconnected and complex, higher education must evolve to prepare graduates who can think and solve problems beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries. The recent formation of the College of Design and Engineering at the National University of Singapore has provided us the opportunity to embrace interdisciplinary learning as a core pillar in the education of future engineers, architects, and industrial designers. The first part of this talk will provide an overview of our efforts to integrate interdisciplinary learning through curriculum design, project-based learning, and collaborative studios that bring together students from engineering, architecture, and industrial design. The second part of this talk will focus on sharing insights from my personal experience as an instructor of two interdisciplinary courses in gerontechnology and assistive technology on the implementation journey of further layering community engagement and institutional enablers in the interdisciplinary learning to contribute to a broader discourse on transdisciplinary education. By fostering shared problem spaces, emphasizing user- and systems-centric thinking, and promoting cross-domain collaboration, we aim to cultivate versatile graduates who are capable of leading innovation at the intersection of design, technology, and society.

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Biography

Dr. James Kah is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He is also the Vice-Dean overseeing Outreach and Special Projects at the College of Design and Engineering in NUS. Dr. Kah received his Ph.D. in Bioengineering from NUS and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) prior to joining NUS.

As an educator, James teaches undergraduate courses on Gerontechnology in Ageing and Assistive Technology for Persons with Disability while leveraging on community-based learning to teach and drive innovations through co-designing solutions with the elderly and disability communities in Singapore. Some of these innovations have been commercialised and deployed in the ageing and disability communities.

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Abstract

Despite a deluge of data and information on the degradation of ecosystems as also on the adverse impacts of degrading ecosystems on humanity, effective and lasting restoration is rare to find. Methods and practices of learning for effective ecological restoration are less visible than the information on degradation. In this decade of ecosystem degradation, UNCCD has been focusing on education as an important tool for ecological restoration. My talk will build on insights from designing and teaching courses as well as from conceptual and empirical research. It will argue for and demonstrate how transdisciplinary learning can be designed and implemented, focusing on land restoration.

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Biography

Seema Purushothaman, an Ecological Economist is a visiting professor at Azim Premji University, Bangalore and Senior Adjunct Fellow at Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment. Her work involves empirical, conceptual and action research spanning across agrarian communities in peri urban zones, rural landscapes, and forest peripheries.

Seema’s coauthored book “City and the Peasant- urbanization and agrarian change in Southern India” looks at how different processes of urbanisation transform agrarian communities. Her co-edited volume “Conservation and Poverty Reduction in the Forest Fringes” documented how halting degradation can generate community benefits. Currently she is looking at how the demand from the city of Bangalore is transforming small farmers in its’ peripheries. She is also engaged in educating indigenous youth on how to secure and manage their Community Forest Rights.