Highlights of Achievements, September 2024 – May 2025

President & Leadership Board

• Welcomed expansion and diversification of the Leadership Board with four new members and three re-elected members, bringing the Leadership Board to its maximum size of 15 for the first time, as well as including seven members from the Global South for the first time. Leadership Board members hail from Asia (2), Europe (4), Latin America and the Caribbean (2), Middle East and North Africa (2), North America (1), Oceania (2), and Sub-Saharan Africa (2).
• Collaborated with the TD Training Collaboratory (a US National Science Foundation funded project led by Stanford University) to organise workshops in 5 geographical areas to assess regional TD training needs. The summary report is available: “Advancing Engaged Research Globally – Region by Region: Assessing Training Needs”.
• Organised for the ITD Alliance to become a member of the Earth-Humanity Coalition (EHC) which works in close collaboration with UNESCO, to develop transdisciplinary research for sustainable development. The ITD Alliance provides advice and support for the transdisciplinary aspects of that work.
• Hosted the resource “Designing Inspiring Workshops and Courses in Transdisciplinarity: A Guide” developed by the TD Training Collaboratory.
• Developed procedures for establishing new working groups.
• Assessed the current bylaws and developed proposed changes, clarifications, and procedures to reflect the growth and evolution of the ITD Alliance and to better serve its members. Bylaw changes and clarifications will be presented for voting at the 26 and 27 June 2025 General Assembly. 
• Led webinars and events in Africa, Europe, Oceania, and South Asia. See reports and videos of past events on the Events page.
• Initiated discussions with four institutions in Asia, Latin America & the Caribbean (2), and North America about potential collaboration on regional inter- and transdisciplinary conferences and events.

Working Groups

• Toolkits & Methods: Organised multiple workshops, posters, networking and training sessions at the ITD24 conference. Developed a collaboration with ACTS (Association for Clinical and Translational Science) and INSciTS (International Network for the Science of Team Science)  to collect team science training resources, including toolkits. Initiated Quality & Rigour Project discussion series.
• Early Career Researchers: Organised multiple workshops, posters, networking and training sessions at the ITD24 conference. Drafted and now testing an ITD Supervision Guide to assist PhD students and supervisors.
• Integration Experts & Expertise: Organised multiple workshops, posters, networking and training sessions at the ITD24 conference. Identified four topics of focus until the next ITD conference.
• Two new working groups are developing on the topics of Education & Training and Organisational Change for ITD.

Regional Networks

• Oceania Regional Network: New regional network established to increase connections and knowledge sharing among people engaged in inter- and transdisciplinary practice, research and education in the Oceania region. Events have included an Oceania regional keynote at the ITD24 conference, and two webinars and networking sessions. View reports and videos of the webinars.

Executive Secretary

• The Leadership Board solicited applications, selected, and contracted for the Executive Secretary position, which was awarded to Caryn Anderson, who had served as “Interim Executive Secretary” from May 2024-April 2025.
• In addition to routine administrative tasks, the Executive Secretary also developed archiving systems and procedures.
• Increased bi-monthly newsletters to bi-weekly (or weekly during periods of high volume news) news bulletins in October 2024. In addition to ITD Alliance news, the news bulletins highlight research policy & funding reports and opportunities, relevant conference & journal announcements, and regional inter- and transdisciplinary updates. A new feature “Member Publications” was added to increase member interaction and a “Consult the Community” feature was trialled.

Membership

• 3 new institutional members (bringing the total to 36). 
• 108 new individual members (including 14 associated with new institutional members; bringing the total to 437).

General Assembly

• The fourth General Assembly of the ITD Alliance was held online in two identical meetings on 17 and 18 October 2024 (depending on time zone). See details on the General Assembly 2024 web page.
• Two General Assemblies of the ITD Alliance have been scheduled for 2025. The 26 and 27 June 2025 General Assembly will discuss and vote on changes and clarifications to the bylaws and associated procedures. The 9 and 10 October 2025 General Assembly will focus on financial and other reporting and elections to the Leadership Board.

ITD Conference

• ITD24 Conference (4-8 November 2024, Utrecht, Netherlands, with Utrecht University and Swiss Academies of Arts & Sciences): 500 participants, 330 presentations, workshops, training sessions and posters/videos, and outstanding reviews of knowledge shared and connections made. Read the conference report in the 25 November 2024 News Bulletin.
• ITD27 Conference (31 May – 4 June 2027, Évora, Portugal, with the University of Évora): The University of Évora was selected from the applications received. Conference dates and the ITD27 website were announced in May 2025.