The Steam+ Jamboree-a student perspective

By Sofia Marini and Diego Domenichelli, Collegio Internazionale, Venice, Italy

The Steam+ Jamboree highlighted that transdisciplinarity is not the premise, but the conclusion which this project is building towards.

During the course of the two-day meet up, different ideas of transdisciplinarity were challenged, and theoretical assumptions contended. Should transdisciplinarity include both content and methods? If so, how does one assess transdisciplinarity? In looking for new parameters, we realized that each one of us held very different models of transdisciplinarity, and defining new paradigms meant converging different perspectives.

Strong methodological differences were in place between professors and students, for example. Isn’t working together a form of transdisciplinarity in itself? Different generations, thus different formative experiences, methods, and contents, have overlapped, during Steam +, to reach a common goal. This way, conclusions have become new premises.

Overall, the work of transdisciplinarity has only just started, but theoretical premises have to follow up with concrete projects. This is a pledge each one of us took after Jamboree. The form this restitution takes is yet to be defined, but the inputs have been gathered: the outputs will surprise us.