In 2022, UCLouvain held the first Sandpit under the Empowering Research and Innovation Actions (ERIA) project. Researchers from different disciplines and universities were brought together in Louvain-la-Neuve for two workshop sessions. Professionals facilitated interactions between participants to help foster new initiatives and research ideas across Circle U.’s focus areas: climate change, democracy and global health.
As we recently reported, the Sandpits were one of the most successful activities under ERIA. Among other things, participants highlighted the opportunity to form meaningful connections with various experts across disciplines and countries.
I'm not sure I would have had the opportunity to meet these amazing researchers in another context, since our topics are so different.
Dr Maísa Edwards
A new network
“The contacts we made have been so great. We have created a new network: there is a chat in which we exchange projects, ideas or contacts,” says Dr Maísa Edwards, who joined the Sandpits in 2022. She works at King’s College in London, where she currently teaches in the Department of War Studies and History. Through the Sandpits, she met experts studying subjects such as development and cooperation, elderly care and pedagogy.
“I'm not sure I would have had the opportunity to meet these amazing researchers in another context, since our topics are so different,” states Dr Maísa Edwards. Brought together in Louvain-la-Neuve, the group made up of Prof Florence Degavre (UCLouvain); Prof Luca Tateo (University of Oslo); Dr Amaury Peeters (Louvain Cooperation/UCLouvain); Dr Maísa Edwards (King’s College London); Dr. Ingrid Schlindwein (King’s College London) and Zahra Abbasi (University of Oslo), started to discuss the existence of hierarchies in academic disciplines and how to overcome them for the benefit of interdisciplinary research.
Codebook and academic journal
Two years later, the conversation has evolved into a concrete research project. With extra funding from Circle U., the group gathered in London in August 2024 for a three-day workshop. “We are currently in the process of finalising our codebook, developed from the results of a survey we sent out in 2024, and drafting our academic journal article which we are hoping to submit before the end of 2024/early 2025,” says Dr Edwards.
This ongoing research project is a testament to how initiatives like Sandpits can not only foster dialogue but also create long-term partnerships that have the potential to transform how we approach complex challenges across disciplines.
