Welcome to the National Interdisciplinary Education Conference (NIE) website. For more information about the NIE, please visit this page. Below you will find a short recap of the 2024 NIE event. Information about the 2025 event will be shared in May 2025, we look forward to meeting you!
Recap of the 2024 NIE Event
The 2024 NIE Conference opened ITD24 at the Spoorwegmuseum in Utrecht, spotlighting interdisciplinary learning and networking for professionals from the Netherlands and Flanders. Keynote speaker Rick Szostak (University of Alberta) emphasized the tangible value of interdisciplinary research, illustrating real-world examples and outlining fundamental integration steps.
Discussions focused on essential interdisciplinary skills—such as perspective-taking, personal growth, communication, and critical thinking—and how lecturers can actively guide students through integration. Challenge-based learning emerged as a powerful approach, and participants explored how diversity and inclusion can both enrich and complicate interdisciplinary efforts. They also considered how to respond when external partners hesitate to participate in integration.
Integration methods for interdisciplinary student work were also examined. Utrecht University’s Liberal Arts and Sciences program provided a five-step model for interdisciplinary work: redefinition, extension or intension, transformation, organization, and distinguishing. The conference ended with a brainstorm on topics for NIE 2025, including strategies to convince program directors of inter- and transdisciplinarity’s value, and the difference between “transformation” and “transition.”
We hope to welcome you in 2025!
The NIE steering committee
Prof. Teun Dekker – Maastricht University
Drs Linda de Greef – University of Amsterdam
Dr Merel van Goch – Utrecht University
Dr Machiel Keestra – University of Amsterdam
Dr Rianne van Lambalgen – Utrecht University
Prof. Iris van der Tuin – Utrecht University