The aim of the transdisciplinarity project was to initiate discourse on a functional framework for knowledge understanding and application within a complex and ever-changing global context. The longer-term ambition is to inform collective intellectual ideas and action-based research inputs towards practical outcomes – thereby bridging the gap between knowledge production, policy and implementation.

The conference also provided a platform to engage on the case studies examined during the course of the research project, namely: transdisciplinarity and post-colonial transformation of African universities (Fort Hare University’s Transdisciplinarity Centre), applied transdisciplinarity and sustainable energy – bridging divides (University of Johannesburg’s SeTAR Centre), and transdisciplinarity and the need for social justice (University of Pretoria’s Centre for Human Rights).