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Headshot of Dr Kateryna Ivashchenko with border

Dr. Kateryna Ivashchenko-Stadnik investigates the origins, meaning and applications of interdisciplinarity in academia

Dr. Kateryna Ivashchenko-Stadnik, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Sociology, National Academy of Sciences (Kyiv, Ukraine), CARA & IAS Fellow (2023/2025)

I’ve always been fascinated by how different fields of knowledge intersect and influence each other. When I started my career as a historian specialising in the interwar period in Eastern Europe, I could never have imagined how my path would evolve. Over the years, I’ve worked in social research, focusing on migration and displacement, been involved in cultural projects and the arthouse film industry, and spent time with international development organisations. These experiences have given me a diverse set of skills, but they’ve also made me wonder: has this breadth come at the cost of depth? I often catch myself asking if I have the right perspective to fully understand the problems I’m trying to tackle. But this uncertainty has taught me the value of interdisciplinarity—not just as a way of working but as a way of thinking. It’s a way to avoid getting stuck in a single way of looking at the world, and it encourages creativity by combining ideas from different fields. As cliché as it might sound, that’s how real progress happens.

Of course, this isn’t a new idea. Ancient Greek philosophers combined mathematics, astronomy, and ethics in their thinking, and during the Renaissance, groundbreaking figures like Leonardo da Vinci famously blended art, science, and engineering. But the world has changed since then. Knowledge has grown so much that no one person can master everything anymore. Today, researchers need each other—to challenge ideas, bring in fresh perspectives, and explore unconventional truths. Collaboration isn’t just helpful; it’s essential. And places like the Institute of Advanced Study (IAS) are where these connections happen.

When I arrived in Durham in September 2023 as part of my CARA Fellowship, I was lucky to be hosted by the IAS. My work here has been tied to the interdisciplinary project Looking Back to Move Forward: History, Recovery, and Sustainability in Understanding the War in Ukraine on a Global Scale, led by cultural historian Markian Prokopovych (Department of History), who also acts as my mentor, and marketing and sustainability expert Chrysostomos Apostolidis (Durham Business School). I’m also grateful to have Olga Demetriou, a political anthropologist (School of Government and International Affairs), who also acts as my mentor.

Over the past year, I’ve been part of a task force with brilliant colleagues from different departments and institutions. Together, we organised two workshops and submitted a large research proposal. A key milestone of this collaboration came in December 2024, when the University officially approved the launch of the Centre for the Study of Ukraine, the first such centre in the North East dedicated to collaboration and engagement with Ukraine. It was a great example of how teamwork and shared ideas can turn ambitious projects into reality. Additionally, discussions and meetings with the brilliant minds who gather at the IAS and around have inspired me to develop a new research project, currently in progress, exploring the social history of coal mining communities in the UK and Ukraine.

Interdisciplinarity isn’t just a buzzword—it’s the only way to tackle the big challenges we face today. Whether it’s climate change, pandemics, or forced migration, no single field can provide all the answers. We need to connect ideas from science, politics, economics, we need people who can deliver the messages to the wider public as well as to the policy makers to make change happen. Collaboration doesn’t just expand what we know—it sparks new ideas, it pushes people to think and act differently.

That’s what makes the IAS such a special place. It brings people together to explore, discuss, and challenge each other. And as we face a world full of complex problems, I’m convinced that collaborative interdisciplinarity is not just important—it’s essential.