Across Disciplines : an Interdisciplinary Research Communication Retreat (601)

27, 28, 29 November 2026

Dr Helena Kovacs; Dr Tamara Milosevic

Ever been in a situation where you wanted to make your research meaningful to researchers outside of your field? How do you communicate about your project if you do not share a disciplinary language, assumptions and background?

This retreat focuses on interdisciplinary research communication. 

Stepping outside disciplinary boundaries, you will meet PhD candidates from different academic backgrounds and strengthen the communication, collaboration, and critical reflection skills required to work effectively across disciplines. Through presentations, peer feedback, and guided reflection, you will learn how to make your theories, methods, data and findings understandable to researchers from other fields and engage meaningfully in constructive interdisciplinary dialogue. You will have the opportunity to test how your research is understood, receive feedback, refine your approach and try again.

The immersive setting will allow these interdisciplinary exchanges to extend beyond the structured sessions. Through shared activities and informal conversations, you will have repeated opportunities to encounter different disciplinary languages, assumptions and ways of thinking. 

Keywords: Presentation skills; Research presentation; Storytelling; Interdisciplinary collaboration; Peer feedback; Self-reflection

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the training you will be able to:

• Express clearly the scientific question, methodology, and initial findings of your research project
• Explain the fundamentals of your research to a diverse academic audience
• Discuss research with audiences from different academic backgrounds
• Propose and receive constructive feedback
• Explore current research topics in other disciplines
• Discuss the interdisciplinary nature of research and advantages of interdisciplinary collaboration

Vermont Hub, Leysin

Dates: from Friday 27 to Sunday 29 November 2026

Schedule:from 3 pm on Friday 27 November to 11 am on Sunday 29 November

Place: Vermont Hub, Leysin, Vaud, Switzerland

What we offer: 

• An inspiring environment for working, exchanging ideas and connecting with researchers from other disciplines
• Two nights' accommodation at Vermont Hub (shared double rooms)
• Two breakfasts, one lunch and two dinners on site
• Access to the sauna and wellness area

Please note that travel expenses will not be reimbursed

Target audience: 

The retreat is open to doctoral candidates from all disciplines and all CUSO member programs, at any stage of their PhD.

As places are limited, participants will be selected with the aim of creating a group with the greatest possible disciplinary diversity. We will also take into account your motivation for joining the retreat.

How to apply: 

When registering via myCUSO, tell us in a few lines: (1) why you would like to take part and (2) what you hope to gain from the experience.

Trainers: 

Tamara trained as a molecular biologist before she ever taught a class, splitting her time between the lab bench and bioinformatics, wet science and computers, long before "interdisciplinary" was a word she used on purpose. That path, from systems biology research into systemic thinking about higher education, taught her something she still believes: the best research questions are those that require a long look beyond your specialisation.
Well accustomed to putting students from wildly different fields in the same room to solve real problems together, she teaches today in EPFL's Humanities and Social Sciences program. Somewhere along the way she also prepared art exhibitions built around microbiology, because for her, science and art ask a lot of the same questions.
She's here for the same reason you are: to learn about what's still unknown and to be inspired by methods of discovery well outside her own expertise.

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