PD Dr. Bianca Vienni Baptista

Current position

2023 -       Privatdozentin (PD), Habilitation thesis: "Cultural studies of collaborative science: disentangling inter- and transdisciplinary cultures, practices and policies".

2022-        Group Leader Cultural Studies of Science & Technology (CSTS)

2020-        Lecturer Department of Environmental Systems Science

Profile

I am an interdisciplinary social anthropologist with a PhD in Cultural Studies. My experience lies at the interface of the anthropology of science and technology and interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research, working in both international and intercultural settings. Currently, I am Group Leader of Cultural Studies of Science and Technology Group and lecturer at the Transdisciplinarity Lab (TdLab). My Habilitation (Venia Legendi) conferred by ETH Zürich, was awarded with the dissertation Cultural studies of collaborative science: disentangling interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary cultures, practices, and policies. This research analyses inter- and transdisciplinary research practices, the influence of funding, and the broader science-policy interactions needed for meaningful societal transformations with a cultural lens. My meta-research on inter- and transdisciplinarity, as objects of study, focuses on methodological explorations and innovations together with the role of institutionalising processes (see Laursen, Vienni-Baptista et al. 2024; Vienni-Baptista & Klein 2022).

I have consolidated a research and teaching programme that expands the scope of Science, Technology and Society Studies (STS) by applying a cultural approach to contemporary interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary scientific and technological practices and policies (Vienni-Baptista 2024). To bring this program on Cultural Studies of Science and Technology (CSTS) into fruition, together with my team we currently undertake five research projects in two related realms. First, the group investigates interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary cultures, practices and policies (Vienni-Baptista 2024; Salmela, Vienni-Baptista et al. 2025). For example, these outputs accompany the creation of the online repository titled the Shape-ID Toolkit (Vienni-Baptista et al. 2023). Second, my team co-designs participatory and experimental interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research processes for sustainable development. Engaged and inclusive co-production settings are rethought together with the role arts, humanities and social sciences (AHSS) play in modelling processes. 

My commitment to teaching and learning is evidenced by ten postgraduate and three undergraduate courses I have designed and taught, grounded in anthropological theories, and qualitative, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary methods (Vienni-Baptista et al. 2024; Vienni-Baptista & Hoffmann 2024). My experience spans different levels as well as capacity-building courses aimed at professionals and academic staff. I am currently advisor to three universities to strengthen their interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary platforms, working tightly with university administrators, managers, and funding agencies.

Active in national and international networks, together with my team we led the Swiss community of AHSS by organising an annual conference to enhance the integration of these disciplines in inter- and transdisciplinary energy research. Additionally, I am an Associate Editor of the Global Social Challenges Journal (Bristol University Press). My publications have been co-authored with colleagues representing over 20 countries and have delivered more than thirty keynotes in three different continents. 

Current research projects with leading role

In the CSTS Group, we study inter- and transdisciplinary practices, methods and policies in the project “Investigating interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity: intersections among practices, culture(s) and policy in collaborative research” (INTERSECTIONS), funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF, PRIMA Grant). This opens new research lines by applying a cultural approach to knowledge co-production innovative processes.

More recently, we got funded for the research project titled "Practice-based research: investigating research practices, outputs and impacts in Belgium-Flanders, Poland and Switzerland" (PBR, SNSF, Weave Programme), which enquires into a form of research grounded in professional practice conducted by practitioner-researchers or teams composed of researchers and practitioners. 

Additionally, my team applies transdisciplinary methods and co-designs stakeholder engagement plans for sustainable innovations. We currently focus on integrating a transdisciplinary component and investigating modelling processes in two research projects: 

• "Delivering the next generation of Open Integrated Assessment Models for net-zero, sustainable development” (DIAMOND), funded by Horizon Europe. 
• “Co-Evolution and Coordinated Simulation of the Swiss Energy System and Swiss Society (Cosi), funded by “Swiss Energy research for the Energy Transition” (SWEET Programme), Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE).

 Possible Master and Bachelor theses

Selected publications

Research Collection – Publication platform of ETH Zurich

• Salmela, M., Vienni-Baptista, B. & Cheas, K. (2025). Towards the recognition of Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Researchers.
• Laursen, B., Vienni-Baptista, B., Bammer, G., et al. (2024). Toolkitting: An unrecognized form of expertise for overcoming fragmentation of inter- and transdisciplinarity. 
• Vienni-Baptista B. (2024) Cultural studies of collaborative science and technology.  
• Vienni-Baptista, B. (2024). Investigating Interdisciplinarity and Transdisciplinarity: How meta-ethnography contributes to the Study of Collaborative Research Practices?
• Vienni-Baptista, B., & C. Pohl (2023). Exploring Interdisciplinarity and Transdisciplinarity as Knowledge Regimes: A Heuristic Tool for Disentangling Understandings in Academia and Policy
• Vienni-Baptista, B. Fletcher, I., Lyall, C. and Pohl, C. (2022) Embracing heterogeneity: Why plural understandings strengthen interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity

Books & Special Collections

• Simon, D. & Vienni-Baptista, B. Transformative Inter- and Transdisciplinary methods for Global Societal Challenges. Global Social Challenges Journal.
• Vienni-Baptista B; van Goch M; van Lambalgen R & Lindvig K. (2024). Interdisciplinary practices in Higher Education. Teaching, Learning and Collaborating across Borders.
• Vienni-Baptista, B. Fletcher, I. and Lyall, C. (eds) (2023) Foundations of Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Research. A Reader
• Vienni Baptista, B & Klein, J. T. (2022) Institutionalizing Interdisciplinarity and Transdisciplinarity.Collaboration across Cultures and Communities.