In this episode of the Epistemic Alchemy Podcast, Dr. Mohammed Raei speaks with Professor Gabriele Bammer, a leading figure in transdisciplinary research and the founder of Integration and Implementation Sciences, or i2S. Bammer reflects on her early intellectual journey, the real-world policy challenges that shaped her work, and why fragmentation remains one of the greatest barriers to addressing complex societal and environmental problems. Together, they explore the evolution of i2S, the importance of integrating disciplinary and stakeholder knowledge, the role of unknowns and imperfection in research, and the political realities of power, implementation, and institutional change. The conversation also turns to higher education reform, AI’s emerging role in transdisciplinary work, and what it would take to build more effective approaches to complexity in universities and beyond.