Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) affects roughly one child in every classroom. As common as dyslexia yet far less recognized, DCD can significantly impact a child’s daily school experience.

In this episode, Caroline Huron sheds light on the unique challenges faced by children with DCD and explores practical ways to support their learning and inclusion. Drawing from cognitive science research and real-world classroom practice, she highlights how collaboration between researchers, teachers, and children themselves leads to more inclusive and effective educational environments.

The jobs of the future are uncertain, and education is evolving fast. As we move beyond the industrial model toward competency-based learning, how can we empower human-centered education?

In this episode, we explore with Nathan Roberson how advancing 21st Century Competencies - like creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking - can make education truly transformative. He shares insights from Beyond Education’s development of innovative tools to assess and support these future-ready skills.

While the path ahead is full of tensions, it also holds immense opportunity. Together, we imagine an education system that not only prepares learners for work, but helps them shape a more sustainable and compassionate future.

In this episode of R&D Unplugged, we explore together with Prof. Shawn Ginwright how institutions can better support young people who have experienced harm. While trauma-informed care is a vital framework, he shows why it can be incomplete - often creating blind spots that limit healing. Blending research with personal stories, Dr. Ginwright highlights how racial and social inequality compound trauma and why a new vision is needed.

He introduces Healing Centered Engagement, an approach that expands beyond trauma-informed care by shifting systems from harm, discipline, and punishment toward restoration, hope, and well-being. This episode invites educators, practitioners, and policymakers to reimagine institutions as spaces not just of intervention, but of renewal - where resilience, joy, and thriving become possible.

Why do we reject fruits and vegetables just because they look imperfect?

Let's explore the invisible biases in our brains that drive food waste—and how learning can help shift them.
Drawing from six psychological experiments and a neuroscience study using eye-tracking, Carina Castagna shares how aesthetic imperfections trigger risk aversion in the brain’s more primitive regions, leading to the unnecessary disposal of edible produce.

But there’s a powerful insight: when people are encouraged to think abstractly, this wasteful bias drops significantly.

What does it means for education, behavior change, and sustainability transitions? The talk offers practical implications for teaching sustainability and reframing how young people—and adults—learn to care about food and waste.

Tackling complex challenges—whether in healthcare, education, or climate change—demands breaking down disciplinary silos and actively collaborating with diverse stakeholders. Traditional approaches often fall short, making it crucial to adopt longitudinal, process-driven methods.

This episode dives into how action-based research and co-design methodologies can deepen our understanding of complex problems and drive meaningful change. Through real-world, multi-year collaborative projects—including partnerships with the WHO on health guideline design, studies on managing online communities to advance cancer epidemiology, and challenge-based learning initiatives—we explore how to effectively bridge research and practice in dynamic, interdisciplinary settings.

In this episode, we welcome Seth Frey to explore how participating in small-scale democracies can shape better citizens for large-scale ones. The internet, with its countless online communities, serves as a modern laboratory for self-governance. But how do these groups unite limited resources around shared goals? Together, we examine three major platforms hosting self-governing communities and tackle key questions: What makes small-scale democracies thrive? How do they manage resources and maintain order? And what lessons can they offer for governing both online spaces and the world beyond? Tune in to discover the future of community-driven governance in the digital age!

In an era of climate instability, social fragmentation, and deep uncertainty, fostering collective intelligence is more crucial than ever. But how do we create the conditions for meaningful collaboration? In this episode, Marc Santolini explores the relational dynamics that enable sensemaking and coordination for systemic change. From psychological safety and deep listening to AI-driven network analysis, we discuss emerging frameworks that blend wisdom traditions with participatory methodologies to support collective flourishing. How can we shift from outcome-driven approaches to process-aware collaboration? Tune in to discover new insights at the intersection of science, technology, and human connection.

How do educators' views on knowledge, science, and values shape the way they teach? In this episode, we welcome Maria Angelica Mejia Caceres to explore how these perspectives influence educational practices—affecting not just what is taught, but how it is received. We discuss the impact of language, emotions, and underlying beliefs in the classroom, questioning the limitations of a purely scientific approach. Can optimism or pessimism about social change shape student engagement? Join us as we uncover how recognizing these influences can transform education into a dynamic force for critical thinking and social change.

In scientific crowdsourcing and citizen science, a striking pattern often emerges: a very small group of participants contributes the majority of the data. This phenomenon, known as participation inequality or the 90-9-1 rule, is evident in platforms like Google Local Guides, Wikipedia, iNaturalist, and OpenStreetMap.

In this episode, we dicuss this topic with Muki Haklay, a renowned expert in citizen science and crowdsourcing. Together, we explore why the 90-9-1 rule plays a pivotal role in projects that rely on crowd participation. What drives this pattern, and should we strive to change it? Tune in as we unpack these questions and consider the implications of participation inequality in collaborative initiatives.

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim for a better, more sustainable future, but progress is slow, and in some areas, we are regressing. Evaluating the impact of policy on sustainability is key to understanding this stagnation.

In this episode, we speak with Serge Stinckwich, computer scientist and head of research at the United Nations University Institute in Macau. We discuss how artificial intelligence and social simulations can reveal the complex factors behind sustainability. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the role of modelling in guiding policy decisions.

Effective, data-informed policies require inclusive, representative data, and responsible modelling must be transparent and evidence-based, considering marginalized populations and future generations. How can AI-driven tools ensure diverse voices are included in decision-making? Serge shares innovative research projects from the United Nations University Institute in Macau.