Impossible Projects – the Podcast
The Impossible Projects podcast series invites you into an ongoing conversation about the future of research funding and how we can fund what truly matters.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the affiliated organisations or institutions.
Listen to the podcasts on this page. Read more about the podcast series and the background information on this page.
Episode 1 — Rethinking What’s Possible
Introduction to Impossible Projects
Why do we need new ways of funding research?
This opening episode dives into the reasoning behind setting up an experimental open call for Impossible Projects and why and how new ways of funding need to be explored.
We set the stage, and discuss: How do existing funding models dictate the research we conduct, and what do we risk by sticking to funding as we know it?
The conversation explores how funding structures quietly shape what kind of knowledge gets produced. From invisible constraints to the creative freedom sparked by a simple three-minute audio call, the team reflects on what emerged when 37 researchers and collectives shared their “unfundable gems.” The discussion touches on the shared frustrations between designers and scientists, the need for cross-institutional collaboration between funders, and the opportunity to move from rigid project cycles toward more open, process-driven ways of supporting research.
Host: Alex Szwaj
Speakers: Kornelia Dimitrova, Jonas Torrens and Stephi Holst
Relevant connections mentioned in this episode:
Center for Unusual Collaborations: https://unusualcollaborations.ewuu.nl/
Collaborations for Future: https://collaborationsforfuture.com/
Episode 2 — Knowledge for Whom?
Idea featured: Adaptieve Intelligentie voor iedereen, by Mattijn van Hoek and Ton Botterhuis
Can AI help democratise science?
In this episode, we listen to our first Impossible Project Idea: “Adaptieve Intelligentie voor iedereen” by Mattijn van Hoek and Ton Botterhuis.
We discuss how emerging technologies could transform who creates, accesses, and benefits from scientific knowledge. Centered on a proposal that envisions an AI-driven platform for open, collective knowledge-making, we discuss who research is really for, how current funding systems limit participation, and what it would take to make science truly public.
This episode discusses what it means to democratize expertise, and how this might bridge the gap between research and community needs. It explores how we can move from knowledge production to knowledge use and action: when do we know enough to start action? How can evolving technologies make our ability to “know” and act upon knowledge accessible beyond academia and how might this shift the role of researchers?
The discussion reflects on how science can move from observation to participation, and how institutions like KIN and NWO might create space for research that begins not with answers, but with staying with what we don’t yet know.
*While the idea is presented in Dutch, the discussion is in English.
Host: Alex Szwaj
Speakers: Mattijs Taanman and Kornelia Dimitrova
Relevant connections mentioned in this episode:
Designing Democracy (Foundation We Are): https://www.foundationweare.org/news/designing-democracy/
Episode 3 — Beyond Project Thinking
Idea featured: Port as a Pulse, by Dr. Lucy Gilliam and Tanner Tuttle
What if research started from place?
In this episode, we listen to “Port as a Pulse” by Dr. Lucy Gilliam and Tanner Tuttle.
The conversation explores the idea of location-based and long-term research — beyond the limits of short-term, projectified funding. We talk about what it means to fund research that grows from specific places, communities, and ecologies, and what kinds of infrastructures are needed to sustain deep collaboration and learning over time.
What happens when we stop treating research as a series of isolated projects and start seeing it as an evolving, place-based practice?
In this episode we reflect on “projectification” (the tendency to structure research around short-term deliverables and milestones) and how this limits imagination, collaboration, and continuity. We discuss open-ended funding models, yearly consortium memberships, and intermediary organisations that sustain relationships between research, policy, and practice. How can transitions be rooted in place and invite communities to co-own the process of imagining and realising new futures?
Host: Alex Szwaj
Speakers: Jonas Torrens and Mattijs Taanman
Find out more about the idea creators here: Dr. Lucy Gilliam, Tanner Tuttle,
https://www.oneplanetport.org/
Relevant connections mentioned in this episode:
Transformative Innovation Policy Consortium (TIPC): https://tipconsortium.net/
AMS Institute (Advanced Metropolitan Solutions, Amsterdam): https://www.ams-institute.org/
Episode 4 — The Mavericks
Idea featured: Transition Income, by Ad Vlems and Monique Vissers
How do we support the pioneers working outside the system?
Listening to “Transition Income”, an idea by Ad Vlems and Monique Vissers, we meet the “transition pioneers”: researchers and innovators who don’t fit the mold. The conversation explores what it takes to challenge academic conventions, the emotional side of risk-taking, and what new career paths and research environments could look like if we funded differently, with more trust, flexibility, and vision.
What would it mean to fund people rather than projects? In this episode we unpack the challenges faced by “mavericks” or “transition pioneers”, those who work across systems, disciplines, and institutions to push boundaries and make tangible change.
The discussion dives into why current funding models struggle to support such people, what alternative structures could look like, and how long-term, flexible funding could sustain those shaping the transitions we urgently need.
Host: Alex Szwaj
Speakers: Stephi Holst and Mattijs Taanman
Find out more about the idea creators here: Ad Vlems, Monique Vissers,
https://www.ecodorpboekel.nl/
Relevant connections mentioned in this episode:
Thrive Institute: https://thriveinstitute.nl/knowledge-broker/
RARA Radio: https://rararadio.org/
Episode 5 — Creativity, Curiosity and Collaboration
Idea featured: Choir of the Sea, by Remco de Kluizenaar
How can artistic practices reshape research itself?
What happens when art and science collide? In this episode, we listen to “Choir of the Sea” by Remco de Kluizenaar and together we look at how creative, speculative, and embodied practices can expand what counts as research — and why funders should care. We discuss the hurdles in funding art-science collaborations, and what lessons science can learn from the cultural sector and what the role of openness, experimentation, and imagination is.
How can artistic research challenge the boundaries of what is considered scientific?
More scientists and artists team up to collaborate, but can’t find funding. In this episode we discuss what gets funded, and who gets to explore the unknown. The conversation opens up questions about the hidden “gateways” that determine access to funding, the need for more divergent and transdisciplinary funding models, and how embracing discomfort might lead to more transformative forms of knowledge-making.
Host: Alex Szwaj
Speakers: Jonas Torrens and Kornelia Dimitrova
Audio credits: music composed by Remco de Kluizenaar (exerpts from “Voice of the North Sea” (2023) and “Soil, LIVE!” (2024)
Voice of the North Sea is made possible by contributions from Wageningen Municipality and WUR. “Soil LIVE” concert is written in collaboration with Wageningen Soil Biology Group and made possible by support from the Wageningen Biodiversity Inititative and a Wageningen University grant as part of the Biodiversity Positive Foodsystems investment theme.
Orchestra in the audiorecording: Stedelijke Muziekvereniging De Harmonie Wageningen.
Relevant connections mentioned in this episode:
Wendy Brown (University of California, Berkeley): https://polisci.berkeley.edu/150w/wendy-brown
Regeling voor Artistiek en Ontwerpend Onderzoek (SIA and Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie): https://www.stimuleringsfonds.nl/nieuws/nieuw-regeling-voor-artistiek-en-ontwerpend-onderzoek
Collaborations for Future: https://collaborationsforfuture.com/
Innovatielabs: https://innovatielabs.org/
Episode 6 — Including, Opening and Adapting
Idea featured: Designing the Otherwise, by Irene Luque Martín
Theme: How can we fund other forms of knowing?
In this episode we listen to “Designing the Otherwise” by Irene Luque Martín and question how our current systems value knowledge — and whose knowledge counts. We discuss how feminist, decolonial, and indigenous perspectives could reshape research, and what it would take to fund open-ended, critical, and plural ways of knowing.
We discuss examples of participatory and community-led approaches and discuss how competition, standardisation, and rigid timelines restrict our research imagination. What might happen if we treated research as a shared process rather than a product, one that welcomes uncertainty, slower rhythms, and collaboration across differences?
Host: Alex Szwaj
Speakers: Lizanne Schepers, Jonas Torrens and Kornelia Dimitrova
Knowledge Agenda for the Dutch Caribbean and Bonaire: https://www.nwo.nl/en/researchprogrammes/caribbean-research-a-multidisciplinary-approach/caribbean-research-agenda
https://hetkin.nl/en/projecten/bonaire-knowledge-agenda/
Podcast Production Credits
Podcasts by New Ways of Funding team (Alex Szwaj, Kornelia Dimitrova, Jonas Torrens, Matijs Taanman, Stephi Holst)
Impossible Projects is a collaboration between Foundation We Are, het KIN, Utrecht University, and Erasmus University Rotterdam. A special thanks to Saskia du Bois and the KIN communication team.
Thank you to:
Recording location: RaRa Radio (Episodes 1-4)
Music by The Plantslator
Audio editing by Jeroen Brattinga
Design and curation by Foundation We Are
Made possible by Het KIN
The Impossible Project Ideas:
Adaptieve Intelligentie voor iedereen, by Mattijn van Hoek and Ton Botterhuis
Port as a Pulse, by Dr. Lucy Gilliam and Tanner Tuttle
Transition Income, an idea by Ad Vlems and Monique Vissers
Choir of the Sea, by Remco de Kluizenaar
Designing the Otherwise, by Irene Luque Martín