“Impossible Project ideas” is part of the New Ways of Funding project, an experimental initiative that aims to accelerate transformative and transdisciplinary research collaborations in climate transition research by removing current limitations and barriers. By sharing an “impossible project” idea, researchers, artists and designers contribute to gaining more insight into these counteracting forces.
Impossible Projects Podcast
Through the open call, interviews and conversations with researchers and innovators who are exploring the limits of the current funding system, the project team aims to map hidden experiences, unfulfilled desires, areas of tension and possibilities for change in the current system. By sharing the conversations via a podcast series, we hope that the discussions will spark the collective imagination about what funding could make possible, and we want to create space for shaping new alternatives.
Listen to the podcast (online soon)
More about the call for ideas for impossible projects
Conventional funding models are largely based on competition between research consortia. They are designed to support specialisations and assume that partnerships should function as projects, with clearly defined plans from the outset. Although these characteristics are conducive to some forms of research, they often limit the ability to carry out more alternative, but in this day and age necessary, transformative work: transdisciplinary, collaborative, action-oriented, process- or place-based research – essential for tackling the climate crisis. Although many experimental funding methods are being explored, many limitations often remain.
The aim of the call for ideas was to collect and explore “unfundable gems”: the kind of collaborative, imaginative and transformative research that you would like to do, but which is considered impossible to fund. The call sought proposals that challenge or transcend conventional notions of how knowledge is produced and applied – initiatives that would be feasible if the resources were available, but which are currently considered “too risky” due to the current rules, institutional logic or expectations of the funding system. The call was intended for “climate researchers” in the broadest sense of the word. People who already have some experience with public funding and have (repeatedly) encountered limitations in the way they want to work. It was not a requirement to be employed by a knowledge institute or university. By creating space for otherwise invisible dream collaborations, we want to bring unfulfilled wishes and promising alternatives in the funding landscape to light in order to explore them further within KIN, for example through work sessions and podcasts. More about the Impossible Projects Call can be found in the news items in the timeline.
The results will be announced in the autumn of 2025, and the selected candidates will continue to develop their proposals, including in a co-creation workshop with relevant experts.
About the “New Ways of Financing” project team
This experimental call is an initiative of the “New Financing Methods” project team, a collaborative assignment carried out for KIN, consisting of Kornelia Dimitrova and Alex Szwaj (Foundation We Are), Jonas Torrens (Utrecht University), Mattijs Taanman (Erasmus University Rotterdam) and Stephi Holst (KIN). This group was established with the aim of bringing about a shift towards new ways of working together from the perspective of the financing system, building on current interest and exploring new possibilities in an action research and experimental way together with relevant stakeholders. In doing so, we contribute to KIN’s objectives of accelerating transitions at the system level, with the aim of promoting diversity and inclusion in funding and ultimately creating the conditions necessary to enable action for climate justice.
The call is closed. It is no longer possible to submit an application. In September, we will announce which five ideas have been selected.
