Over the course of two days at the 2026 SOR4D Conference in Bern, the Wyss Academy for Nature took part in discussions on transdisciplinary research and transformative change, with recurring attention to themes also reflected in its own work: local leadership, complex problem-solving, and the role of different forms of knowledge in understanding social–ecological change. 

The SOR4D Conference, organized by the SNSF- and SDC-led SOR4D programme, brought together researchers, policymakers, and practitioners under the theme “Advancing Transdisciplinary Research for Global Development: Crisis, Collaboration, and Change.” Across 20 thematic sessions – including paper presentations, roundtables, and workshops – participants explored how transdisciplinary research can address global challenges and support scalable, sustainable solutions. 

In her keynote speech, Prof. Dr. Joanna Kane-Potaka, Executive Secretary of the Global Forum on Agricultural Innovation and Research (GFAiR), emphasized the importance of local leadership. The second keynote speaker, Chandra Bhushan, President & CEO of the International Forum for Environment, Sustainability & Technology (iFOREST), drew on historical examples to illustrate the limitations of concentrating efforts on single pressing problems. Time and again, he showed that this approach can fail when it does not also address the systems that created those problems in the first place. 

These themes also framed the Wyss Academy’s contributions, which drew on research and examples from its regional Hubs to explore how local realities interact with wider systems in practice. That same spirit of transformation extended to the conference's closing panel, where Dr. Miguel Saravia, director of the South America Hub, joined a majority Global-South, cross-regional lineup rethinking the academic and research system itself and calling for greater openness to other ways of knowing. 

Across the research presented at the conference, a common tension emerged: local realities do not always align with the policies, institutions, and systems intended to govern them. 

In her presentation, Dr. Sarah-Lan Mathez-Stiefel shared the findings of a reflexive analysis of the process of including Indigenous and local knowledge systems into UNEP’s Global Environmental Outlook report (GEO-7) for the first time. She highlighted the crucial importance of this type of knowledge for transformation toward sustainable and equitable futures. She also presented recommendations for more effectively bridging diverse epistemologies in global environmental assessments. 

Kattia Diaz explored a related gap through her research on local leadership and more responsible mining in the Peruvian Amazon, including the position of women who are taking on leadership roles within mining collectives.

A similar disconnect between formal arrangements and lived experience appeared in Dr. Dominique Schmid’s research on benefit-sharing in payment-for-ecosystem-services (PES) projects across Kenya and Peru. While quantitative data showed relatively stable patterns in how communities chose to distribute benefits, qualitative data revealed wide differences in how individuals understood those arrangements – differences that sometimes only became visible once payments began to flow.

In northern Laos, Aye-Chan Maung examined another version of this tension through changing land tenure and the increasing privatization of communal land. His research points to new conflicts over access, differences between local values around nature and the assumptions of more distant conservation actors, and the way nationally defined laws are interpreted locally: 

That same tension between local knowledge and wider systems also came through in the workshop “Living Labs and Data Ecosystems: Governance and Innovation in Artisanal Gold Mining in the Amazon Forest.” Bringing together actors from different points along the gold value chain, the session traced what a transition toward more responsible gold mining in the Amazon can require in practice.

The story began with women miners from Madre de Dios who are pursuing more responsible practices through formalization, mercury-free production, and the restoration of degraded land. Their aim is not only to show that responsible mining is possible, but also to change how miners are perceived and connect with buyers ready to pay a fair price for responsibly mined gold.

To understand whether more miners were open to these changes, researchers needed a way to reach a wider group. Sebastian Landazuri from Innova Sports helped test an unconventional approach: using football to build trust and create an opportunity for a large-scale survey with miners in Madre de Dios. 

Peru’s Ministry for Energy and Mining also helped shape the survey questionnaire so that the data collected would address questions relevant to policymakers. While the Ministry had information on the number of miners, it had less insight into their motivations, aspirations, and expectations.

Understanding miners’ perspectives is only one part of the challenge. The workshop also followed what happens further along the value chain. 

Traceability became another part of the discussion. Professor Lex van Geen described a blockchain-based approach designed to provide potential buyers with greater assurance that gold had been produced without mercury. Bruno Regli, who has worked for many years connecting buyers with local producers, pointed to the gap between perceptions of gold-producing regions and realities on the ground, as well as the shared responsibility of actors across the value chain. 

That gap is also reflected in the market. Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Bürgi Bonanomi from the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) presented a study conducted with the Wyss Academy, based on interviews with eight gold buyers in Switzerland about their willingness to purchase gold from Madre de Dios. Most of those interviewed still considered it too risky. She also explained that an analysis showed relevant regulatory frameworks were, in practice, acting as a disincentive rather than an incentive. This was despite the fact that the frameworks include principles of continuous improvement that could support more responsible mining. 

At the refinery end of the value chain, Alessia Sironi, Head of the Laboratory at Valcambi, returned to the issue of trust. Buyers, she argued, are not only buying gold; they are also placing confidence in its origin, how it is produced, and the integrity of the people and organizations behind it. She stressed the importance of continuing the formalization process already underway among miners, alongside more robust due diligence systems. 

Returning to the miners at the end of the panel, Vilma shared her vision for mining in Madre de Dios: a clean, competitive sector that respects nature and Peruvian law while providing fair prices and working conditions for miners. Despite continued insecurity, she pointed to one tangible milestone: gold from her operation is now sold in the United States. 

Holding up a bracelet made from that gold, she said, “I take the bracelet I wear right now everywhere; I am really proud – we produced this from our gold.” Her next ambition is to reach buyers in Switzerland. 

To close the session, Dr. Fernando Fernández, Senior Research Scientist at the Wyss Academy for Nature and lead of the interdisciplinary research on artisanal gold mining in Peru, reflected on what bringing these perspectives together had revealed.

That idea also captures what the workshop meant by a data ecosystem: not simply a dataset, platform, or tool, but a set of relationships through which different actors can bring together evidence, experience, and perspectives. It does not resolve the tensions between them, but it can help build a clearer picture of the problem – and of the questions that still need to be answered.