Ness bases her presentation on her empirical research investigating creativity, innovation, and multidisciplinary groups. She will argue how the basic ideas in Lev Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development also relate to adult collaboration and knowledge creation between multidisciplinary group members and to how such groups develop innovative ideas.
According to the conference website, “the International Society for Theoretical Psychology (ISTP) is an international forum for theoretical, meta-theoretical and philosophical discussions in psychology, with a focus on contemporary psychological debates.” The Society’s 17th Biennial Conference is being held at Rikkyo University, Tokyo, August 21 – 25, 2017.
Ness’ colleague and collaborator, Vlad Glaveanu, will also participate at the conference and will be involved in leading discussions. Glaveanu is an Associate Professor II at SLATE and gave a guest lecture at SLATE 3 May, 2017.
Ness stayed at Oxford Centre for Sociocultural and Activity Theory Research (OSAT) during her PhD studies. OSAT is the world’s leading milieu in the work of Vygotsky and his intellectual legacy.
Being an invited speaker at ISTP highlights the significant theoretical grounding for Ness’ work. However, her research is also attracting considerable attention for its practical potential. She has been featured in the business and innovation press in Norway for her work with multidisciplinary groups.
Ness’ ground-breaking work was nominated for the Innovation Prize for 2017 by The Norwegian Society for Psychological Science.
