According to Johan Schot, humanities and social sciences should focus on addressing the biggest challenges of our times including the climate change and biodiversity crises, social inequality and the future of democracy through providing rigorous research and expertise. Schot perceives the production of knowledge as a collective process. He sees his own role as that of a builder of networks and bridges between science and policy. By applying a transdisciplinary research approach and working jointly with various actors, he advocates academic entrepreneurship, team work and collaboration across disciplines in hybrid spaces such as the Utrecht University Centre for Global Challenges. Currently, he is developing two platforms that experiment with this type of transdisciplinary research: the Transformative Innovation Policy Consortium and the Deep Transitions Global Investors Panel. In this interview, Schot elaborates on what lies behind his passion for impact and action driven research projects.