Bridging Horizons
innovation, Identity and Global Futures
Volume 1, Issue 3 — March 2026
Published July 2026
ISSN: 3069-8200
The Princeton Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (PJIR) proudly presents Volume 1, Issue 3 (2025), Bridging Horizons: Innovation, Identity, and Global Futures — the third installment of our inaugural publishing year.
Building upon the foundations of Voices in Convergence and Frontiers of Inquiry, this issue deepens PJIR’s commitment to rigorous, cross-disciplinary scholarship that confronts both emerging and enduring global questions. The research featured in this edition traverses scientific innovation and technological transformation; re-examinations of social, cultural, and political identities; ethical dimensions of public policy and governance; and evolving intersections between health, economics, and global development.
Two Best Paper selections exemplify this breadth: "Deepfakes On Trial: A Mixed-Methods Study of Student Perceptions and Regulatory Concerns about Non-Consensual Deepfakes at the London School of Economics and Political Science," which interrogates the ethical and regulatory implications of emerging synthetic media technologies. Meanwhile, "Interpretable Transfer Learning with EfficientNetB0 for Automated Detection of Rare Anemia Morphologies in Peripheral Blood Smears" demonstrates how advances in machine learning and biomedical imaging can be translated into clinically meaningful diagnostic tools, highlighting the growing convergence of computational innovation and medical practice.
Alongside the two Best Paper selections, this volume features contributions addressing religion and social meaning, structural inequality, developments in the life sciences, and more. We hope these studies encourage readers to draw connections across fields and to approach complex contemporary questions with intellectual openness.
All accepted articles are published online under ISSN 3069-8200.
Editor’s Note
Serious scholarship often begins with a single, well-defined question. Yet the moment we follow that question far enough, we find it rarely stays in one place. Questions about attention become questions about education and equity. Questions about algorithms become questions about trust and accountability. Questions about biological systems quickly intersect with questions about human experience. This issue brings together work that reflects precisely this movement across boundaries.
In this volume, we are proud to feature research on ADHD, the effects of racial bias in dermatology datasets on convolutional neural networks, the emerging legal terrain of deepfakes, sustainable building materials, structural inequality, developments in the life sciences, and more. The issue also includes work engaging questions of religion and belief, examining gender and social identity, and exploring problems in linguistics, and more.
We celebrate interdisciplinary scholarship not as a slogan, but as a practice. The work collected here demonstrates careful technical reasoning alongside ethical awareness and social sensitivity. It shows that strong research does not dilute disciplinary rigor; rather, it is often strengthened when scholars remain attentive to the wider implications of their methods and findings.
PJIR Editorial Team
Articles in This Issue
From Roles to Realities: Participatory Speculative Art as a Tool for Gender and Reproductive Futures
Author: shuang cai¹, Ruichao Jiang²
Affiliation: ¹Human Centered Design, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States
²Independent Researchers, New York, New York, United States
Abstract:
New Assisted Reproductive Technology (New ART) is a speculative reproductive clinic installation, where the artist and the curator transformed a traditional gallery space in NYC to examine how immersive design and participatory process engage audiences in reimagining gender roles. The study is guided by the research question: “How has participatory world-building in speculative art assisted in reimagining binary gender divisions?”...
Keywords: Speculative Art, Speculative Design, Gender Studies, Male Pregnancy, Non-Binary Perspectives, Reproductive Politics, Immersive Experiences, Fanfiction Subcultures
(Sometimes You Find) the [Only Lasting] Truth Is [Change] Out There {So, What Happened Really?}: The Female Protagonist in Modern Science Fiction
Author: Lily V. Amidon
Affiliation: University of California, Irvine
Abstract:
The science fiction genre has evolved from space travel in Star Wars and Star Trek and time travel in Doctor Who to explorations of paranormal activity, incredible scientific advancements, and speculation about both the present and future. The X-Files (1993-2002), Fringe (2008-13), Parable of the Sower (1993), and Nope (2022) all follow forensic pathologist and FBI agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson)...
Keywords: gender studies, intersectionality, third wave feminism, fourth wave feminism, science fiction, The X-Files, Parable of the Sower, Nope, Fringe
Knot Your Average Craft: Reading Crochet As A Queer Practice
Author: Amrit Jangra
Affiliation: School of European Languages and Culture, University College London, United Kingdom
Abstract:
This article reads crochet as a queer practice through the work of Sara Ahmed and Jack Halberstam. It first turns to the material specificities of the craft, mapping out how the technique and materiality of crochet- and the intimate, haptic interaction taking place between the material and the maker- gives rise to meaning by blurring the boundaries between mind and body...
Keywords: Queer theory, crochet, craft studies, queer phenomenology, Sara Ahmed, Jack Halberstam, materiality, cisheteronormativity
Multi-Omics and In Silico Drug Discovery Approaches to Identify Novel Biomarkers of Early Metastasis in Melanoma
Author: Samaya Vaidya
Affiliation: The Cathedral and John Connon School
Abstract:
Melanoma is one of the most aggressive skin cancers, with early metastasis being the primary cause of patient mortality. Despite advances in targeted and immunotherapies, reliable biomarkers that predict early metastatic potential remain unclear...
Keywords: Melanoma, Early Metastasis, Multi-omics, Bioinformatics, in Silico Drug Discovery
Citation for This Issue
Princeton Journal of Interdisciplinary Research. (2026). Volume 1, Issue 3 — Bridging Horizons. PJIR.
https://www.princeton-press.com/pjir/issues/vol-1-issue-3
Open Access Statement
This journal is fully open access. All articles are freely available to read, download, and share without subscription or access barriers. We encourage scholars to cite and engage with the research published here, as such scholarly exchange plays an important role in supporting emerging and early-career researchers and advancing ongoing academic conversations.