Exploring a transdisciplinary approach to make the concept of geological deep time accessible to a broader audience

Since the World Food Summit of 1996, the world has strived to achieve sustainable food production and improved nutrition for all. However, the complexity of food and nutrition security, compounded by a growing population, depleting natural resources, changing consumption patterns, and a multitude of environmental shocks to the ecosystem, make it a "wicked problem." Wicked problems transcend the resources of any single discipline and are the focus of contemporary transdisciplinary work. Transdisciplinary research approaches allow us to gain a better understanding of complex contexts, actions, and decisions that determine socioecological systems, and to develop organizational, social, and technological innovations that fit a given situation. Using the case of urban agriculture, which holds both potential and challenges for healthy nutrition and food systems, the key features of transdisciplinary research approaches are identified. As transdisciplinary research stems from a perceived real-life problem, a differentiated understanding and handling of knowledge diversity is needed. Furthermore, there is the need to build and maintain a research team and depending on the number of actors and the diversity of interests involved, the research has to be conceived as a group working process over a period of time requiring group management and process design skills. Though there is no single recipe for a transdisciplinary research process, we present a framework for such a process with iterative loops and multiple interactions among the various spheres of actors through the 4 phases of problem framing, problem analyses, problem solving, and stimulating change. Transdisciplinary research approaches have many challenges and are demanding in the integration of the research environment and processes. The interaction between stakeholders and the joint learning and reflection processes necessitate mutual understanding. However, the management of these interactions is as vital as pure scientific analysis for tackling real-world challenges.

The past 15 years have seen a growing interest in transdisciplinary research approaches across academic disciplines. This approach is starting to infiltrate work and health research. Some suggest that a transdisciplinary approach may overcome some of the obstacles in understanding complex pathways between working conditions and health, and may overcome some of the barriers in translating research evidence into action. However, a greater understanding of exactly what transdisciplinary research is (and what it is not) is needed so that the term ‘transdisciplinary’ is not abused or misused. In this paper the author outline the key tenants of a transdisciplinary approach as it applies to research on work and health. He then outlines some of the challenges and benefits of engaging in such an approach across three broad areas: integrating academic disciplinary perspectives; partnering with non-academic groups; and moving research into sustainable solutions. It is hoped that on reading this paper researchers, research participants and funding bodies can weigh up the benefits and challenges of engaging in truly transdisciplinary approaches to different work and health research questions. It is suggested that a truly transdisciplinary approach has both considerable benefits and considerable challenges for the people involved. As such, a transdisciplinary approach might not be the best approach to every research question or situation.

To enact a just and sustainable blue economy, one must consider all the actors involved in its shaping. This paper argues that a quintuple helix approach to stakeholder engagement – involving government, academia, the business community, and civil society – and an inclusive transdisciplinary action research (TAR) methodology are promising avenues with which to do so. Embracing critical pragmatism as a foundational framework, key ideas from three strands of research are consolidated: (1) the recent work on the geographical dimension of socio‐technical sustainability transitions; (2) the literature on just sustainabilities and just transition; and (3) action research and transdisciplinary approaches to problem solving. This allows for the reimagination of a common future for the blue economy that is developed through a different kind of democratic process driven and informed by co‐learning, and shared experiences. By adopting a transdisciplinary action research approach, actors from different disciplines and spheres of experience can gain a better mutual understanding and find commonality through the open door of collaboration. The theoretical argument presented in this paper is illustrated by a vignette of an ongoing TAR project at Southern Connecticut State University, which outlines the challenges and opportunities inherent to implementing a TAR approach.

Consideration of the relatively new concept of ecosystem services (ESS) in management decisions calls for a transdisciplinary research (TR) approach that aims at integration of knowledge among scientists from multiple disciplines and stakeholders from multiple sectors. In this paper, we present our experiences with the implementation of a TR approach to support the integration of ESS into land and water management under climate change in the arid Tarim River Basin, Northwest China (SuMaRiO project). Our initial TR approach focused on the execution of a stakeholder dialogue (15–20 interviews and five workshops, including participatory modeling) to integrate stakeholder knowledge with research results from SuMaRiO scientists. In the first project phase, the approach was adapted by adding a stakeholder analysis, with explicit efforts to integrate knowledge among the multidisciplinary German scientists, and between German and Chinese scientists. Two key stakeholders from the water sector, together with other representatives of governmental organizations from the sector crop production, animal husbandry, environment, and forestry, were involved in the TR process. The applied TR approach resulted in an improved understanding on issues related to land and water management as well as ESS, and a joint problem perception of stakeholders and scientists. Based on the overall perception graph and discussion with stakeholders and scientists, gaps in the present knowledge related to water and ESS were identified. Chinese stakeholders and scientists appreciated that the TR process facilitated cross-sectoral and multi-disciplinary communication and knowledge exchange. TR (including methods of knowledge elicitation and integration) needs to be continually adapted in reaction to the challenges encountered in the socio-cultural and institutional setting in the study area. Explicit efforts of network and trust building are a prerequisite for TR, in particular in China.

The complexity and urgency of societal challenges are growing steadily, as the world currently experiences with managing the coronavirus pandemic. Transdisciplinary research approaches are necessary to confront these complex problems and relevant research capacity is increasingly in demand by society, politics and research funders. However, education and training continuously lag behind societal needs. Students, researchers and practitioners from all backgrounds should be trained and have the opportunity to learn how to use transdisciplinary approaches in research. Digitalization, and especially the massive open access online course (MOOC) format, provides a unique leverage point to increase access and extend reach equitably across the global higher education landscape. This chapter describes how a MOOC concept and contents were designed through intense co-production processes by experts from various Swiss institutions to ‘tell an interesting storyline’ and provoke interaction through social learning between and among learners and educators. We discuss the process and challenges of incorporating integrated learning into higher education curricula, summarize some lessons learned and highlight the global perspective. The MOOC provides a digital resource, for learners, educators and trainers, to support transdisciplinary research capacity building and knowledge co-production globally.

To support societal problem solving, transdisciplinary research (TDR) uses knowledge co-production focusing on relevance and validity in a studied case and its particular social–ecological context. In the first instance, the resulting situated knowledge seems to be restricted to these single cases. However, if some of the knowledge generated in TDR could be used in other research projects, this would imply that there is a body of knowledge representing this special type of research. This study used a qualitative approach based on the methodology of grounded theory to empirically examine what knowledge is considered transferable to other cases, if any. 30 leaders of 12 Swiss-based TDR projects in the field of sustainable development were interviewed, representing both academia and practice. The transferable knowledge we found consists of the following: (1) Transdisciplinary principles, (2) transdisciplinary approaches, (3) systematic procedures, (4) product formats, (5) experiential know-how, (6) framings and (7) insights, data and information. The discussion of TDR has predominantly been focusing on transdisciplinary principles and approaches. In order to take knowledge co-production in TDR beyond an unmanageable field of case studies, more efforts in developing and critically discussing transferable knowledge of the other classes are needed, foremost systematic procedures, product formats and framings.

One human settlement: A transdisciplinary approach to climate change adaptation research

The transdisciplinary research mode has gained prominence in the research on and for sustainability transformations. Yet, solution-oriented research addressing complex sustainability problems has become complex itself, with new transdisciplinary research formats being developed and tested for this purpose. Application of new formats offers learning potentials from experience. To this end, we accompanied fourteen research projects conceptualized as real-world labs (RwLs) from 2015 to 2018. RwLs were part of a funding program on ‘Science for Sustainability’ in the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg. Here, we combine conceptual and empirical work to a structured collection of experiences and provide a comprehensive account of RwLs. First, we outline characteristics of RwLs as transformation oriented, transdisciplinary research approach, using experiments, enabling learning and having a long-term orientation. Second, we outline eleven success factors and concrete design notes we gained through a survey of the 14 RwLs: (1) find the right balance between scientific and societal aims, (2) address the practitioners needs and restrictions, (3) make use of the experimentation concept, (4) actively communicate, (5) develop a ‘collaboration culture’, (6) be attached to concrete sites, (7) create lasting impact and transferability, (8) plan for sufficient time and financial means, (9) adaptability, (10) research-based learning, and (11) recognize dependency on external actors. Characteristics and success factors are combined to illustrate practical challenges in RwLs. Third, we show which methods could be used to cope with challenges in RwLs. We conclude discussing the state of debate on RwLs and outline future avenues of research.

To improve health at the human, animal, and ecosystem interface, defined as One Health, training of researchers must transcend individual disciplines to develop a new process of collaboration. The transdisciplinary research approach integrates frameworks and methodologies beyond academic disciplines and includes involvement of and input from policy makers and members of the community. The authors argue that there should be a significant shift in academic institutions’ research capacity to achieve the added value of a transdisciplinary approach for addressing One Health problems. This Perspective is a call to action for academic institutions to provide the foundations for this salient shift. The authors begin by describing the transdisciplinary approach, propose methods for building transdisciplinary research capacity, and highlight three value propositions that support the case. Examples are provided to illustrate how the transdisciplinary approach to research adds value through improved sustainability of impact, increased cost-effectiveness, and enhanced abilities to mitigate potentially harmful unintended consequences. The authors conclude with three key recommendations for academic institutions: (1) a focus on creating enabling environments for One Health and transdisciplinary research, (2) the development of novel funding structures for transdisciplinary research, and (3) training of “transmitters” using real-world-oriented educational programs that break down research silos through collaboration across disciplines.

Despite increasing attention and calls for transdisciplinary (TD) working in engineering, a lack of clarity surrounding what constitutes a TD research approach persists. This paper aims to reduce ambiguity by characterising TD and identifying when the TD approach should or should not be used. Specifically, the research answers the question: when might it be beneficial to take a TD rather than a single, multi or interdisciplinary research approach? Survey responses from twenty-eight authors (50%) who presented papers at the 28th ISTE International Conference on Transdisciplinary Engineering (TE2021) were qualitatively analysed. Findings show a TD approach to research is beneficial for complex problem-solving. New understanding reveals that TD could be used to evidence scientific and social impact, and that context determines the appropriateness of TD adoption. However, even where TD adoption is deemed appropriate, institutional barriers to adoption may exist. In other words, the work environment (culture) in which we do our research, may determine if any meaningful benefits from TD are, or are not realised. Lessons from engineering education are used to discuss how to institutionalise TD, future transdisciplinary engineers and researchers might be taught and socialised in the competencies needed for transdisciplinary research.

PurposeThis paper aims to explore graduate student experiences of ecohealth communities of practice in Canada, West and Central Africa and Central America, to better understand the role of student knowledge in advancing innovative practices in transdisciplinary, participatory and equitable research approaches.Design/methodology/approachThis ethnographic analysis builds on observations of graduate student participants in ecohealth communities of practice activities, along with 26 in-depth interviews conducted in 2011 with graduate students and professionals trained in ecosystem approaches to health. Interviews are transcribed by the author, and coded and analyzed using a grounded theory approach.FindingsAlthough ecohealth communities of practice open new space for students to experiment with innovative practices in transdisciplinary, participatory and equitable research approaches, the surrounding disciplinary, top-down structure of academic and professional careers continue to pose significant obstacles to how students can take up the principles of ecohealth in practice. Through their collective experiences of these obstacles, students have considerable knowledge about the opportunities and constraints that the ecohealth communities of practice afford; however, this student knowledge has not yet been systematized or adequately mobilized.Practical implicationsStudent knowledge gained through shared experiences of ecohealth communities of practice appears to be a critical, necessary and underused component in working on systemic change in the structure of sustainability leadership in higher education. However, more research is needed to understand how greater emphasis could be placed on putting students in charge of confronting the conditions of their own training, to collectively produce alternatives that challenge dominant structural norms.Originality/valueThe ethnographic approach re-centers student voices within debates about the relevance of ecohealth communities of practice for realizing the aims of transdisciplinary, participatory and equitable research approaches within the context of international sustainability challenges and graduate training.

Transdisciplinary research in sustainability science: practice, principles, and challenges

With the start of the United Nations (UN) Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development in 2021, research priorities to support the sustainable use of coastal and ocean resources and their conservation are in the spotlight. However, to date comprehensive regulation and management of multifaceted and multi-used ecosystems has proven challenging. This is partly due to the complexity of coastal and ocean social-ecological systems (SES), as well as the multitude of approaches to manage those spaces. In order to address such challenges, magnified by often-conflicting interests between economic activities and nature conservation, there is an urgent need for integrated approaches that bridge the gap between science, policy and society, as well as across different epistemological boundaries set by various management approaches. Consequently, the interest in multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary research approaches at the national and international levels has been growing. In light of the recently started Decade of Ocean Science, this paper aims at providing key considerations for research approaches that tackle the outlined challenges in managing the ocean space. From a survey targeted at projects and initiatives that apply multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary approaches, we draw examples of challenges and good-practices. Based on this, we propose three key considerations for an integrated research approach, including (1) target setting, resource management, and adaptive planning; (2) knowledge production and responsiveness toward policy and society; and (3) co-design, co-development, cooperation, as well as effective communication. The considerations laid out in this paper are aimed at the effective translation between science, policy, and society in support of sustainable coastal and ocean governance within the Decade of Ocean Science.

The diverse nature of internal and external threats and fishery attributes in inland fisheries indicates that the development of long-term solutions to governance issues will require interaction among multiple disciplines and actors. Pollution, habitat alteration, invasive species, and hydropower development are widespread problems that are often external to threats imposed by inland fisheries, but greatly impact fishery productivity. Within inland fisheries, challenges of overfishing, equitable access, conflict, and an overall lack of political will to sustain inland fisheries at the regional, national, and international policy levels serve to pressure the sector further. Power dynamics, governance systems, and regulations play a role in determining the perspectives from which solutions to these issues are viewed, and thereby the perspectives from which they are defined as a success. Promoting transdisciplinary research in inland fisheries can support development of successful governance solutions by providing relevant insights to identify and inform these perspectives. Here, we offer examples of redefined governance problems and potential strategies for addressing them using transdisciplinary research approaches. We conclude by offering suggestions for improving transdisciplinary research in inland fisheries.

The need to focus on a transdisciplinary approach in education for sustainable development (EDS) has been reflected in research and especially action research as a possible solution, which can open a new perspective for understanding and interpretation of the complex phenomenon of sustainability as well as for developing new open continuing education programmes by integrating research and learning activities in the context of open transdisciplinary research. The content structure of the article: (1) it describes the experience that has evolved at one faculty and its subordinate scientific institute and has been proposed to be used within the entire institution; (2) it generalises issues arising from the extensive experience, which in action research manifest themselves as issues relating to the appropriate perspective choice in terms of sustainability, approaches that in education make it possible to understand the sustainability phenomenon, as well as features that help identify sustainability at different levels. Well-known cases in the history of science, philosophy of science, and systems development research have been used to highlight the relationship among the dynamic interaction of complex problems that can systematically appear as sustainable or unsustainable. Therefore, the article provides insight into a specific relationship among science development, integration and Anthropocene phenomena with sustainability / non-sustainability phenomena and their interaction; (3) it offers the experience necessary for the creation of participatory action research ideas and research base to expand the cooperation of university and its graduates using a stakeholder approach and connecting it with a transdisciplinary research framework, which envisages an activity around the sustainability phenomenon and its deep relationship to the openness for the evolution of sustainability consciousness as concerns individuals and societies; (4) it describes the first three activities of the first phase of the undertaken action research, which allowed determining the participants’ motivation to take part in the action research, identifying participants’ attitude and understanding sustainability and Anthropocene phenomena, as well as establishing a strategic vision of open transdisciplinary framework benefits and opportunities through participatory action research to develop open evolutionary study programs for continuing education, which would extend and deepen the cooperation of university and its graduates for social innovation creation and achieving quality education for sustainable development by reorienting the society and education towards sustainability and sustainable development. The present article aims at establishing an open transdisciplinary research framework, which is necessary for undertaking action research, and outlining a strategic vision for developing continuing education programs in the participatory action research that will help reorient continuing education to sustainable development.