Transdisciplinary Project Research Articles

Tillit og tverrfaglighet -om bibliotekaren som forskerstøtte

Technological advancements and reforms in the university sector have changed the conditions under which researchers and academic staff work. In turn, university libraries need to adapt to the changing needs of this particular user group. This article highlights which competencies and roles the university librarian needs in order to address these changing needs based on an understanding of the researcher’s work context. How can the academic librarian contribute to the research process? The study on which this article is based has applied Institutional Ethnography (IE), as one methodological approach. IE puts focus on the expert knower, in this case the researcher, who can transmit work knowledge specific to the context in which he or she operates. Applying this approach is one way of dealing with challenges concerning tacit knowledge. In addition, IE provides an opening to revealing new knowledge about a well-studied issue. The data material consists of interviews with researchers (individual and group), and a workshop with academic library staff. Findings show that the researchers’ demands of publications governs their prioritization, but also their relationships to technology and people. The informants’ state that they need to be able to trust that librarians contribute added value and substance to the research process – only then can they be part of the research network. The informants would also like librarians to contribute with a transdisciplinary mindset in transdisciplinary research projects, that they coordinate administrative support, and take charge of research dissemination intended to “popularize” research.

MEASURING GROWTH CONDITIONS OF SALAD PLANTS USING SENSORS: A HIGH SCHOOL PROJECT

Abstract. Geoinformatics (GI) education is widely used as a spatial visualization-interdisciplinary tools for its ability to understand the geographical phenomenon around us in the past and model the future scenario. Its global importance and usage have made the need of disseminating the education with public and school students. The MSc. Students of different backgrounds at Institute for Geoinformatics in the University of Munster were involved in one of such works through the seminar cum project on ‘Transdisciplinary education in Geoinformatics’ through GI@School Lab with the aim of engaging high school students on applying GI knowledge on Agriculture. The grade 12 students were presented with the ongoing GI empowered research projects at first such that the school students developed the project ideas of their interests to use GI on agricultural sectors based on which MSc students developed 4 different projects and Growth Condition (Sensors) is one of them. This project aims to determine the best suited condition for Salad plants growth based on the size of the Salad leaves measured after monitoring the growth of the plants by planting them on 4 plastic boxes filled with same soil type but in different lighting conditions and water conditions to be measured by the concerned sensors to after the 8 weeks of indoor growth. The project execution week took place as the 5-day workshop and feedbacks were taken as questionnaire surveys from the participated students and concerned teachers for the project evaluation. The sensors-collected data could even serve as the ground truth data of a citizen observatory projects for Copernicus in-situ component. The whole project aims at reducing generational gaps between the students by bringing them the opportunity for knowledge co-creation through transdisciplinary projects on agricultural sector using GI technologies.

Multimodal Algebra Learning: From Math Manipulatives to Tangible User Interfaces

Abstract While manipulatives have played an important role in children’s mathematics development for decades, employing tangible objects together with digital systems in the classroom has been rarely explored yet. In a transdisciplinary research project with computer scientists, mathematics educators and a textbook publisher, we investigate the potentials of using tangible user interfaces for algebra learning and develop as well as evaluate a scalable system for different use cases. In this paper, we present design implications for tangible user interfaces for algebra learning that were derived from a comprehensive field study in a grade 9 classroom and an expert study with textbook authors, who also are teachers. Furthermore, we present and discuss the resulting system design.

Embedding Higher Education into a Real-World Lab: A Process-Oriented Analysis of Six Transdisciplinary Project Courses

Since the early days of the emerging research format of Real-world Labs (RwLs), higher education plays a vital role in them. Examples have been presented on teaching activities in RwLs, but the reasons for and evidence of their inclusion stays limited. To start a systematic discussion on the embedding of higher education in RwLs, this paper presents the case of six Transdisciplinary Project Courses carried out in the RwL “District Future—Urban Lab” in Karlsruhe/Germany. The paper presents the discourses on the role of learning in RwLs and compares it to those on Transition Labs and Urban Living Labs. To offer a new approach to address this aspect, the paper introduces a social practice perspective to map out the interrelations between an RwL and higher education therein. The detailed analysis of the processes is used to identify the potential of the RwL to support learning. It shows that all dimensions of social practice can be identified in the interplay between Real-world Lab and Transdisciplinary Project Courses, even though to a very different degree and in different phases. The text closes with lessons learned for teaching project courses in RwLs and similar labs.

COLridor

The mission of the present trans-disciplinary community environmental project COLridor (Davidová, 2017b) is to generate a situation of eco-systemic co-living across local species’ and abiotic agency in an urban environment through their co-design. Located in the city centre of Prague, the case study bio-tope is a part of larger bio-corridor that has evolved namely thanks to the adjacent railway and water stream. Though the prevailing opinion of European urbanists stays that cities should remain dense and separate from the rest of nature, landscape ecologists and biologists tend to disagree. There is no nature on Earth without human beings and these together evolved reflecting each other’s impact and interaction. A great variety of species have adapted and evolved for the urban environment that, at the moment for many, offers safer and more habitable living environment than agricultural land full of herbicides, pests, antibiotics and antibiotics resistant bacteria. Through systematically co-designed and co-created so called eco-systemic ‘prototypical urban interventions’ (Doherty, 2005), the project aims to motivate generation of edible landscape, social, cultural and habitable urban environment across the species. We claim that designers should be no longer designing for- but designing with- the overall eco-system. This case study helps to justify first author’s ratified design field Systemic Approach to Architectural Performance, covering fusion of variety of co-design across eco-system in process based fields.
 This is an extended, edited and updated article based on a working paper ‘COLridor: Co-Design and Co-Living for Sustainable Futures’ (Davidová & Zímová, 2017) for Relating Systems Thinking and Design 6 conference within the theme ‘Environment, Economy, Democracy: Flourishing Together’ (Sevaldson, 2017).

Using Māori knowledge to assist understandings and management of shellfish populations in Ōhiwa harbour, Aotearoa New Zealand

ABSTRACT This article discusses a marine research project which prioritised mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge systems) to generate common management approaches and responses for the taonga (culturally important) species; Kūtai, Perna canaliculus, Green Lipped Mussel populations in Ōhiwa harbour, Aotearoa New Zealand. Findings from the trans-disciplinary marine research project were used to develop a mussel management action plan (MMAP) which was endorsed and accepted in its entirety by the high-level Māori tribal and Governmental partners of the Ōhiwa Harbour Implementation Forum (OHIF). This article provides an overview of research which used localised Māori knowledge systems to provide the foundations for improving, enhancing and safeguarding traditional mussel populations in the harbour. Further, this article critically positioned mātauranga Māori as an important and meaningful strategy for empowering Māori collaboration and voices in the wise use, care and practical management of marine taonga species for present and future generations.

Debugging Robotic Machines in Transdisciplinary Spaces

This paper focuses on a transdisciplinary research project in a historically underrepresented public school in Toronto, Canada. At the intersection of elementary science, technology, and arts-based curriculum, the project employs the feminist new materialist practice of “diffraction” (Barad, 2007) in an after-school robotics club. Following a Baradian ethics, an emphasis is placed on the process of designing machines, which illuminates the need for different modes of measurement in educational research that account for the ongoing relationships within collective learning environments.

How to set up a transdisciplinary research project in Central Asia: description and evaluation

While there has been significant progress regarding the research mode “transdisciplinary research” (TDR) on a theoretical level, case studies describing specific TDR processes and the applied methods are rare. The aim of this paper is to describe how the first phase (Phase A) of a TDR project can be carried out in practice and to evaluate its accomplishments and effectiveness. We describe and evaluate Phase A of a TDR project that is concerned with tipping points of riparian forests in Central Asia. We used a TDR framework with objectives for Phase A and selected a sequence of methods for transdisciplinary knowledge integration. Semi-structured expert interviews for eliciting problem perceptions prepared for two transdisciplinary workshops, in which perception graphs, interest-influence diagrams and stakeholder network analyses were applied in addition to discussions in the plenary and in break-out groups. Scientists and stakeholders achieved to jointly frame the real-world problem, formulate research objectives, design a framework for knowledge integration, build a TDR team and decide on specific research activities for the main project phase. TDR context, process and products were judged by workshop participants positively, with average ratings above 3 on a scale from 0 (worst) to 4 (best). Strengths of our particular TDR approach during Phase A were the direct contact (interviews and two workshops) with potential TDR participants and the ability to allocate sufficient time and money to Phase A due to the funded project pre-phase of 1 year. TDR in countries foreign to the scientists, as in our study, is hampered by language barriers as well as by a lack of familiarity with local conditions, in particular regarding stakeholder interrelations that cannot be simply overcome by a stakeholder analysis. We believe that the presented approach for setting up a TDR project can serve as a good basis for the design of other projects.

Subjetividades en dislocamiento

El siguiente relato proviene del proyecto artístico transdisciplinario Proyecto Paisajes Migratorios / entre fronteras /, #PPM, de coautoría de los artistas investigadores Ernesto Morales Bautista y Gabriel Brito Nunes, basado en una investigación en desarrollo sobre migración y fronteras cuyo trayecto inaugural se realizó de abril a julio de 2017 por territorio mexicano. Dicho trayecto fue iniciado al norte en los estados fronterizos de México con Estados Unidos – Chihuahua y Coahuila – y concluido en la frontera al sur, entre Guatemala y el estado de Chiapas, después de atravesar los paisajes de los estados intermedios de San Luis Potosí, Oaxaca, Veracruz, entre otros, y la Ciudad de México. Los procesos derivados de esta investigación son constantemente alimentados por las vivencias de sus autores con las personas en dislocamiento – los migrantes – así como los agentes involucrados en la compleja red que se ha formado alrededor del estatus Migrante. Aunado a la lucha por los derechos ante el peligro y la violencia a que son sometidos los centroamericanos durante su desplazamiento, este proyecto tiene estrecha relación con el hecho de que México se ha convertido en una gran frontera para los que atraviesan el territorio de este país en busca del sueño americano.

Letter from the Guest Editors

Letter from the Guest Editors

Bottle house: A case study of transdisciplinary research for tackling global challenges

Globalisation has brought a number of challenges to the fore, particularly those problems which require collaboration, innovation and capability development between nations. There are some complex issues piquing the attention of researchers with respect to sustainable development, such as, waste management, climate change, and access to amenities, housing or education. Non-Governmental Organisations, Institutions, governments and others working in the field of international development have been grappling with these difficulties for decades. However, it is becoming apparent that many of these difficulties require multifaceted solutions, particularly in Low and Middle Income countries (LMIC) where it is difficult to consolidate gains and fund schemes. Development work can sometimes be disjointed and inefficient, impairing the capability of local communities and inhibiting sustainable and innovative approaches. Transdisciplinary collaboration is reliably a more efficient way of tackling some of the most pertinacious challenges. This paper presents findings from a transdisciplinary research project focussed on developing resources and capacity for the construction of affordable homes in a low income community in Nigeria. The project explored the suitability of using upcycled materials such as plastic bottles and agricultural waste in construction. Using a user-centred, co-creation methodology, a team of experts from the UK and Nigeria worked with local entrepreneurs to build a prototype home. The study explores the functionality of the home and the sustainability of project. The findings demonstrate the benefits of tackling global challenges from a transdisciplinary perspective. This has implications for researchers focused on developing technical solutions for low-income communities.

Transdisciplinary research methods in community energy development and governance in Indonesia: Insights for sustainability science

Community renewable energy can contribute to important social and environmental outcomes, and in less industrialised countries may be a means of achieving development priorities as well as climate mitigation goals. The complexity of such initiatives – involving regulatory, technological, financial, and governance issues – demands ways to integrate technical expertise, local cultural and environmental characteristics, and other relevant factors into development processes. This article reflects on a transdisciplinary project that investigated how renewable energy could be implemented to meet the needs and aspirations of rural and remote Indonesian communities. We discuss the sustainability science approach taken and how the transdisciplinary methodology was applied. The article addresses themes of language and communication, methods of knowledge production, legitimacy, planning and time management, and the role and impacts of social and technical disciplines in the research. The paper highlights specific challenges in these areas, and appropriate strategies to mitigate them. Our conclusions propose useful principles for this type of transdisciplinary work: preparation, common understandings, flexibility, shared responsibility, respect, and lightheartedness and humour. The manuscript identifies important empirical and methodological future research priorities, and offers insights to inform social research dimensions of applied research methods in the context of complex development initiatives and the multi-scale socio-economic and political systems in which they take place.

Contours of Asian American political theory: introductions and polemics

ABSTRACTThis essay claims that Asian American political theory (AAPT) exists but needs to be more explicitly articulated. I contour AAPT as the practice and tradition of critical theoretical reflection upon Asian American politics. I then situate Claire Kim’s Dangerous Crossings (2015) and Lisa Lowe’s The Intimacies of Four Continents (2015) within this contour. I read Claire Kim’s approach to localized Asian American conflicts as a case of ethically and nationally inflected AAPT, while I read Lisa Lowe’s approach to global Asian/Asian American figures as a case of historically and transnationally inflected AAPT. These examples show that AAPT fits within some parameters of political theory and political science, but also anticipates a wider reconfiguration of basic concepts such as Asian American politics. My proposal is that AAPT be conceived and developed as a disciplinary and transdisciplinary project.

SenseDisclosure: A new procedure for dealing with problematically ambiguous terms in cross-disciplinary communication

Communication in cross-disciplinary (and thus in inter-, multi- and transdisciplinary) projects is frequently challenged by problematically ambiguous terms (henceforth ‘PATs’), i.e. terms that have multiple meanings and for which it is not always clear what meaning is used, thereby generating communication problems. The reason why communication in cross-disciplinary projects is so sensitive to PATs, is that they often involve disciplines that share one or more terms, yet attribute different meanings to them in an implicit and/or unsystematic manner. The teams of such projects are in need of a PAT resolution procedure, i.e. a procedure that helps them to identify and resolve PATs, as they are generally not trained to do this themselves. A first attempt to provide such a procedure consists in the identification of existing candidate procedures and an evaluation of their capacity to resolve PATs in cross-disciplinary communication contexts using a new set of task and performance criteria. It is shown that none of them sufficiently meets all criteria. It also becomes clear that the realization of an efficient PAT resolution procedure requires the ability to automatically process large quantities of linguistic data. Hence, input from the field of applied (computational) linguistics seems necessary. With this need for automation in mind and against the background of the new set of task and performance criteria, a theoretical characterisation of a new PAT resolution procedure called ‘SenseDisclosure’ is presented. SenseDisclosure is meant to be applicable to all kinds of cross-disciplinary projects (by an external facilitator). Its characterisation incorporates multiple techniques from Natural Language Processing to realize several critical automations. As the techniques were not specifically developed for PAT resolution, some of them require further research and development before they can be reliably integrated. Finally, it is argued that, if this extra research and development yields positive results, SenseDisclosure can be a truly effective PAT resolution procedure.

‘From History Project to Transdisciplinary Research’: District Six as a case study

This article expounds how a National Research Foundation (NRF) history project evolved into a transdisciplinary study. The article develops a case in favour of transdisciplinary research as a departure from strict discipline-based inquiry. The project involves collaborative research with Master’s students and researchers located at five South African universities. The aim of this article is to evaluate the project as a transdisciplinary case study, intending to focus on its emergence as a history-based discipline, evolving into a transdisciplinary project. It also explores the epistemological value of transdisciplinary research as a knowledge production methodology in the context of the demand for a decolonised curriculum in South Africa. The article is set in the context of a NRF project with a spatiotemporal focus on the District Six forced removals during the colonial-apartheid period. A qualitative instrumental case study design guided the data collection and analyses. Participants’ project proposal texts were used as data. The results show, firstly, that transdisciplinarity is manifested in a wide range of titles and disciplines; secondly, a myriad of conceptual frameworks emerged from the data; and thirdly, a broad spectrum of research approaches emerged, mainly qualitative. Transdisciplinarity focuses on the ‘subject’ and the ‘hidden middle’ as domain where alternative philosophical research orientations are explored. Transdisciplinarity can be regarded as ‘Ubuntu’ research, given the common concern to bring out the ‘voice’ of the subaltern and a rejection of separation of humans into ‘racial’ classifications. As ‘Ubuntu research’, transdisciplinary research rejects an atomistic understanding of reality that excludes the human subject and a separation between human and nature.

Assessing the Economic and Societal Benefits of SRP-Funded Research.

Background:The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Superfund Basic Research and Training Program (SRP) funds a wide range of transdisciplinary research projects spanning the biomedical and environmental sciences and engineering, supporting and promoting the application of that research to solving real-world problems.Objectives:We used a case study approach to identify the economic and societal benefits of SRP-funded research, focusing on the use of potentially hazardous substance remediation and site monitoring tools. We also identified successes and challenges involved in translating SRP grantees’ research findings and advances into application.Discussion:We identified remediation and detection research projects supported by the SRP with the most potential for economic and societal benefits and selected 36 for analysis. To examine the benefits of these applied technologies, we interviewed 28 SRP-supported researchers and 41 partners. Five case studies emerged with the most complete information on cost savings—total savings estimated at . Our analysis identified added societal benefits such as creation of small businesses, land and water reuse, sustainable technologies, exposure reduction, and university–industry partnerships.Conclusions:Research funded by the SRP has yielded significant cost savings while providing additional societal benefits. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP3534

Diseño curricular basado en competencias para la modalidad abierta y a distancia: creación de la Maestría en Seguridad Alimentaria

El garantizar la seguridad alimentaria es un problema de talla mundial, por lo que surgió la necesidad de crear un programa educativo que coadyuvará en la generación y gestión del conocimiento en materia de seguridad alimentaria propiciando el involucramiento de los niveles intersectorial, gubernamental o privado y, sobre todo, generando proyectos de colaboración. Por ello, a partir de la investigación-acción se trabajó en el escenario de la Universidad Abierta y a Distancia (UnADM) la propuesta de un diseño curricular bajo el enfoque socioformativo por competencias para la Maestría en seguridad Alimentaria; empleándose como fuente de datos una amplia revisión bibliográfica y de otros documentos pertinentes, entrevistas abiertas, un registro anecdótico y la técnica de grupos de discusión. Se espera que la implementación de este diseño de currículo resulte en la capacitación de profesionales capaces de generar acciones para aliviar el hambre y promover el desarrollo rural.

Governance strategy for sustainable land management and water reuse: Challenges for transdisciplinary research

AbstractSustainability research often recommends the application of integrated and system‐based management approaches for overcoming complex problems of land and natural resource use. This paper poses four major governance challenges for sustainable land management as its point of departure: (i) fragmented knowledge and expertise, (ii) heterogeneous actors, (iii) institutional diversity and (iv) inadequate processes for coordination, adaptation and learning. Taking these challenges for conceptual orientation, we analyze a process for designing a governance strategy for treated wastewater uses. Drawing on a transdisciplinary research project that empirically explored the potential of water reuse in two case study regions in north‐east Germany, the paper reflects upon the project's experiences to arrive at practicable governance solutions. Our conclusions are intended to provide insights regarding challenges facing transdisciplinary research, acting on the science–policy–practice interface for dealing with such complex land and water management problems, and the coproduction of accepted governance solutions.

The art of co-production of knowledge in environmental sciences and management: lessons from international practice

This review paper addresses the challenging question of “how to” design and implement co-production of knowledge in climate science and other environmental and agricultural sciences. Based on a grounded theory review of nine (9) published case studies of transdisciplinary and collaborative research projects, the paper offers a set of common themes regarding specific components and processes for the design, implementation, and achievement of co-production of knowledge work, which represent the “Modus Operandi” of knowledge co-production. The analysis focuses on practical methodological guidance based on lessons from how different research teams have approached the challenges of complex collaborative research. We begin by identifying broad factors or actions that inhibit or facilitate the process, then highlight specific practices associated with co-production of knowledge and necessary competencies for undertaking co-production. We provide insights on issues such as the integration of social and professional cultures, gender and social equity, and power dynamics, and illustrate the different ways in which researchers have addressed these issues. By exploring the specific practices involved in knowledge co-production, this paper provides guidance to researchers on how to navigate different possibilities of the process of conducting transdisciplinary and co-production of knowledge research projects that best fit their research context, stakeholder needs, and research team capacities.

Interdisciplinarity in Transdisciplinary Projects: Circulating Knowledges, Practices and Effects

This article argues that the emphasis on solving substantive “real-world” problems through interdisciplinary research collaboration can neglect the wider value created by such collaborations. Championing the role of a knowledge integration and reflection facilitator, the article contends that more recognition be given to the value of “spillover” effects associated with interdisciplinary modes of working, rather than focusing solely on knowledge outputs and impacts. Drawing on embedded research conducted in relation to a project on local energy futures involving physicists, architects and geographers, the paper illustrates such “spillover” in relation to academic practice in teaching, project management and research methods. Such “spillovers” signal that what travels in interdisciplinary working is much more than formal knowledge and point to potential long-term legacy effects from interdisciplinary working occurring back in the disciplines.