News der Community

Umweltfreundliche Bekämpfung exotischer Mückenart mithilfe der Bevölkerung

Mit dem Sommer kommen die Stechmücken. Unter ihnen sind seit einigen Jahren auch exotische Arten, die verschiedene Krankheitserreger übertragen können. Dazu gehört die Asiatische Buschmücke, die sich inzwischen auch in Deutschland weit verbreitet hat. Um die exotische Mücke einzudämmen, wurden im Forschungsprojekt AJAP II umweltfreundliche Alternativen zu herkömmlichen Insektiziden entwickelt. Erste Forschungsergebnisse zeigen, dass die Bekämpfung auch ohne schädliche Insektizide gelingen kann und dass die Bereitschaft in der Bevölkerung, alternative Maßnahmen zu ergreifen, sehr hoch ist.

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Integration experts

The video of the webinar by Sabine Hoffman, Christine Hendren, Kristine Glauber, Gabriele Bammer, Julie Thompson Klein and Tobias Buser on “Global efforts in developing and promoting a new profession of integration experts and expertise in inter- and trans-disciplinary collaborative research” is now on the Integration and Implementation Sciences Youtube channel.

To the channel
To the video
To the notes

New free guidebook of 12 virtual event format "recipes"

If you’re regularly convening online meetings and events, you may find this latest free-to-download guidebook helpful. In it, members of the community of practice at the Center for Scientific Collaboration and Community Engagement (CSCCE) detail 12 different virtual event format “recipes” - from ice breakers and demos to plenary sessions, virtual co-working and collaborative sprints.

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Durchbruch bei Verhandlungen mit Grossverlagen

Seit 2018 haben die Hochschulbibliotheken und swissuniversities mit den drei grössten Wissenschaftsverlagen Elsevier, Springer Nature und Wiley verhandelt. Seit 2020 ist auch der SNF beteiligt. Die Hochschulen wollten die bisherigen Vereinbarungen im Sinne der Nationalen Open-Access-Strategie weiterentwickeln.

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Evolution of the science of team science in the last decade

Evolution of the science of team science in the last decade is described by Ying Huang, Ruinan Li, Yashan Li und Lin Zhang (also in Chinese). Five key topics are: 1) measurement & evaluation of team science, 2) institutional support & professional development for teams, 3) characteristics & dynamics of teams, 4) team management & organization, 5) team structure & context. Over time there are more connection between topics & less isolated topics. What key trends in the evolution of the field have you experienced? What new emerging topics do you predict for the science of team science?

To the blog

Intereach webinar video on Integration Experts now available

The video of the webinar on “Global efforts in developing and promoting a new profession of integration experts and expertise in inter- and trans-disciplinary collaborative research” is now on the Integration and Implementation Sciences Youtube channel.

To the video

Sommer- Kulturprogramm 2020

Kulturprogramm an der Grenze vom Waldviertel im Norden Österreichs mit Tschechisch Canada am kulturellen Brennpunkt Fratres-Slavonice:Die Kulturbrücke Fratres hat auch für dieses Jahr wieder ein vielfältiges Programm mit spezifischen Thementagen und internationaler Beteiligung erstellt. Einen neuen Fokus bildet der Tag der nächsten Generation am 29. August 2020.

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Sustainability in Europe through transdisciplinary research

Tackling today’s societal challenges requires transdisciplinary approaches in research among all European countries and the joint engagement of academic and non-academic actors for the co-production of knowledge and its effective implementation. Fostering such systemic changes also need adaptions at the policy level and by research funding agencies. These are the main messages from an event with speakers from Switzerland, the OECD and Sweden, organised by the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences and SwissCore, and held at the Swiss Mission to the EU in Brussels on 5 February. 

To the event report

Corona-Pandemie verändert Mobilitätsverhalten

Die neue Studie MOBICOR zur Mobilität während des Lockdowns zeigt erste Ergebnisse. Die MOBICOR-Studie befasst sich mit den Nachhaltigkeits-Auswirkungen des durch die Corona-Pandemie verursachten Mobilitätsverhaltens. Dabei wird über einen dreijährigen Zeitraum ein Vergleich zur Situation vor, während und nach der Corona-Pandemie erfasst. 

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Gesellschaftliche Zukunftsvorstellungen von Nachhaltigkeitstransformationen

Das vom Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung geförderte Projekt "Governance of Sociotechnical Transformations (GoST)" analysiert Unterschiede in den gesellschaftlichen Zukunftsvorstellungen von Nachhaltigkeitstransformationen in verschiedenen Sektoren (Landwirtschaft, Energie, Digitalisierung von Städten) und Länderkontexten. Es untersucht, woher transformative Ideen kommen, wie sie sich in der Praxis entwickeln und in effektive Politik umsetzen lassen.
Auch die COVID-19-Pandemie stellt für das GoST-Projekt einen Reflexions- und Untersuchungsgegenstand dar. Lesen Sie dazu das Interview: "Schützt uns die "Deutsche Angst" in Krisenzeiten?"

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Erinnerungen und Geschichten aus der Corona-Zeit austauschen und aufbewahren

Der Ausbruch des Coronavirus hat das Leben der Schweizerinnen und Schweizer in vielerlei Hinsicht abrupt verändert – doch zunehmend wird der Ausnahmezustand zum Alltag. Die digitale Gedächtnisdatenbank corona-memory.ch will diese aussergewöhnliche Zeit dokumentieren und der Öffentlichkeit eine nationale, partizipative Plattform bieten, um Erfahrungen, Geschichten und Erinnerungen auszutauschen.
Corona-memory.ch ist für alle offen - weitere Beiträge sind willkommen!

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RAD AB, SCHRAUBE LOCKER mit eigener Webseite

Neben der Wanderausstellung gibt es nun auch eine online Ausstellung - mit allen Werkzeugen und Anwendungsfeldern. Greifen Sie zu - nehmen Sie ein Werkzeug und demontieren Technik und Gesellschaft - Sie werden überrascht sein, was alles zu Tage tritt.

Zu der Website

Berner Waldameiseninventar

Die Ameisen sind bedroht und stehen deshalb schon seit mehr als 50 Jahren unter Schutz. Trotzdem ist noch wenig darüber bekannt, wo die Insekten leben. Im Rahmen der Projekts «Berner Waldameiseninventar» sollen in den nächsten drei Jahren möglichst viele Standorte von Waldameisen-Hügeln gesammelt und kartografiert werden – und zwar mit Hilfe der Bevölkerung: Wer beim Waldspaziergang einen Ameisenhaufen findet, kann die Beobachtung dem Projektteam melden und so einen Beitrag an die Forschung leisten.

Weitere Informationen

Launch of the tdAcademy platform: Research to solve social problems and crises is strengthened

The need for transdisciplinary research is growing. At the same time, structures and places for the further development and dissemination of transdisciplinary methods, concepts and competencies are lacking both in research and teaching. This gap is now to be closed by the foundation of an academy for transdisciplinary research.
The founding partners: ISOE – Institute for Social-Ecological Research, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Zentrum Technik und Gessellschaft in Berlin and the Oeko-Institut.

Further information

Transdisciplinary Research Partnerships for Social and Ecological Sustainability

The tdresearch website is being built for helping scholars to access succesful transdisciplinary projects. On the website information on transdisciplinary research for sustainability transformations, access to short videos and a wealth of documents and literature on transdisciplinary research projects can be found. You can also find information about the TdLab winter school.
It contains also a short video made at ETH with M Stauffacher and Ch. Pohl talking about the TdLab winter school.

To the website

Klimaschutz im Quartier für Identifikation, Partizipation und Zukunftsfähigkeit

Wie kann Klimaschutz in einer Stadt wie Hamburg aussehen? Was ist dabei den Bewohnerinnen und Bewohnern wichtig? Lassen sich Stadtentwicklung, Klimaschutz und Lebensqualität miteinander verbinden? Wie lässt sich unser Alltagshandeln ressourcenschonender gestalten? Diesen Fragen ist das Projektteam von "Climate Smart City Hamburg | Klimafreundliches Lokstedt" drei Jahre lang nachgegangen. In den Themen der Haushaltsenergie, Mobilität und Abfallwirtschaft wurde zusammen mit Bewohnerinnen und Bewohnern vor Ort in partizipativen Formaten überlegt, wie eine zukünftige klimaschützende Entwicklung aussehen könnte und welche kleinen und großen Veränderungen es braucht. Ergebnisse, Klimaschutz-Ideen und Erkenntnisse sind in der öffentlichen Broschüre "Klimaschutz im Quartier. Neue Ideen aus Lokstedt" zusammengefasst.

Zur Broschüre
Mehr zum Projekt

A heuristic framework for reflecting on joint problem framing

A framework for joint problem framing is described by BinBin Pearce and Olivier Ejderyan in their blog post. It 1) contains guiding questions, assessment of answers, identification of surprises & lessons learnt, 2) addresses plurality of perspectives & interests, access to knowledge, unstructured information, dynamic change, unforeseen challenges, and 3) addresses quality of interactions, knowing & accessing methods, availability of resources for fostering collaborations.

To the blog

Tips for how to make online workshops productive, engaging & caring

Tips for how to make online workshops productive, engaging & caring are shared by the 20-member Care Operative. They include: 1) create an agenda that allows everyone to maintain creative energy & take breaks, 2) start with a check-in, make sure everyone gets a chance to speak, use a facilitator if possible, 3) use a structured decision-making process to ensure conversations move forward, 4) create a ‘virtual fridge’ to ensure good ideas that there’s no time to discuss aren’t lost, 5) compile a shared to-do list & socialise at end of workshop.

To the blog

Issues in Interdisciplinary Studies

Founded in 1982, it is an international, peer-reviewed publication of the Association for Interdisciplinary Studies, dedicated to advancing the theory and practice of the many varieties of interdisciplinarity in the academy and in society at large.

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The Laws and Ethics of Algorithmic Bias in Healthcare

The Center of Advanced Studies in Biomedical Innovation Law (CeBIL) and the Department of Computer Science (DIKU) and its Quality of Life Technologies Lab are excited to announce that their research proposal on AI@CARE: Laws and Ethics and Algorithmic Bias in Healthcare has been awarded funding from the UCPH Data+ pool.

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Message from the Editor-in-Chief
Prof. Dr. Basarab Nicolescu

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Transdisciplinary Journal of Engineering & Science (TJES). As one of the first transdisciplinary journal in the field, TJES was founded and launched in January 2010 as a new forum for the important discoveries resulting from transdisciplinary research and education. TJES is an international Open Access journal published by the Academy of Transdisciplinary Learning & Advanced Studies (ATLAS) with its mission focused on reporting high quality and novel scientific advancements in the field of transdisciplinary research & education. Now, TJES has Digital Object Identifier (DOI) issued by CrossRef to increase the visibility of the TJES published work. TJES is indexed by Google Scholar and also DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals). TJES is an Open Access Journal free for readers and with no article processing charges (APC) paid by authors or their institutions. The cost of the publications is subsidized by the ATLAS George Kozmetsky Endowment (GKE).

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Andere Wege für die Friedensförderung - r4d-Programm

Mit dem r4d-Programm (Swiss Programme for Research on Global Issues for Development) unterstützen die Direktion für Entwicklung und Zusammenarbeit (DEZA) und der SNF gemeinsam transnationale Partnerschaften von Schweizer Forschenden mit Ländern in Afrika, Asien und Lateinamerika, die gemeinsam Forschung zu globalen Fragen durchführen. 
Soziale Ungleichheiten führen häufig zu Konflikten. Resultate des r4d-Programms kombinieren wissenschaftliches Wissen und persönliche Konflikterfahrungen. Die Synthesen schaffen Erkenntnisse für die Entwicklungspolitik. Zwischen 2012 und 2022 stehen fast 98 Millionen Franken bereit. 57 Projekte vernetzen über 290 Beitragsempfängerinnen und -empfänger und ihre Forschungsgruppen in 50 Ländern. 13 Syntheseprojekte generieren projektübergreifende Erkenntnisse.

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Das r4d-Programm

May/June i2S News

The 50th edition just got published! The May/June i2S News features three stakeholder engagement tools, an updated video on making social change more effective, the journal Policy and Politics, and the UK Systems Society.

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Wie wirkt transdisziplinäre Nachhaltigkeitsforschung?

Das Forschungsprojekt „TransImpact – Wirkungsvolle transdisziplinäre Forschung. Analyse und Transfer von Standards für transdisziplinäre Forschung" wird vom Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) im Förderschwerpunkt Sozial-ökologische Forschung gefördert und gibt ein Sonderheft der Zeitschrift Environmental Science & Policy heraus.
Wie wirkt transdisziplinäre Forschung? Transdisziplinäre Forschung kann – etwa in der Nachhaltigkeitsforschung – die Lösung komplexer gesellschaftlicher Probleme gezielt unterstützen. Denn transdisziplinäre Forschung öffnet sich, über Disziplingrenzen hinweg, auch für Erfahrungs- und Alltagswissen und erweitert mit diesem speziellen, aber nicht wissenschaftlichen Wissen den Erkenntnisprozess. Wie aber kann die transdisziplinäre Forschung ihre gesellschaftliche Wirkung optimal entfalten? Zu dieser Thematik ist nun eine Sonderausgabe der Zeitschrift Environmental Science & Policy erschienen.

Zur Sonderausgabe
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Knowledge mapping for interdisciplinarity

Is described by Steven Wallis and Bernadette Wright in their blog post. Providing a common language of measurement & causality means valuable studies are not missed. Key steps are 1) use information from a variety of sources & of many types, 2) find key concepts, identify causal relationships & map them as boxes & arrows, 3) collaborate with scholars from other disciplines & practitioners to merge their maps with yours, 4) use this more complete picture to support effective action.

To the blog

SHAPE-ID Policy Brief and Reports Now Available

The SHAPE-ID project (Shaping Interdisciplinary Practices in Europe) has recently published its final reports from a systematic review of academic and policy literature on understandings of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research and the factors that help or hinder it, complemented by a survey with inter- and transdisciplinary researchers on European projects and interviews with policy makers. A Policy Brief distils the most relevant implications and recommendations from this work for policy makers.

All reports are available here.

Increased patient involvement and lasting networks in clinical research

The Swiss Clinical Trial Organisation (SCTO) is part of a dynamic environment. Profound changes are reshaping clinical research not only in Switzerland but around the globe, and these changes are creating new trends and opening up new opportunities. In response to these changes, the SCTO has set the following two strategic priorities for the upcoming 2021–2024 performance period:

• active patient involvement in clinical research and
• increased and longer-lasting collaboration between all parties involved in clinical research

Questions to catalyse collaborations

How to ignite collaborative discovery using 5 questions is discussed by Yulia Strekalova and Wayne McCormack in their blog post.
1) What personal expertise & interests are represented in the room? 2) What resources are available and can be freely shared? 3) What opportunities for collaboration emerge? 4) What are the Big Easy collaborative opportunities? 5) What specific small action will take place in the next 14-30 days?

To the blog

Strategic Storytelling in TD-Research Projects

Communication is key for the successful positioning of ideas, innovations or projects. This is particularly true in TD-Research Projects which normally involve actors with different backgrounds, disciplines and interests (research, practical). Strategic storytelling is key for successful communication. Therefore, it makes sense to accompany TD-Research Projects with a storytelling approach.
Strategic storytelling comprises three elements:
1. Creating Identity with a good “key story”: Why is this research important? Where does it want to make a difference? The story must be told by the project director.
2. Short “success stories”, illustrating what needs to be seen more of, to bring the “key story” to fly: good photos, video clips, short stories
3. Capacity in the project for storytelling. Collaborators must have a basic understanding of why stories matter. Key staff must be able to tell stories in PTT presentations. If there is a budget: a good communication team.
Besides positioning ideas, innovations or projects, storytelling has many more advantages. Stories win people, support behavioral change, or transport tacit knowledge (what works, what doesn’t). They are particularly suited to communicate complex realities.

Go to the webpage or contact Dr. Pierre Walther

Transdisciplinary frameworks

9 frameworks for transdisciplinary resarch are described in this blogpost. Choose what’s most suitable for your problem from 1) guiding principles, 2) distinguishing & integrating scientific & societal processes, 3) focus on research outcomes, 4) taking a systems approach, 5) knowledge co-production, 6) context influencing uptake of research into policy, 7) essential processes for transformational change 8) necessary expertise, 9) helping decision makers work with relevant experts & stakeholders.

To the blog

Investment in transdisciplinary research and training for future generations of African scientists is crucial to advancing sustainable development in African cities

The report ‘Advancing the 2030 Agenda in African cities through knowledge co-production’, sheds light on what it takes to co-produce urban knowledge through transdisciplinary (TD) research across different scientific disciplines and with societal actors.
It has been drafted by a team of early-career African scientists funded through the Leading Integrated Research for Agenda 2030 in Africa programme (LIRA2030), which is run by the ISC together with the Network of African Science Academies (NASAC) and with the financial support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

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Story Completion exercices: An idea worth borrowing?

Story Completion is a qualitative research method. First developed by psychologists, it was subsequently re-conceptualised as a valuable method of accessing and investigating social discourses. Story completion is a useful tool for accessing meaning-making around a particular topic of interest. It is particularly useful for exploring (dominant) assumptions about a topic. This type of research can be framed as exploring either perceptions and understandings or social/discursive constructions of a topic. Story Completion could be useful for monitoring and evaluation purposes. They are a good way of identifying different stakeholders views oft he possible consequences of an intervention.

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How to find existing expertise in research integration & implementation for tackling complex problems

How to find existing expertise in research integration & implementation is discussed in this blog post. Build on what’s been learnt in #interdisciplinarity, #systemsthinking, #actionresearch, #SciTS and more. Combine fragments from case-based experience in multiple projects eg collaboration tools and policy influence tools.

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Neue Internetseite

Die neue Webseite siedlungsnatur.ch ist dem gemeinsamen Projekt des Forums Biodiversität Schweiz, Natur Umwelt Wissen und scaling4good gewidmet. Mehr, naturnahe und vernetzte Grünräume im Siedlungsraum und gleichzeitig eine verbesserte Lebensqualität der Menschen – das sind die Ziele des Projekts «Siedlungsnatur gemeinsam gestalten». Zusammen mit unseren Projektpartnern fördern wir die Biodiversität in Wohn- und Arbeitsumgebungen sowie in öffentlichen Grünflächen. Dies nützt auch den Menschen, denn so entstehen mehr Begegnungs- und Bewegungsräume, ein angenehmes Stadtklima und mehr Natur vor der Haustüre, die zum Staunen, Beobachten und Erholen einlädt.

SHAPE-ID April Newsletter Available

The Horizon 2020 funded SHAPE-ID project has just entered its second year and another newsletter in April has been published, with updates from the past six months of the project. In the past six months the project group has been busy carrying out a literature review, conducting a survey and organising the first three of their six learning case workshops. This edition includes information and key insights from the workshops that took place in December, January and February, and highlights from the preliminary report on their literature review, as well as an update on events they have attended and links to some interesting resources and publications.

To the newsletter

Co-designing context-specific interventions with local stakeholders

Co-designing context-specific interventions with local stakeholders is described by David Lam in his blog post. Three key principles are: 1) Explore existing and envisioned initiatives fostering change towards the desired, 2) Frame the intervention strategy to bridge the gap between the present state and desired future state(s), building on, strengthening and complementing existing initiatives, 3) Identify drivers, barriers and potential leverage points for how to accelerate progress towards the desired vision.

To the blog

New Platform for Citizen Science Launched

THE EU-Citizen.Science - an online platform for sharing knowledge, tools, training and resources for citizen science – aims to foster the mainstreaming of citizen science, and builds on the growing impact of citizens participating in research and innovation. Amongst others, it offers an overview of citizen science projects. Interested stakeholders may also add their own initiatives.

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Nationale Strategie zu offenen Forschungsdaten

Wissenschaft, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft brauchen den freien Zugriff auf Forschungsdaten. 2021 soll eine nationale Open-Research-Data-Strategie in Kraft treten. Dies haben das SBFI, swissuniversities, der SNF und die beiden ETH vereinbart.

SNF-Webseite zu offenen Forschungsdaten
swissuniversitites

Crowdfunding für die Wissenschaft

Die Crowdfunding-Plattform "wemakeit" bietet Forschenden seit 2017 die Möglichkeit, Projekte dank Spenden von Privaten zu verwirklichen. Im Januar 2017 startete die Crowdfunding-Plattform den Kanal Science Booster mit dem Ziel, herauszufinden, ob die Öffentlichkeit interessiert ist, Forscherinnen und Forscher aus der akademischen Welt finanziell zu unterstützen und als Gegenleistung mehr über deren Arbeit zu erfahren. Nach 3 Jahren zeigt sich ein deutlicher Erfolg.

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Transdisciplinary Sustainability Research – Linking research processes and outputs to societal effects

Transdisciplinary research – for instance within sustainability research – can provide targeted support for the solution of complex societal problems. This is possible as transdisciplinary research includes knowledge gained from experience and from everyday life and thus expands the cognitive process incorporating this specific yet not scientific information.
Now the question arises which is the best way for transdisciplinary research to advance its societal effects? A newly published special issue of the journal ‘Environmental Science & Policy’ is dealing with the topic in general and particularly addresses this question.  

To the articles of the special issue

Förderprogramm SWEET

«SWiss Energy research for the Energy Transition» - kurz SWEET - ist ein neues Förderprogramm des Bundesamts für Energie (BFE) für die Jahre 2021 bis 2032. Ziel von SWEET ist die Förderung von Innovationen, die zur erfolgreichen Umsetzung der Energiestrategie 2050 und der Erreichung der Schweizer Klimaziele nötig sind. Ergänzend zu bestehenden Förderprogrammen richtet sich SWEET gezielt an Konsortien, die über mehrere Jahre an trans- und interdisziplinären Projekten arbeiten. Erwünscht ist insbesondere die Zusammenarbeit zwischen Forschungseinrichtungen, Privatwirtschaft und öffentlicher Hand.

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Mountain Research and Development Vol 39, No 3 available now

Papers explore ways of supporting girls’ education in rural Nepal; forest fires on the slopes of Mount Kenya; how commercial medicinal plant collection improves high-altitude livelihoods and how forest use practices impact landscape hydrology, both in Nepal; and how snow affects landslide vegetation patterns in Japan. Two more propose a multiscale transdisciplinary framework for advancing sustainability in mountain agriculture and a strategy for integrated biodiversity monitoring in high mountain ecosystems.

The issue is available online and open access here

Lessons for improving interdisciplinary collaborations

What lessons for improving interdisciplinary collaborations emerged from the 2019 Science of Team Science conference are described by Julie Thompson Klein and Ben Miller in their blog post. They include: Partnering with communities from the beginning is crucial for creating agreement on goals, outcomes, & rewards, in the process building trust while identifying touch points tailoring messages sensitive to cultural differences, and Structured decision-making encourages value-focused thinking for finding solutions and maximizing objectives, while decomposing a problem into manageable chunks and fostering transparency in decision-making.

To the blog

New resources for effective collaboration

New resources for effective collaboration are presented by Gary Olson, Judy Olson, Dan Stokols and Maritza Salazar Campo in their blog post. They help capitalise on the benefits of team work (access to broader expertise, access to more resources, creation of synergies, ability to build on past success, expanded funding opportunities) and overcome the challenges (1) conflicting goals, 2) different work styles, 3) ambiguous criteria for assigning credit for work, 4) contested control of resources, 5) lack of common ground, 6) lack of effective leadership, 7) hidden distribution of funds, 8) miscommunication, 9) loss of trust, 10) lack of tools to support the collaboration, 11) daunting size or scale of the team, 12) geographic distribution, 13) difficulties in decision making 14) unclear process for updating goals 15) institutional barriers, e.g., promotion & tenure policies, credit issues.

To the blog

March/April News

The March/April i2S News is out, featuring two stakeholder engagement tools, a tool for assessing values, two videos on systems thinking, the Journal of Science Communication, the Network of Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Research Organisations (NITRO) – Oceania, plus date changes for some key conferences.

To the website

Latest contributions

Interested in developing a richer assessment of research influence and impact? Or strategies to deal with forced hostile collaborations? How about eight grand challenges in socio-environmental systems modelling? Or how to effectively including online participants in onsite meetings?

To the blog

Providing a richer assessment of research influence and impact

How capturing diversity in researcher influence & impact is essential for effective interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research is explored in this blog post. Reflective narratives on Julie Thompson Klein's work highlight the richness and range of individual contributions and the need to reward individual strenghts. Using reflective narrative requires attention to 1) contributor selection and 2) synthesis methods.

To the blog

Challenge-Led Research Practices

Bristol University Press is announcing their new subject collection on Challenge-Led Research Practices, led by Philippa Grand, Publisher for Research Methods and Practices.
Research practices are fast evolving. The rise of interdisciplinarity, the popularity of co-produced research, the ever-increasing importance of impact and the decolonial turn present challenges to traditional approaches to research and provide innovative and pioneering new methods and theories with which to address the challenges of the 21st century.
The Bristol University Press aims to become a home for work that explores these new research practices, their value to society and how they are evolving.

Go to the  Transforming research blog
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News from the Assembly 2020

The Sustainable Develoment Solutions Network (SDSN) Switzerland mobilizes universities, research centres, civil society organizations, business and other knowledge centers to create and implement transformative solutions to achieve the Agenda 2030 and Paris Agreement in Switzerland and beyond. Congratulations to Janet Hering to her election as co-Chair of SDSN Switzerland at the General Assemly in February.

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Forced hostile collaborations

And how to avoid them by identifying an acceptable alternative is described by Kristine Lund in this blogpost. Key points are 1) figure out the motivations and constraints of those forcing the collaboration, 2) play to your strengths and find an alternative research niche where the hostile partner is not a major player, 3) find an equally good or better partner in the alternative research niche, 4) keep lines of communication open with those forcing the collaboration, 5) use the new partner to attract new powerful supporters.

To the blog

Transdisciplinarity Research Partnerships

The channel shows a series of short video's on promoting ecological transition through transdisciplinary research. Researchers, citizens and stakeholders discuss key methods and design principles of inspiring transition research.The channel will show a series of short video's on promoting ecological transition through transdisciplinary research. Researchers, citizens and stakeholders discuss key methods and design principles of inspiring transition research.

To the channel
To the accompanying website

How to include online participants in onsite meetings

See the new blog post to find out how to include onlie participants in onsite meetings.

To the blog

SNF ermöglicht flexible Lösungen für Forschende

Die Covid-19-Pandemie beeinträchtigt die Forschung. Der SNF unterstützt die Forschenden wo immer möglich. In der Projektförderung verschiebt er den Termin für die Eingabe von Gesuchen auf den 8. April 2020.

Weiter

Nachhaltiger Konsum zum Zweiten

Konsum ist ein wesentlicher Teil unseres Lebens. Das Spektrum reicht von Lebensmitteln bis hin zu Luxusartikeln. Auch Wohnen und mobil sein bedeutet konsumieren. Dabei strapazieren wir die ökologische Tragfähigkeit unseres Planeten. Den meisten ist die Notwendigkeit, Konsum künftig nachhaltiger zu gestalten, bewusst. Doch wie geht das konkret? Hier sind nicht nur Verbraucherinnen und Verbraucher – hier ist die ganze Gesellschaft, also auch die Unternehmen und die Politik gefragt. An innovativen Lösungen forscht das deutsche Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung.

Weiterlesen

Nachhaltiger Konsum zum Ersten

Seit November 2019 läuft das transdisziplinäre Forschungsprojekt, das das Forschungsinstitut für biologischen Landbau FiBL gemeinsam mit dem Ernährungsforum Zürich und der Stadt Zürich entwickelt hat. Die Stadt Zürich setzt sich im Rahmen ihrer Zuständigkeiten für die Förderung der umweltschonenden Ernährung und die Information über den Einfluss der Ernährung auf das globale Klima ein. Das Ernährungsforum Zürich will erreichen, dass der Handlungsspielraum auf lokaler Ebene zur Förderung des Konsums von nachhaltigen Lebensmitteln besser genutzt wird. Vor diesem Hintergrund wird eine Übersicht über die aktuelle Lebensmittelversorgung in Zürich erstellt. Darauf basierend werden die Potenziale zur Verbesserung der Nachhaltigkeit des städtischen Ernährungssystems in Bezug auf den Konsum regionaler Produkte analysiert und aufgezeigt. Einbezogen in die Datenerhebung und –auswertung sind auch Studierende der Umweltnaturwissenschaften der ETH.

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Altersfreundliche Umgebungen schaffen

Mit dem Jahr 2020 begann die «Decade of Healthy Ageing». So lautet der Name einer Kampagne der Weltgesundheitsorganisation (WHO), die das Ziel verfolgt, Akteure aus Politik, Wissenschaft, Zivilgesellschaft und Medien zusammenzubringen, um während zehn Jahren an der Verbesserung der Lebensqualität von älteren Menschen zu arbeiten.
Die Studie «Altersfreundliche Umgebungen in der Schweiz», erschienen Ende Januar im Auftrag der «a+ Swiss Platform Ageing Society», liefert erstmals eine gesamtschweizerische Bestandsaufnahme zur strategischen Altersarbeit in den Schweizer Gemeinden.

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New contributions to the blog

Are you interested in how to make power relations more equal in transdisciplinary research by decentering academia through critical unlearning? Or a guiding framework for transdisciplinary action research? How about facilitating serendipity? You can also find out more about how resilience can benefit from planning, how unknown unknowns aid creativity, and how theory U can help embrace unknown unknowns.

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New guidelines to conflict sensitive research

Doing research in conflict contexts is crucial. But how do you best conduct research in conflict-affected contexts? These guidelines are designed for all levels of researchers – from research student to professor – who conduct research in settings that are conflict-affected.
Adopting a conflict sensitive approach to research helps to understand the interaction of research with multiple layers of overt or latent conflicts. The interaction of research and conflict context effects what is being researched, how research is carried out, and the knowledge that is thus produced.

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Understanding and Managing Different Intellectual Personalities on Scientific Teams

The webinar by Kevin Weinfurt is on the Integration and Implementation Sciences Youtube channel.

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Key requirements for interdisciplinary research

Key requirements for interdisciplinary research are described by Catherine Lyall in her new blog post. They include: 1) informal interactions, especially time & space for frequent sustained discussions with colleagues to see what shared interests might arise, 2) communal spaces & informal meeting points where accidental relationships can form & be nurtured, 3) enduring personal networks across a breadth of groups to spawn new ideas and 4) extra time to build & sustain relationships, learn new concepts, access new literature, fail, think.

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SHAPE-ID Preliminary Results of Literature Review Now Available

SHAPE-ID is an EU-funded project addressing the challenge of improving inter- and transdisciplinary cooperation between the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) and other Sciences, particularly Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM) disciplines.
One of SHAPE-ID’s first objectives is to identify, through an evidence-scanning exercise drawing on existing work, the different understandings and factors that help or hinder interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research (IDR and TDR) within and between AHSS and STEMM. To do this, our team is currently undertaking an extensive systematic literature review. This work is currently in progress and will conclude in March 2020.
The preliminary findings of the literature review to date are discussed in our latest blog post and the report can be here.

Who is part of the interreach community?

The Co-Chairs of Intereach, Kristine Glauber and Christine Hendren, are hoping to collect some basic information about the members of their Community of Practice to better understand who you are and what you are looking for from the group. To this end, they are askig you to take a few minutes to answer a few questions by following this link to a short survey. They think this is a great opportunity to gain some valuable insight into the group, which has seen tremendous growth in the past year.

Foundation of Wyss Academy for Nature at University of Bern

The Wyss Academy for Nature is a transformation-focussed centre that aims to improve nature conservation in line with needs for economic and social development. Emphasizing innovation, it will engage directly with civil society, policymakers, and the private sector in four regions around the world. The Wyss Academy for Nature will be supported by the Wyss Foundation, the University of Bern, the Canton of Bern, and further funding partners over a period of ten years.
Through our collaboration with the Wyss Academy for Nature, CDE believes to strengthen its existing activities in research, teaching, and policy dialogue. They are convinced that this initiative will create new opportunities to further deepen our existing cooperation with you in the years to come.

Video of webinar on "Careers in team science facilitation" online

If you have missed the webinar by Carrie Kappel on "Careers in team science facilitation", you can find it on the Integration and Implementation Sciences Youtube channel in the playlist called "Team Science.

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7 motivations for becoming transdisciplinary

They are a desire to 1) improve society, 2) act on real-world problems, 3) make a difference, 4) bring together theory & practice, 5) move beyond disciplines, 6) be transgressive & take risks, 7) connect across many research interests & fields. Transdisciplinary career paths are affected by: 1) need for disciplinary excellence, 2) lack of effective supervision & mentorship, 3) lack of recognition 4) lack of opportunities to progress. Does transdisciplinarity need a new discipline or other formalisation? Or would this threaten the inherent openness of transdisciplinarity to other disciplines?

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Neues Karriereförderungsinstrument

Im Rahmen eines einjährigen Pilotprojekts will der SNF mit Practice–to–Science-Beiträgen die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit der anwendungsorientierten Forschung fördern. Die Beiträge richten sich an Expertinnen und Experten mit ausgewiesener Praxiserfahrung, die als Assistenzprofessorin/-professor an eine Fachhochschule oder Pädagogische Hochschule zurückkehren möchten. Es handelt sich um befristete Anstellungen mit Qualifikations- bzw. Entfristungsmöglichkeit. Die erste Ausschreibung von Practice-to-Science erfolgt Mitte Januar 2020.

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5 questions to assess power relations in participatory research

These five questions are: 1) Are there differences in compensation for being involved in the research? : 2) Is full participation of all community members possible? 3) Are there systemic injustices? 4) Do participants perceive power relations as equal? 5) Is there potential conflict between reciprocity and not contaminating the research?

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Die Nachhaltigkeitsforschung in der Schweiz stärken

Geht es so weiter, werden die Ziele für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung der Uno verfehlt. In der Kritik steht auch die Wissenschaft. Es brauche mehr lösungsorientierte Forschung, fordert der erste Weltnachhaltigkeitsbericht. Eine Initiative der SCNAT will deshalb die Nachhaltigkeitsforschung in der Schweiz stärken.

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10 tips for effective interdisciplinarity

10 tips for effective interdisciplinarity are described by Rachel Kelly in her blog post: 1) develop an area of expertise to shape your identity, 2) learn new languages outside your discipline, 3) be open-minded about collaborations & ways of doing things, 4) be patient & allocate time for learning & reflection, 5) embrace complexity & contributions of others, 6) collaborate widely (& ditch your ego), 7) push your boundaries beyond your comfort zone 8) decide if interdisciplinarity is really for you, - and for leaders 9) foster interdisciplinary culture, 10) champion interdisciplinary researchers.

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Training in sustainability and transformation research

The Postdoc Academy for Transformational Leadership is designed to train the next generation of leaders in sustainability and transformation research. It provides an intensive high-end training with four seminars in two years that broaden the research competencies of postdocs and promote their qualifications towards transdisciplinary leadership. The program also offers seed funding (e.g. for stakeholder meetings or proposal writing activities) to small groups of participants, who plan to initiate research collaborations. Furthermore, an active network of current and former participants of the program will be established.

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Choose smarter, not harder

Technological readiness is key to team science success, but as available technologies evolve rapidly, it is difficult to identify and choose among the alternatives that would fit a team’s needs. A tool choosing website named Capterra can help. Their extensive inventory of software is well documented along many dimensions such as price, industry, number of users, and integrated functions.

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New contribution

The video of the webinar by Victoria Lowerson Bredow and Constance McGuire on Community-based Research in Team Science is now on the Integration and Implementation Sciences Youtube channel.

Global Network founded: ITD-Alliance

International networking in inter- and transdisciplinarity takes a new dimension since the ITD conference 2019 in Gothenburg, Sweden: the international ITD-Alliance is officially founded!

Endorsed by ISC | Find out more and become a member