News der Community
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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New contributions
Interested in how to use discomfort to prompt learning in collaborative teams? Or how to understand unknown unknowns, including managing dilemmas associated with innovation? How about using a cartoon video to achieve research impact or tips for interdisciplinary research?
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New videos on LIRA2030
Leading Integrated Research for Agenda 2030 (LIRA2030) in Africa, a transdisciplinary programme where td-net is involved in td-trainings and other capacity enhancement events, has produced an amazing set of videos on the programme and some of its projects.
Find out more
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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Sustainable University Day: 6. März 2020
Das Programm steht noch nicht definitiv, aber die Planung läuft. Und der Titel ist bereits bekannt: Für eine nachhaltigere Gesellschaft - Koordination und Verantwortlichkeiten. Reservieren Sie sich den Termin bereits jetzt!
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.
To the blog post
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.
More information
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.
To the website
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.
Video channel on transdisciplinary research projects
A research group at UCLouvain in Belgium has launched a series of short 5 min videos on inspiring transdisciplinary research projects for social and ecological transition. Every 2 weeks a new video will be added (8 in autumn and 8 in spring).
To the 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
New contributions to the i2Insights blog
Find out about 14 knowledge translation competencies and how to improve yours, as well as the benefits of learning from inter- and transdisciplinary research ‘failures’. In addition there’s a great overview of ‘why model’ and the challenges of accountability in adapting to surprises. See the latest contributions to the i2Insights blog.
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New issue of the i2S News
The July/August i2S News features a video on the role of games in decision making and change and updated tools on stakeholder participation and on assessing evidence. The News also provides information about the journal 'International Journal of Knowledge and Systems Sciences' plus four journal updates. Information is also provided on the professional association ‘International Council on Systems Engineering’.
Find out more
Neuer Blog zu "Ageing Society"
Mehr als 60 Partnerorganisationen gehören bereits zum Netzwerk. Die Plattform «Ageing Society» verfolgt das Ziel mit allen betroffenen Akteuren zur praktischen Umsetzung der von der WHO geförderten Anliegen von Gesundheit und Alter in der Schweiz beizutragen.
Seit Juni 2019 betreibt die Plattform einen eigenen Blog, der sich mit Initiativen in Bereichen wie der Heterogenität des Alters oder den Beziehungen zwischen den Generationen befasst.
Zum Blog
New Interreach Webinars online
The video of the webinar by the myRESEARCHnavigators team at Duke University Office of Research Initiatives is now on the Integration and Implementation Sciences Youtube channel. It is in a playlist called "Team Science".
Find out more: www.youtube.com/watch
"Open Science" - Chance für die Wissenschaft
Alle Forschungsresultate, die mit öffentlichen Geldern finanziert werden, sollen digital und kostenlos zugänglich sein. Dazu veröffentlichen Forschende ihre Resultate in frei zugänglichen Publikationen oder Datenbanken, d.h. per «Open Access» und «Open Data». Damit stehen Erkenntnisse aus der Forschung einer breiten Öffentlichkeit zur Verfügung und fördert den wissenschaftlichen Fortschritt.
In ihrem neuen Factsheet diskutieren die Akademien der Wissenschaften Schweiz die Chancen und Herausforderungen von «Open Access» und «Open Data». Das Video beleuchtet verschiedene Perspektiven zum Thema «Open Science».
Link zum Video
New playlists available
New Intereach webinars are online. You can find the video of the webinar by the myRESEARCHnavigators team at Duke University Office of Research Initiatives here. If you would like to find out more about "What can team science in research learn from the tech sector", please follow this link. And if you are interested in "Lessons for interdisciplinarity from natural history", this webinar might be for you. Or maybe you would like to learn more about "Intrapreneurship for academic researchers", then follow this link.
Learn from past project failures - and do better!
Dena Fam and Michael O'Rourke from University of Technology Sydney (UTS) are editing a book on failure in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary projects. They have created a survey that is designed to gain insight into experiences of failure in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary projects and how reasons for failure in these projects may differ from collaborative projects that do not cross disciplinary boundaries. A link to the short survey, "Learning through failure in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary projects" is available here. Survey
How to get started on research-policy engagement
Aparna Lal highlights how to learn to speak the policymakers' language, how to highlight resources policymakers may not be aware of and how to use the interaction to identify useful research questions. Furthermore, she hightlights how to be alert to ways of growing impact and how to embrace opportunities to expand partnerships.
Read more: i2Insights blog
New contribution to the i2I blog
Successful co-innovation in research is described using 5 principles by Helen Percy, James Taylor and Wendy Boyce. This requires: 1) involving partners & stakeholders to understand the problem & develop solutions together, 2) taking a problem focus rather than one research or stakeholder perspective & revisiting this throughout, 3) assembling & nurturing the right team, including system thinkers, facilitators, translators & brokers, 4) sharing results as they emerge to ensure they are meaningful to partners & stakeholders and 5) using the plan- do- observe- reflect- action learning cycle to maintain focus & adapt to changing circumstances & new opportunities. What has your experience been?
Read more: i2Insights blog
Towards a better future
Launching in September 2019 and aspiring to create a single platform uniting the natural, social, and applied sciences, One Earth is the home for high-quality single- and multi-disciplinary, as well as interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary, research that breaks down barriers and encourages collaboration in environmental change and sustainability science.
Find out more
Expertise in Integration and Implementation for Transformative Research
Palgrave Communications is hosting an open-access research article collection on Expertise in Integration and Implementation for Transformative Research and is calling for papers. Contributions are welcome until December 2020.
Read more
New contributions to the i2I blog
Interested in lessons for funding transformative research, how to influence policy with research, what makes government policy successful or understanding the groan zone in collaborations? How about what economics can teach about managing uncertainty in decision making, linking collective impact to the characteristics of open living systems or agent-based modelling for knowledge synthesis and decision support?
See the latest contributions to the i2Insights blog.
TD is going viral at the University of Technology in Sydney
At Australia’s University of Technology Sydney, transdisciplinarity is going exponential. The Institute for Sustainable Futures started the TD buzz more than 20 years ago, and in 2018 the Faculty of Transdisciplinary Innovation had its first Bachelor of Creative Intelligence and Innovation graduates. This year, TD is going viral, with a new, university-wide initiative to bring together TD enthusiasts from across the campus. It’s called ‘Ask the Fish’, in honour of our indigenous knowledge holders as the original transdisciplinarians.
At our first event, with more than 70 participants, we set our sights high, aiming to create ‘places of concentrated danger’ that stretch our institution and ourselves into new ways of being and doing as the graphic shows.
If you’d like to find out more, please contact Cynthia.Mitchell@uts.edu.au.
Last Horizon 2020 calls published
The European Commission has published the last Work Programmes and calls of Horizon 2020. Horizon 2020 is the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. It provides numerous opportunities for collaborative and transdisciplinary research. Switzerland is a fully associated country to Horizon 2020.
For more information do not hesitate to contact Euresearch.
About the new project SHAPE-ID
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 STEM and other disciplines. The project will examine best and poor practices in AHSS integration through a survey, extensive literature review and six learning case workshops with stakeholders, ultimately delivering a toolkit and recommendations to help policy makers, funders, universities and researchers achieve and better support impactful inter- and transdisciplinary research with meaningful AHSS integration.
Coordinator: Trinity College Dublin
Partners: ISINNOVA, ETH Zurich, the University of Edinburgh, IBL PAN and Jack Spaapen.
More information
Sign up to the project mailing list
i2S News
The March/April i2S News is now available. It features the dialogue tool ‘Nominal Group Technique’ and an update to the tool ‘Assessing evidence: Strengths and weaknesses of grading tools’. The News also provides information about the Journal of Simulation, the professional association ‘Global Implementation Society’ and the network ‘International Network for the Science of Team Science.’ Information is also provided on the upcoming 63rd Annual Meeting of the International Society for the Systems Sciences. These have all recently been added as resources to the Integration and Implementation Sciences website.
I2S News
Latest contributions to the i2Insights blog
Interested in how to improve transdisciplinary arts-science partnerships? Or in understanding incommensurability in interdisciplinary research? How about tips to build a research impact culture? Find out more about adaptive social learning for systemic leadership or why you need to be more savy about values and statistical significance.
See the latest contributions to the i2Insights blog
GAIA Masters Student Paper Award
Submission deadline: 4 November 2019
The international journal GAIA – Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society invites Masters students to participate in the GAIA Masters Student Paper Award. Masters students are encouraged to submit their results from research-based courses or Masters theses in the field of transdisciplinary environmental and sustainability science. The award is meant to honor research which holds relevance for important societal transformations and/or which has discovered new paths of inter- and transdisciplinary environmental or sustainability research.
More information
Manifesto of Interdisciplinarity
The purpose of this manifesto is to show that one consistent set of guiding principles provides compelling responses to diverse critiques of interdisciplinarity. The author, Rick Szostak, believes that advocates of interdisciplinarity need to achieve consensus about what interdisciplinarity is and how and why it is best pursued. These guiding principles simultaneously provide useful advice to the interdisciplinary researcher, teacher, program administrator, and student.
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Digital Data as Subject of Transdisciplinary Processes (DiDaT)
Initiated in October 2018, The DiDaT (Digital Data as Subject of Transdisciplinary Processes) project aims at identifying the most important challenges arising from the «interactions of ownership, economic value, use and access to digital data». Furthermore, it wants to make visible and to evaluate the multitude of societal effects and to develop strategies to enable individuals, businesses and other social systems to deal appropriately with these undesirable effects.
Read the first DiDaT-Newsletter
I2S News
The January/February i2S News is now available. It features ten key tips for policy impact, and how to understand and overcome confirmation bias for better decision making. It also provides information about the journal ‘Environmental Science and Policy’, as well as the Cybernetics Society. Information is also provided on five upcoming conferences, including ITD 2019 and the 2019 Transformations conference. These have all recently been added as resources to the Integration and Implementation Sciences website.
I2S News
AIS Call for proposal: Co-developing Special Sessions
From 24-26 October 2019, the Annual AIS Conference will be hosted by the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies (IIS) at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), The Netherlands. To be able to have different viewpoints from across the globe the conference organisers are reaching out to you to co-develop special sessions on themes like 'Unheard Voices: Integrating the arts in research on global topics' or 'Teaching Interdisciplinary Research'. To realise this they need your input with best practices, research examples, suggestions for panel members or innovative education methods. Click on the below videos of Prof. Valentina Mazzucato and Prof. Iris van der Tuin, to see what they are looking for and submit your suggestion or project by emailing to ais2019@uva.nl.
Videocall "Teaching Interdisciplinary Research"
Videocall "Unheard Voices"
Out of laboratories: Research Partnerships in a Changing World
KFPE produced a short film on transboundary research partnerships - 12’40” - it also shows the importance of transdisciplinary approaches. How have transboundary research partnerships evolved over the last decades and what are important milestones looking ahead into the future?
See the film
Transdisciplinary research: documentation for the ISOE Summer School
With the international Summer School “Brilliant Minds for Social-Ecological Transformations”, doctoral students of the ISOE – Institute for Social-Ecological Research (Germany) have developed a format that offers young academics from very different disciplines the opportunity to deal with the concepts, methods and the design options of transdisciplinary research. The documentation and recordings of the Summer School from 29 July to 3 August 2018 are available online.
See the documentation and videos
Interdisziplinäre Forschung: Neuausrichtung von Sinergia
Eingabetermine: 1. Juni und 1. Dezember.
Das Förderungsinstrument Sinergia des Schweizerischen Nationalfonds wurde neu ausgerichtet: Fortan werden damit wegweisende interdisziplinäre Projekte ("breakthrough research") finanziert.
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