Community news

Here you will find all the news of the last four months from the transdisciplinary community. The website is constantly updated. If you have any messages you would like to share, please do not hesitate to contact us.

31.05.2023  |  i2insights

An analytical framework for knowledge co-production

How can students and academics starting out in transdisciplinary research begin to come to grips with knowledge co-production? A useful analytical framework comprising the following four elements was developed:

1. typology of actor roles (who?)
2. research phases (when?)
3. objectives and forms of actor integration (why?)
4. types of knowledge (what?).

31.05.2023  |  MRD

Mountain Research and Development Vol 43, No 1 available online and open access

Articles in this open issue focus on a new interactive mudflow database for risk reduction in Kazakhstan, the economic benefits of a social innovation in a Swiss Alpine valley, the need to find a common language about empty houses to tackle rural depopulation in Bhutan, the effects of land use on local climate in Ecuador, what it takes to achieve a people-centered energy transition in the Andes and the Hindu Kush Himalaya, ICIMOD’s new strategy and action plan, and the appropriateness of the adjective “alpine” to broadly describe high-elevation ecosystems. The issue closes with an obituary of Pauline Ives, editor of MRD during the journal’s first 2 decades.

31.05.2023  |  Universität Zürich

Sonderausstellung der UZH: Künstliche Intelligenz im Dienste der Ökologie

Jede achte Spezies ist heute vom Aussterben bedroht. Dieser Biodiversitätsverlust ist eine riesige, globale Herausforderung. Mit der transdisziplinären Ausstellung BITS, BYTES & BIODIVERSITÄT thematisiert die Universität Zürich deshalb den Einsatz vielversprechender Technologien in der Ökologie, einem ihrer zentralen Forschungsgebiete. Es die erste Sonderausstellung im neueröffneten Nationalparkzentrum in Zernez. Indem sie Besucher:innen in aktuelle Forschungsprojekte eintauchen lässt, soll sie den Austausch zwischen Forschung und Öffentlichkeit fördern – und zu einem gemeinsamen Engagement für den Erhalt der globalen Biodiversität aufrufen.

Ausstellungsdauer: 4. Juni 2023 bis 9. März 2024 im Schweizerischen Nationalpark Zernez.

19.05.2023  |  i2insights

Lessons for strengthening community-university partnerships

Lessons for successful community-university partnerships are described by David Hart, Bridie McGreavy, Anthony Sutton, Gabrielle Hillyer and Darren Ranco in this blog post. They include using diversity to spur creativity to motivate problem solving; listening to a wide range of questions, concerns & stories; ongoing negotiation of differences, with eye on addressing unintended exclusions & unequal power; building trust; using students as vital connectors, destabilising usual power structures and learning “science as service”; shared search for answers, even if incomplete, along with humility, learning, creativity & experimentation; using boundary objects for shared focus, along with shared writing & mapping; persistence for the long haul.

19.05.23  |  OIS

Neue Webinarreihe zum Thema "Inklusion und Diversität"

Das LBG Open Innovation in Science Center startet Mitte Mai eine neue, mehrteilige Webinarserie: „OIS zam: Wie kann Inklusion gelingen?“ In dieser Veranstaltungsreihe widmet sich das LBG Open Innovation in Science Center der Frage, wie Diversität und Inklusion in partizipativen Forschungsprojekten umgesetzt werden können.

15.05.23  |  Mountain Research and Development

MRD Talk #03 | How can social innovations contribute to local mountain economies? Learnings from science and practice | Insights and recording available online

Social innovations can help revive mountain economies, including through alternative economic pathways. The panelists presented inspiring examples from Switzerland, Georgia, Nepal, and Ecuador, and offered recommendations on how to best promote social innovations for the benefit of mountain economies. A recording of the event and a summary of key insights are now available online.

11.05.23  | i2insights

Video of the fifth great webinar of the Interach webinar series now online

The videos in this playlist are from the annual webinar series organised by the Interdisciplinary Integration Research Careers Hub (Intereach). i2S Talks hosts the videos of the webinars which are also made available on the Intereach website. The first webinar series occurred in 2017 and there has been an annual series since then. Now, the video of the fifth great webinar has been published.

24.04.23  |  SAGW

SAGW-Bulletin «Implementation: Science & Social Transformation» 

Social transformation cannot be imposed from above but must be developed and tested in bottom-up processes. Science plays a crucial role in this. The new Bulletin of the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences questions the potentials of solution-oriented research: The contributions in the first part of the thematic dossier reflect on potentials and hurdles of implementation processes and name possible transformation paths. In the second part, five so-called "living labs" from Switzerland in the fields of environment, ageing society, nutrition, energy and design are presented. Please note: The articles are only available in german and french.

14.04.23   |  i2insights

Wisely navigating knowledge co-production: Towards an ethics that builds capacities

How can I ensure that marginalized voices are heard in this project? Whom do I call on to offer the next perspective in this workshop and why? How can I intervene in this particular disagreement in a productive way? These are typical questions that researchers and practitioners involved in knowledge co-production processes ask themselves. They express deep ethical concerns, which also have epistemological and political implications, as they address the question: What should I do in this situation? What is right and wrong for me to do here?

06.04.23  |  i2Insights

A pattern language for knowledge

Pattern language is an idea that originated in the field of architecture and city planning in the 1970s. The American architect Christopher Alexander and his colleagues created a common language, referred to as pattern language, that can be used by non-experts to participate in the process of city planning and building design.  

How can pattern language be used to share tips for knowledge co-creation in transdisciplinary research?

20.03.23  |  CONVERGE

CONVERGE Releases New Training Module: Positionality in Hazards and Disaster Research and Practice

The Natural Hazards Center is pleased to announce the release of the eleventh training module in the CONVERGE series: Positionality in Hazards and Disaster Research and Practice. This educational tool helps disaster researchers and practitioners understand how being aware of one’s multiple identities and position in society—their positionality—can lead to more ethical and methodologically sound disaster work.

17.03.23  |  i2insights

Keyword quiz: an icebreaker method for interdisciplinary teams

How can members of interdisciplinary teams quickly gain a better understanding of each other’s thematic preferences and skills in a way that is also engaging and fun?

We have developed a “keyword quiz” icebreaker method to facilitate exchange between members of interdisciplinary teams, especially between people who are not complete strangers to each other but are collaborating in a project context for the first time.

17.03.23  |  The Lancet

The Lancet Series on One Health and Global Health Security

Following the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, and the on-going global COVID-19 pandemic, the One Health approach (bridging the Animal-Environmental-Human Health interface) has rapidly gained political and financial support, particularly in regional and transcontinental initiatives to improve Global Health Security, including through recently established institutions like Africa CDC and other multidisciplinary consortia. This four-paper Lancet Series explores the adoption of One Health approaches to improve health security and include an analysis of the current landscape of preventive, surveillance, and response measures in outbreak situations of emerging and re-emerging zoonotic infectious diseases with epidemic potential as well as other potential public health emergencies such as neglected endemic diseases, antimicrobial resistance, environmental and chemical hazards and natural disasters.

06.03.23  |  i2insights

Theory of change in inter- and transdisciplinary research

What are key functions of theory of change? For what purposes can we use theory of change in inter- and transdisciplinary research?
The value of theory of change in interdisciplinary & transdisciplinary research is described in this blog post.

06.03.23  | Global Consortium for Systems Research (GCSR)

Apply to be a Collaborative Peer Reviewer for "Closing the Compliance Gap: System-wide Transformation Methods for the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals"

The Global Consortium for Systems Research (GCSR) is leading the collaborative peer review process for Closing the Compliance Gap: System-wide Transformation Methods for the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, a publication at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) that is currently undergoing a Global Stakeholder Consultation Process at the Center for Global Agenda (CGA) at Unbuilt Labs.

Because the aim of the collaborative peer review is to get the widest possible participation and broadest possible expertise, those who apply are generally accepted. Collaborative Peer Reviewers will be formally credited in the acknowledgements of the publication. Early career researchers and researchers from historically underrepresented communities are encouraged to apply. To apply click here. 

06.03.23  |  Nature

Hyperauthorship: the publishing challenges for'big team' science

The article focuses on 'hyperauthorship', which is used to describe articles with more than 100 authors. The authros discuss how this is becoming more prevalent in disciplines where this is not the norm. Studies involving hundreds, even thousands, of scientists are on the rise, but how do such large groups coordinate their work?

06.03.22  |  i2insights

Integration: The IPO model

How to systematise interdisciplinary integration is discussed by Stephen Crowley and Graham Hubbs in their revisited i2Insights contribution. They propose a focus on inputs-process-outcome, especially understanding 1) number, diversity & exact nature of inputs, 2) how, intentionality & extent of change in process and 3) number & diversity of outputs along with difference from inputs. Other key issues are a) incommensurability ie how hard it is to integrate, b) scale ie local or global, c) comprehensiveness ie breadth vs depth.

06.03.23  |  CDE

Mountain Research and Development Vol 42, No 4: Weaving Together Knowledges—Collaborations in Support of the Wellbeing of Mountain Peoples and Regions

Born from a fruitful partnership with the Canadian Mountain Network, this issue showcases knowledge collaborations between mountain researchers and Indigenous Peoples from across the globe. Topics include Aymara soil knowledge in Bolivia, community-based tourism in Italy, rangeland management modeling in Bhutan, archeological research in Canada, the role of indigenous knowledge in protected area management in Canada and New Zealand/Aotearoa, and more.

22.02.23  |  tdAcademy

Gründung der Gesellschaft für transdisziplinäre und partizipative Forschung

In den letzten Jahren ist der Bedarf an Austausch und Vernetzung zwischen Wissenschaftler*innen gewachsen, die transdisziplinär und partizipativ forschen und lehren oder in diesen Feldern verstärkt aktiv werden wollen. Unter anderem aus Bestrebungen der tdAcademy heraus wird daher in diesem Frühjahr die „Gesellschaft für transdisziplinäre und partizipative Forschung“ gegründet. Sie versteht sich als Anlaufstelle und unabhängige Interessensvertretung der transdisziplinären und partizipativen Forschung im deutschsprachigen Raum – auch gegenüber Politik und Förderinstitutionen.

Die öffentliche Gründungsveranstaltung findet am 10. Mai 2023 von 18.30-20 Uhr an der Technischen Universität Berlin statt. Wir freuen uns auch über Interesse an einer Mitgliedschaft in der Gesellschaft.

16.02.23  |  Centre for Ageing and Supporitve Environments, Lund University

Premliminary Program for the userage final conference

The theme of the conference is "Understanding user involvement in research on aging and health", with the aim of presenting and discussing results from the project. Now, the premliminary program for the conference on the 20th Aprli 2023 is online.

16.02.23  |  i2insights

Integration in inter- and transdisciplinary research: how can the leadership challenges be addressed?

How can the integration required in large inter- and transdisciplinary programs be effectively led? What challenges do leaders of integration in such programs face and how can they address them? What are the particular challenges in using a theory of change as an integrative tool?

14.02.23  |  ICRMC

Programme for ICRMC is online

The programme and associated information for the transdisciplinary international creative research methods conference are now online and can be downloaded from the conference webpage. Tickets for the conference will go on sale on or near 1 March.

10.02.2023  |  i2insights

Storytelling and systems change

How is storytelling important in driving systems change? What does good storytelling look like? What makes it hard to tell stories about systems change work? We address these three questions.
But first, what do we mean by systems change? We use the definition developed by New Philanthropy Capital (Abercrombie et al. 2015): “Systems change aims to bring about lasting change by altering underlying structures and supporting mechanisms which make the system operate in a particular way. These can include policies, routines, relationships, resources, power structures and values.”

10.02.23  |  i2insights

What is 3-dimensional team leadership?

It is useful to think about teams as having three dimensions:

1. the team as a whole
2. the individuals in the team
3. the subteams within the overall team, or the smaller subsets of team members who cluster together to work on specific tasks. With teams taking on more and more complex tasks, it is not uncommon for members with similar skills to tackle various assignments over a period of time and then integrate their outputs into the larger, overall team

But how does a leader know which dimension to adress?