Our contribution to address complex societal challenges: We link scientific communities, support transdisciplinary careers and promote the development of competencies and methods. More

Completed projects

On this page, selected projects are archived because they mark important stages of td-net and some of them still have an impact on our work today

Completed projects

The td-net was involved in the LIRA 2030 programme in an advisory capacity and in capacity building.

The swiss-academies award for transdisciplinary research highlighted outstanding conceptual and substantive achievements in transdisciplinary research in various problem areas. It gave transdisciplinary research a face and scientific recognition. For young researchers, it was an incentive to advance the 'state of the art' of transdisciplinary research.

The last td-award was presented in 2015. Some of the winning projects are still flagship projects of ITD research in Switzerland.

No further calls for proposals are planned at the moment.

The project was largely supported by the Gebert Rüf Foundation (2000-2004) and subsequently by the Mercator Foundation Switzerland.

td-award 2015

td-award 2013

td-award 2010

td-award 2006

td-award 2004

td-award 2000

Recommended reading in inter- and transdisciplinarity: Introductory texts (td-net Delphi study 2013)


"Which publications would you recommend as first readings to a (young) scientist that wants to become familiar with the key concepts and thinking in the field of inter- and transdisciplinarity?"

Read the answers of an international expert panel about:

Collections of introductory texts
Introductory monographs
Introductory articles
The td-net team initiated and moderated the processes by designing the roundtables, compiling, summarizing and structuring expert inputs and ratings after each feedback round; and the td-net was responsible for editing the final outcome of the Delphi process.

More about it

Switzerland: Research Funding for Sustainable Development
Country study within the VISION RD4SD project, Coordination & Support Action, 7th EU Research Framework Programme
2010 - 2013

In cooperation with the Federal Office for Environment

Documents:

Länderstudie Schweiz 2013 dt (PDF)
Étude de cas Suisse, 2013 fr (PDF)
 

This project has indirectly served as the basis for the U Change project.

Because of to the involvement of different disciplines and societal actors, inter- and transdisciplinary research poses particular challenges to the science system - which is organised according to disciplines. These challenges concern, among other things, the peer review process. The peer review process is of central importance, as it is used in publications, in the assessment of research applications, in the awarding of titles and positions, and in the evaluation of research institutes. In interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research, there is no clear frame of reference (a peer group), respectively there is a multiplicity of frames of reference for the individual disciplines. For the specific inter- and transdisciplinary achievements of a project - what it does in terms of integration and problem-related synthesis - the lack of a frame of reference, means that a quality assessment becomes difficult, since it is unclear to which "state of the art" research it should refer.

In recent years, important basic work has been done in German-speaking countries and beyond to develop proposals for assessment procedures (Defila and Di Giulio 1999; Bergmann, Brohmann et al. 2005, Stoll-Kleemann and Pohl 2007 ...), but none of these has yet become established. The aim of the project is to develop proposals for an improved assessment practice based on a comprehensive analysis of existing experiences. 

 

Product: Pohl C et al., 2011. Questions to evaluate inter- and transdisciplinary research proposals. Working paper, td-net for Transdisciplinary Research, Berne

td-net supported ProClim in accompanying the pilot programme "Adaptation to Climate Change" by means of site visits. The site visits took up cross-cutting issues of the pilot programme and illustrated them during a visit to a pilot project: In different dialogue formats and during site visits, different stakeholder groups (pilot projects, related or interested projects, science, administration) exchanged views across sectors.

Erste Site Visit Luzern: Vernetzung als Erfolgsfaktro für die Anpassung an den Klimawandel

Deuxième visite sur site Genève: L'adaptation aux changements climatiques, une opportunité d'action pour des communes plus durables

Dritte Site Visit Wohlen: Spannungsfeld unterschiedlicher Interessen vom Wassermanagement bis zur Siedlungsentwicklung

This 2.5 year Coordination and Support Action (CSA) of the Horizon 2020 programme addressed the challenge of improving interdisciplinary research (IDR) cooperation between Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences disciplines (AHSS) and other disciplines primarily based in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).

The project delivered a comprehensive knowledge base and a set of success criteria, including a toolkit, to guide policy-makers, funders and researchers in achieving successful pathways to IDR integration.

td-net supported the project in networking activities and the organization of a learning case workshop.

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