Access Open Online Course on Transdisciplinary Research
You can access the course material below at any time, which facilitates:
self-study learning,
quick reference to individual content, or
use of the material for teaching purposes.
The material is entirely for public use; however, it's important to credit the authors or universities that provided the content.
If you like to use the template of the MURAL-Board in your courses contact td_mooc@scnat.
We suggest using the following citation:
Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences: Swiss Massive Open Online Course on Transdisciplinary Research "Partnering for Change: Link Reseach toSocietal Challenges". Chapter/Article/Video etc. provided by Name, Institution.
Deep Links for communication
Website at td-net: active link: https://go.transdisciplinarity.ch/mooc
Course: active link: https://go.transdisciplinarity.ch/MOOCContent
Course documentation: active link: https://go.transdisciplinarity.ch/MOOCdocument
The course consists of six chapters with a total learner workload of approximately 30 hours. However, it can be customized to meet your specific needs, and you can find suggestions for integrating the course into your lectures, seminars, projects, and syllabi here in the MOOCdocument. Each chapter of the course comprises a variety of formats, including videos, articles, discussions, and quizzes.
Key Period 2025: Ferburary 25th to April 11th
Overview
Chapter 1: Complex societal challenges – a tough nut to crack
Discuss current societal challenges and get to know the educators.
1.1 Video: Societal challenges – challenges for research
1.2 Article: Simple, complicated, complex, wicked
1.3 Video: Why transdisciplinary research?
Setting the frame – Discuss your personal experiences and motivations to engage in TDR. Explore the features of this six-chapters course that combines theory and real-life cases in order to link existing knowledge with practice.
1.4 Reflection: Which examples come to mind?
1.5 Article: How this course works
Cases – societal challenges addressed: Delve into the five cases that serve as real-life examples of TDR during the whole course. Each of these cases is unique. They cover different topics in different regions of the world.
1.6 Video: Making migration safer: working abroad has risks
1.7 Video: Nomad health: healthcare for mobile pastoralists
1.8 Video: Tackling water scarcity – part 1: addressing the effects of climate change
1.9 Video: Antimicrobial resistance: a wicked challenge.
1.10 Video: Coping with decline in a Swiss mountain village
Reflecting on chapter 1: Reflect what you have learnt about the characteristics of today’s complex challenges. Assess which questions you should be able to answer at the end of chapter 1.
Chapter 2: Transdisciplinarity – introduction and clarification
What is TDR? – Get acquainted with transdisciplinary research: How do you define it? What goals and principles are there? And when is it especially meaningful to make use of it? You’ll collect all the answers in the following activity.
2.1 Article: Transdisciplinarity, an approach developed in different contexts
2.2 Video: Goals and principles of transdisciplinary research
2.3 Article: When is a transdisciplinary approach promising?
Basic concepts in TDR: Discover basic concepts used in transdisciplinary research which will help you reflect on the cases and examples during the course as well as on your own experience.
2.4 Video: Three types of knowledge
2.5 Article: Striving for the common good?
2.6 Article: Societally relevant and scientifically valid
Cases – context and actors: Explore the five cases to gain interesting information on the context in which they are situated and the actors that are involved.
2.7 Article: Making migration safer – context home and host countries
2.8 Video: Mobile pastoralists and communication challenges
2.9 Video: Tackling water scarcity – part 2: actors and context
2.10 Article: The international regime complex about antimicrobial resistance
2.11 Article: Coping with decline: tourism development and residents
Reflecting on chapter 2: Assess what you have learnt about the basics of transdisciplinarity. Identify the concepts with which you should be familiar at the end of chapter 2.
Chapter 3: Setting up a transdisciplinary research project
Phases of transdisciplinary research: Explore the phases of a transdisciplinary research project and have a closer look into phase 1.
3.1 Article: The stages of transdisciplinary research
3.2 Video: Phase 1: problem framing
Important steps of a co-designing: When it comes to transdisciplinarity, the inclusion of different stakeholders is essential. Get an idea of co-designing a project and which steps and methods need to be considered.
3.3 Article: Context and actor analysis
3.4 Article: Co-design, methods, examples
3.5 Video: International research partnerships
3.6 Article: How could your project make a difference?
Cases – from an idea to a project: Having reflected how to develop transdisciplinary projects, apply your knowledge to the five cases.
3.7 Video: Making migration safer: setting up collaboration
3.8 Video: Nomad health: an Ethiopian One Health initiative
3.9 Article: Water scarcity: design of the MontanAqua project
3.10 Video: Antimicrobial resistance: from a research project to work for the United Nations
3.11 Article: Coping with decline: Initiating the BESTandermatt study
Reflecting on chapter 3: Setting up a transdisciplinary research project involves many challenges. Assess your knowledge and reflect on what you have learnt about phase 1 of the TDR process..
Chapter 4: Knowledge production
Co-producing knowledge – Phase 2 of transdisciplinary projects is about jointly conducting research. Find out what this means, discuss what intensities mark the sequence of interactions, and reflect your own possible role.
4.1 Video: Phase 2: jointly conduct research
4.2 Article: Intensities of interaction
4.3 Reflection: Reflect on your role
Interdisciplinary and participatory aspects: Gain insights on interdisciplinary and participatory aspects that distinguish transdisciplinary approaches from others. Discuss the process, the co-production of knowledge, and the cooperation with stakeholders.
4.4 Article: Interdisciplinary co-production: collective intelligence and cognitive justice
4.5 Article: Co-producing knowledge with travelling concepts
4.6 Article: Cooperation with stakeholders
Cases – co-production processes: Once again you are given the opportunity to link theoretical knowledge with the practical experiences of your educators. Do you recognise concepts you have learnt about this week in the cases?
4.7 Video: Making migration safer: how the project developed
4.8 Article: Nomad health: co-production between academic and non-academic actors
4.9 Video: Tackling water scarcity – joint visioning and strategy development
4.10 Article: Antimicrobial resistance: interdisciplinary approach and co-production process
4.11Article: Coping with decline: enabling learning and reflection
Reflecting on chapter 4: In Chapter 4 you investigated the co-production of knowledge. Assess your grasp of the concepts, your own role, and reflect on what you have learnt about phase 2 of the TDR process.
4.12 Quiz: Decisive factors when jointly conducting research
Chapter 5: Reap the rewards – jointly producing outcomes
Co-production towards action and reflection: Synthesise the third and last phase of a transdisciplinary project and develop an understanding of upscaling transdisciplinarity as well as of what communicating beyond a project means.
5.1 Video: Phase 3: exploring impact
5.2 Video: Upscaling transdisciplinarity through societal learning
5.3 Article: Communication beyond the project
Cases – results and ways of impact: Compare the theoretical insights with the results and impacts described in our five cases. How do you assess these? What questions come to your mind?
5.4 Article: Labour migration: results, impact, and barriers
5.5 Article: Nomad health: impact and results
5.6 Article: Water scarcity: results of the project MontanAqua
5.7 Article: The regime complex about antimicrobial resistance – project outputs
5.8 Article: Coping with decline: a responsive, participatory approach
Reflecting on chapter 5: What do you need to consider if you are jointly producing outcomes? Assess what you have explored in chapter 5 and sum up what you have become familiar with.
Chapter 6: Effects of involvement: moments of change
Evaluation: Get an idea of how to evaluate transdisciplinary research projects and reflect on your own development during the last five weeks.
6.1 Video: Reflecting transdisciplinary research projects
6.2 Reflection: Your turn: how you developed during the course
Situating Transdisciplinarity: Find out about what career paths of ‘transdisciplinarians’ exist and figure out ethical dimensions of transdisciplinary research.
6.3 Video: Career paths of ‘transdisciplinarians’
6.4 Article: Ethical dimensions of transdisciplinary research
Cases – reflection and evaluation: Link the concepts of how to evaluate a transdisciplinary research project to the practical experiences in the case studies. Investigate and discuss how they are reflected and evaluated.
6.5 Article: Making migration safer: reflecting key elements
6.6 Article: Nomad health: reflection and evaluation
6.7 Article: Reflections on the water scarcity case’s process and outcomes
6.8 Video: Reflecting on the Antimicrobial Resistance case: collaboration with the UN system
6.9 Video: Coping with decline: reflecting BESTandermatt
Transdisciplinary research: your own pathway – Assess what you have learnt about the effects of involvement and moments of change. Recapitulate the most important aspects of the course, and discuss how it might influence your future work.
