Transdisciplinary research: towards an integrative perspective

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Abstract

Since the emergence of transdisciplinary research, context dependencies, innovative formats and methods, societal effects, and scientific effects are key aspects that have been discussed at length. However, what is still missing is an integrative perspective on these four aspects, and the guidance on how to apply such an integrative perspective in order to realize the full transformative potential of transdisciplinary research. We provide an overview of each aspect and highlight relevant research questions that need to be answered to advance transdisciplinary research.

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Most cited references 35

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Transdisciplinary research in sustainability science: practice, principles, and challenges

Daniel Lang, Arnim Wiek, Michael Stauffacher … (2012)

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Transdisciplinarity: Between mainstreaming and marginalization

Thomas Jahn, Matthias Bergmann, Florian Keil (2012)

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Is Open Access

Describing the impact of health research: a Research Impact Framework

Shyama Kuruvilla, Nicholas Mays, Andrew Pleasant … (2006)

Background Researchers are increasingly required to describe the impact of their work, e.g. in grant proposals, project reports, press releases and research assessment exercises. Specialised impact assessment studies can be difficult to replicate and may require resources and skills not available to individual researchers. Researchers are often hard-pressed to identify and describe research impacts and ad hoc accounts do not facilitate comparison across time or projects. Methods The Research Impact Framework was developed by identifying potential areas of health research impact from the research impact assessment literature and based on research assessment criteria, for example, as set out by the UK Research Assessment Exercise panels. A prototype of the framework was used to guide an analysis of the impact of selected research projects at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Additional areas of impact were identified in the process and researchers also provided feedback on which descriptive categories they thought were useful and valid vis-à-vis the nature and impact of their work. Results We identified four broad areas of impact: I. Research-related impacts; II. Policy impacts; III. Service impacts: health and intersectoral and IV. Societal impacts. Within each of these areas, further descriptive categories were identified. For example, the nature of research impact on policy can be described using the following categorisation, put forward by Weiss: Instrumental use where research findings drive policy-making; Mobilisation of support where research provides support for policy proposals; Conceptual use where research influences the concepts and language of policy deliberations and Redefining/wider influence where research leads to rethinking and changing established practices and beliefs. Conclusion Researchers, while initially sceptical, found that the Research Impact Framework provided prompts and descriptive categories that helped them systematically identify a range of specific and verifiable impacts related to their work (compared to ad hoc approaches they had previously used). The framework could also help researchers think through implementation strategies and identify unintended or harmful effects. The standardised structure of the framework facilitates comparison of research impacts across projects and time, which is useful from analytical, management and assessment perspectives.

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Contributors

David P. M. Lam: (View ORCID Profile)

Josefa Kny: (View ORCID Profile)

Oskar Marg: (View ORCID Profile)

Melanie Mbah: (View ORCID Profile)

Lena Theiler: (View ORCID Profile)

Matthias Bergmann: (View ORCID Profile)

Bettina Brohmann: (View ORCID Profile)

Daniel J. Lang: (View ORCID Profile)

Martina Schäfer: (View ORCID Profile)

Journal

Title: GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society

Abbreviated Title: GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society

Publisher: Oekom Publishers GmbH

ISSN (Print): 0940-5550

Publication date Created: December 16 2021

Publication date (Print): December 16 2021

Volume: 30

Issue: 4

Pages: 243-249

Affiliations

[2 ]Technische Universität Berlin | Center for Technology and Society | Berlin | Germany

[3 ]ISOE - Institute for Social-Ecological Research | Frankfurt am Main | Germany

[4 ]Institute for Applied Ecology (Öko-Institut e.V.) | Nuclear Engineering and Facility Safety | Freiburg Darmstadt | Germany

Article

DOI: 10.14512/gaia.30.4.7

SO-VID: dd462b43-4547-46d3-bd9a-8f522aa0a2e5

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