Integration in Science, Policy and Practice: Inter- and Transdisciplinary Concepts, Methods, Tools

Abstract

Meeting environmental and societal challenges requires responses that integrate a wide range of perspectives from different disciplines (i.e., interdisciplinary integration), as well as from science, policy and practice (i.e., transdisciplinary integration). Drawing on case studies, students will explore concepts, methods and tools of integration in a hands-on experiential setting.

Objective

The course advances students subject- and method-specific competencies to analyse complex environmental and societal problems in order to design effective policy- and/or practice-oriented research projects or programs to address them. Integration, in this course, is a integral part of inter- and transdisciplinary research. It implies the co-production and synthesis of different knowledges, perspectives, insights, interests, expectations and collaborative approaches towards a problem and its potential solutions. It is a fundamental process in research when collaborating across scientific disciplines (e.g., natural and social sciences) and thematic fields (e.g., policy analysis) and working at the interface between science, policy and practice. The course offers a hands-on experiental setting together with empirical cases situated at that interface. At the end of the course students are able to: • Understand and apply concepts of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary integration, distinguish different dimensions and explain basic principles. • Apply different methods and tools of integration to complex environmental and societal problems and discuss their strengths and weaknesses, potentials and limitations. • Reflect on researchers’ diverse roles in integration processes and discuss personal competencies and expertises needed to fulfill these roles. • Assess challenges and opportunities in designing, planning and implementing an integration process and generating an integrated output.

Content

The course focuses on: • Concepts of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary integration (i.e. process, output, one-sided, mutual) across different scientific communities (science of team science, integration and implementation science, science and technology studies, transformative research). • Dimensions (i.e. strategic, cognitive, social, emotional, spatial, temporal) and principles of integration (i.e. design integrative process, form diverse group, forge robust social bonds, create boundary objects, etc.). • Indicators (i.e. qualitative and quantitative) for assessing integration processes and integrated outputs. • Methods and tools of integration (e.g. Theory of Change, Nomadic concepts, Common conceptual framework, Joint research questions, etc.). • Researchers’ roles in integration processes at the interface between science, policy and practice. • Personal competencies (e.g. flexibility, creativity, humility, persistence, patience, etc.) and expertise in integration (i.e. contributory expertise, interactional expertise, referred expertise). To approach these topics students will work on specific tasks within a diversity of case studies to gain hands-on experience on inter- and transdisciplinary integration. Cases lie at the interface between science, policy and practice targeting interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary integration (including humanities and social sciences). Experts from different research projects or programs will be invited to share insights from selected case studies, for example: innovative resource-oriented water and sanitation systems (WINGS), sustainable water management (NRP61), transformation of pesticide governance (TRAPEGO), integrated assessment models for sustainable development (DIAMOND), design and discovery of novel materials for energy harvesting (INTERSECTIONS), coordinated interactions between the Swiss society and the energy system (COSI).

Resources