Handbook of Transdisciplinary Research

Transdisciplinary orientations in research, education and institutions try to overcome the mismatch between knowledge production in academia, and knowledge requests for solving societal problems. Addressing societal knowledge demands by designing research processes in a transdisciplinary way has several major implications. It becomes necessary to transgress boundaries between different academic cultures, such as between the humanities and the natural sciences. Furthermore, researchers have to step into problem fields and engage in mutual learning with people in the life-world. In doing so, disciplinary standards of knowledge production are sacrificed. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a state of the art for transdisciplinary forms of research. This is best done by learning from experiences. The Handbook is intended to enable learning from exemplary experiences in research and to provide a more systematic account of some cross-cutting issues. This chapter describes the idea behind the Handbook and the contents of the Handbook.

The birth of science is based on a strict dissociation of scientific knowledge from the various aspects of practical knowledge. The ideal of scientific knowledge as it was shaped in antiquity is still influential today, although the conception of science and the relationship between science and the life-world has undergone major changes. The emergence of transdisciplinary orientations in the knowledge society at the end of the 20th century is the most recent step. The Handbook focuses on transdisciplinarity as a form of research that is driven by the need to solve problems of the life-world. Differences between basic, applied and transdisciplinary research, as specific forms of research, stem from whether and how different scientific disciplines, and actors in the life-world, are involved in problem identification and problem structuring, thus determining how research questions relate to problem fields in the life-world. However, by transgressing disciplinary paradigms and surpassing the practical problems of single actors, transdisciplinary research is challenged by the following requirements: to grasp the complexity of the problems, to take into account the diversity of scientific and societal views of the problems, to link abstract and case specific knowledge, and to constitute knowledge with a focus on problem-solving for what is perceived to be the common good. Transdisciplinary research relates to three types of knowledge: systems knowledge, target knowledge and transformation knowledge, and reflects their mutual dependencies in the research process. One way to meet the transdisciplinary requirements in dealing with research problems is to design the phases of the research process in a recurrent order. Research that addresses problems in the life-world comprises the phase of problem identification and problem structuring, the phase of problem investigation and the phase of bringing results to fruition. In transdisciplinary research, the order of the phases and the amount of resources dedicated to each phase depend on the kind of problem under investigation and on the state of knowledge.

In the 1970s and 1980s UNESCO’s worldwide Man and Biosphere Programme (MaB) provided a great stimulus to overcome the large gap between natural and social sciences. The global project number six, Man’s Impact on Mountain Ecosystems, led to the Swiss National Research Programme ‘Socio-Economic Development and Ecological Carrying Capacity in a Mountainous Region’. It had a profound effect on mountain research in general and on an interesting collaboration between different alpine countries in particular. Even though the expression transdisciplinarity was not yet known and defined, participating scientists from different disciplines were forced to develop methods and models for a true inter- and transdisciplinary cooperation, as discussed in Section 3.2.

In the 1980s and 1990s the discussion about transdisciplinarity began. In the developed world transdisciplinary research means striving for concrete problem solving in the social and political context through cooperation between science and society. In the developing world transdisciplinary research needs to concentrate on certain key processes and limiting factors in cooperation with the local population and political authorities. This concept was further developed as the so-called ‘Syndrome Mitigation Research’. This approach proposes to compare clusters of problems linked to global change in mountain areas, in order to develop adequate mitigation strategies towards sustainability, as discussed in Section 3.3.

In the 1990s and 2000s fragile mountain ecosystems became significant on a global level as sensitive indicators for ‘Global Environmental and Climate Change’, and as treasures of natural and cultural resources (water, mining, forestry and agriculture, biological and cultural diversity, recreation and tourism). Therefore, the ‘Mountain Research Initiative’ (MRI), a project of the ‘Global Change Programmes’, was founded. In mountain areas natural and human processes are especially closely connected and this means that inter- and transdisciplinarity have a very special significance for mountain research and development, as discussed in Section 3.4.

The similarities between Fig. 3.2 as a first approach in 1978 and Fig. 3.5 as the current global approach in 2005 is an impressive testimony to the enduring significance of the MaB research concept that, from the beginning, called for an integration of natural and social sciences in a problem oriented perspective.

Many research initiatives worldwide are established with the aim of explicitly contributing to sustainable development efforts within their respective contexts. Transdisciplinarity is one of the basic principles used to achieve this aim. In practice, however, this has remained a daunting task for many institutions, especially those focusing on sustainable natural resources management. This is partly due to a number of factors: a limited timeframe of operation; limited scope of work and implementation methodology, which are critical to ensuring broad disciplinary coverage and multistakeholder involvement; and use of approaches that do not guarantee integration of, or ensure responsiveness to, changing ecological processes and socio-economic, cultural and political landscapes.

This chapter presents an example of transdisciplinarity based on 25 years of continuous research in the upper Ewaso Ng’iro north basin on the north-western slopes of Mount Kenya. The chapter describes how this research programme, which aimed to contribute to integrated river basin management, was furnished with structures and apparatus that helped to navigate the transdisciplinarity process through the limiting factors listed above. The chapter shows how the research facility evolved from a district and project planning support institution, based on needs, to a regionally oriented and integrated facility addressing the requirements of sustainability. Projecting on the basis of long-term implications of changes in ecological processes and socio-economic and institutional dynamics on water availability, research activities were embedded in a multilevel, multistakeholder transfer strategy to ensure integration of scientific and local knowledge systems and long-term ownership of preferred interventions. In conclusion, the chapter lists seven recommendations on salient issues of transdisciplinary research.

In the 20th century a dramatic change occurred in urban development. From a physiological point of view the large scale exploitation of fossil energy and the technical inventions and innovations in the transport infrastructure allowed on one hand a rapid liberation from the limits of renewable biomass and on the other hand a rapid exchange of mass goods over large distances. From a morphological point of view the same factors led to a ‘dilution’ of urban settlement from dense centres into a network, of highly variable nodes and connections (the Netzstadt). The distinct separation of rural and urban segments within a cultural landscape disappeared. This new urbanity is a relatively young phenomenon. According to the criteria of a ‘Sustainable Development’, such a culture is not apt to survive on a long-term and global scale. It follows then that the urban systems of the 20th century have to be reconstructed.

‘Designing the Urban: Discovering a Transdisciplinary Method’ describes the research process of two groups, rooted in very different academic cultures: one in architecture and urban planning, the other in environmental sciences and engineering. At the beginning (in 1993) there was neither a clear concept of how to tackle the methodological problems in order to investigate this new phenomenon nor a reflected concept of transdisciplinary work. The case study presented in the following chapter gives first, a report on ‘identifying and answering questions’ connected with urbanity and second, some illustrations of the answers found ten years later as a result of the transdisciplinary approach.

The project ‘Strategies for a Sustainable Urban Mobility’ (‘Stadtverträgliche Mobilität – Handlungsstrategien für eine ökologisch und sozial verträgliche, ökonomisch effiziente Verkehrsentwicklung in Stadtregionen’) is a good example of successful integration work. Researchers from a number of different disciplines, as well as planners from two model cities, formed the research group CITY:mobil and cooperated within this project to develop innovative research methods, on the one hand, and planning tools aimed at a more sustainable mobility in cities, on the other. The project was designed to integrate planning and technical aspects as well as economic, ecological and social goals. Thus, the rather complex task of knowledge integration and social integration by the project team was one of the central challenges within the research process. Therefore, after introducing the details of this specific research project, we conclude with a universal model for a transdisciplinary research process. This model can support researchers in planning and conducting the complex integration demands to meet the dual targets of integrated research results for the area of interest (i.e. the societal problems being the starting point of the research project), and of new interdisciplinary or disciplinary results (e.g. methods, concepts and theories).

New research relating to Mediterranean grazingland management issues, e.g. fire hazard control, biodiversity conservation, vibrant rural areas, etc. addresses the role that livestock farming systems can play. Established technical knowledge about livestock farming cannot contribute to these issues because it relies on standardised animal feeding techniques, focusing on cultivable forage areas and distribution of feed. These have led to the decline of the herders’ knowledge of grazing management and of herding practices. Thus original research works were needed. The works have been carried out by an interdisciplinary team of researchers in animal sciences, ecology and social sciences, from an INRA laboratory in Avignon (France)

The research focuses on how the herders interact with ecosystems and landscapes through the management of their flocks, and investigations deal with the question of ‘how can one steer grazing for animal production and environment maintenance?’ (i.e. control scrub development, maintain biodiversity and promote the habitat of particular populations of plants and animals in need of protection). The paper presents the chronicle of this research over twenty years. It asks how the problematic evolved as a result of the accumulated scientific knowledge and the shift in societal questioning in relation to the rise of environmental concerns and the changes in rural and residential issues. Field observations, surveys and inquiries, public policies analysis, farm monitoring and systems modelling were used, combined or successively, in the course of five different research stages

The authors lead up to an analysis of the different epistemological standpoints of disciplines and types of actual action representing a transdisciplinary approach. This approach is founded on a distributed view of knowledge, articulating different forms of scientific knowledge – according to the set of involved disciplines – and lay person knowledge and know-how in order to produce relevant categories and rules of action.

The Fischnetz project was initiated for two reasons: fish catches, especially of brown trout, have decreased by 60% over the last 20 years in many rivers and streams and the health status of numerous brown trout populations has been found to be impaired. Several cantons and members of the public requested that the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) and the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) identify the causes and propose measures for improvement. This bottom–up initiative led to the transdisciplinary project Fischnetz, which started out as a nationwide network and lasted 5 years– from the end of 1998 to January 2004. The name of the network, ‘Netzwerk Fischrückgang Schweiz’, abbreviated ‘Fischnetz’, indicated the integrative and communicative nature of this approach. Its main objectives were (I) to document the health status and the fish decline, (II) to identify their reasons and (III) to suggest corrective measures. It was hoped that the fostering of networking would help ensure continued collaboration and information exchange after the end of the project. Broad public acceptance was, in part, reflected by the considerable financial support from all 26 cantons, the Principality of Liechtenstein, federal authorities, the chemical industry, and the Fisheries Association.

In this article emphasis is placed on how the different stakeholders (fishermen associations, national and cantonal authorities, researchers and representatives of the chemical industry) were involved. In particular, building up a network was central to the integration of the already existing data and know-how of all participants. This was a prerequisite for identifying knowledge gaps and initiating research projects. The collaboration throughout the project ensured an efficient exchange of results, ideas and conclusions enabling the setting of new priorities and agreement on further procedure and proposed measures.

In the Dutch nanoscience and technologies research and development (R&D) consortium NanoNed, an additional ‘Flagship’ for Technology Assessment (TA) & societal aspects of nanotechnology was created [www.nanoned.nl/TA]. This has given us an opportunity to experiment in real time with interactions between nanoscientists and technologists, and build on our earlier work in Constructive Technology Assessment. The fact that the consortium was prepared to spend some of its funding on TA and societal aspects is part of larger dynamics: the wish of nanotechnologists (in the US and elsewhere) to avoid the impasse around (green) biotech, by taking into account ethical legal and social issues (ELSI) from the beginning, and taking them seriously.

I will offer an overall diagnosis of the reflexive co-evolution of science, technology and society (Rip, 2002), which will allow me to better position the specific problem structuring that we developed. The ‘doubly-fictional’ character of TA of nanotechnology is still mostly promise: the societal impacts can only be speculated about. This has led us to further develop socio-technical scenarios and their use in interactive workshops with various stakeholders and other actors. Actors involved in such workshops, or working with the scenarios, are expected to become more reflexive. This may lead to the modification (hopefully for the better) of technological developments and the way these become embedded in society.

The progress of the biomedical sciences poses new philosophical, moral and legal questions. A transdisciplinary approach is ideal for addressing such questions and achieving a mutual understanding of the underlying biological facts. In this debate it becomes obvious that biomedical research per se does not provide a useful terminology for legislation. A transdisciplinary approach is therefore essential to achieve a common, accepted terminology and reach an agreement on the pertinent problems; both prerequisites for timely legislation.

The artificial creation of human–animal mixtures for research and therapeutic purposes touches very sensitive moral and legal issues. The novel procedures raise the question of the relevance of natural boundaries between species. The extent to which the species barrier has and will be breached by such experimental procedures which use biological entities at various developmental stages, in particular in the context of the use of human embryonic stem cells, is a strong challenge for scientists, ethicists, legislators and society. In view of pending and forthcoming legislation, it is the intention of this transdisciplinary approach to review and analyse the respective biomedical research agendas which have to be taken into account in the normative discussion.[-12pt]

First, we present the current relevant constitutional and statute laws ofbreak Switzerland. We then review recent developments in biological research involving human–animal mixtures, including chimeras, which are likely to become issues for regulatory action. The compilation covers a broad range of human–animal mixtures, with a focus on the use of human embryonic stem cells for basic research and therapeutic procedures. We finally address some other recent biomedical developments that could have an impact on terminology and legal definitions used in the current Swiss regulations.

In this paper we present, first, a brief summary of the historical development of the main components of contemporary international environmental agreements. Next, we argue, based on the examples of a few recent international agreements concerning environment and health, that the procedures established in the framework of these agreements provide a solid international base for stable and effective scientific, industrial and political cooperation. Later, we identify some of the present and future problems and difficulties that should be addressed. In the final section we underline several points that have been shown to be relevant to ensure fair and effective action through international agreements on global issues of environment and public health. In conclusion, the paper argues for strengthening the dialogue, and the extent of transdisciplinary research, between the scientific community and policy makers in order to develop synergies from various areas of knowledge to address complex environmental issues and to coordinate effective tools to mitigate the impact of anthropocentric activities.

The project asks how to derive and then promote a balanced portfolio of climate policies and technologies currently under discussion as efficient means to avoid (‘mitigate’), or at least limit, global warming. Thereby, the agenda responds to the emerging consensus within the climate research community that anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions – such as generated during combustion – would induce global warming with serious potential consequences. The ongoing climate debate about how much global warming should be mitigated serves as a starting point. While ‘climate environmentalists’ opt for strict emission reductions, influential economists proposed – at least at the beginning of the project – that the requested reductions would severely hamper the world economy. The ‘metamethod’ of the project disentangles the deterministic and normative arguments of the debate. Within that setting, the methodology of the project displays two main characteristics. Firstly, robust deterministic knowledge about the climate system and the energy technology sector is captured by mechanistic models. This ‘deterministic branch’ would allow us to represent the effects of greenhouse gas emissions on global warming as well as the effects of investment decisions on the competitive advantage of renewable sources over greenhouse gas emitting technologies. Secondly, the project distills the present line of normative settings involved in the climate debate – what impacts of global warming on the one hand, and of strict emission reduction targets on the other hand, are acceptable. A further normative issue is how to decide, under present-day uncertainties that modulate our knowledge, about the causal links from potential political actions to their impacts. The approach of the project is to search for climate policies that would observe the minimum requests of each of the two major disputing ‘camps’ and to thereby maximise the chance for societal consensus. The minimum request of the ‘environmentalists’ is to guarantee that global warming shall not transgress 2^ˆC. The minimum request of economists is that welfare loss due to climate protection should be somewhat below 1%. As a primary result, the project has qualified the systems dynamics, enabling the identification of investment paths that are likely to observe the minimum requests of both parties. Key transdisciplinary challenges of the ongoing project are as follows: distilling the major epistemic (knowledge on systems dynamics) and major normative arguments, and alleged disagreements, as the two are intimately entangled within economic theory; finally, keeping track of assumptions and desires of major players to ensure that the project’s stylised solutions will in fact catalyse a societal consensus.

The purpose of this article is to draw lessons for transdisciplinary modelling endeavours in social contexts. The chosen approach is to explore a research project that was part of the Swiss National Science Foundation’s ‘Swiss Priority Programme Environment’ (SPPE). The project focused on ecological issues and was realised in collaboration with local actors from a Swiss municipality. The case study design is used to analyse methodological issues related to the study of complex dynamic challenges. For example, for the purpose of policy design and learning, pertinent examples of the roles of heuristic frameworks and of simulation models are examined. Another challenge is to involve problem owners in the inquiry process. Furthermore, the transdisciplinary approach, in order to gain a better understanding, is addressed. These issues will be illustrated by means of system dynamics modelling and analysis of current challenges in the realm of solid waste management. Finally, the chapter makes several recommendations to researchers who want to investigate multifaceted, dynamically complex issues together with practitioners.

This article presents a transdisciplinary research approach illustrated by a case study on sustainable regional development in the Swiss canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden (AR). The canton is a typical central European rural landscape, struggling with problems of structural change and migration. Different industry sectors (timber, dairy farming and textile production), as well as different aspects of regional development (land use, mobility, landscape protection and tourism) were analysed in a two year transdisciplinary research project. Its goal was to generate cross-sectoral long-term development strategies based on different scenarios for future land use. The study shows that current development strategies will not lead to a desirable future state. There are several desirable developments, but clear political decisions are necessary for targeting a specific scenario. ∈dent The project was jointly led by a professor of ETH Zurich and the governing chairman of AR. The study involved numerous officials and inhabitants of AR, as well as scientists and advanced students from different research institutes (citeauthorch14:scholz2002, citeyearch14:scholz2002; citeauthorch14:scholz2003, citeyearch14:scholz2003). The study combined teaching, research and application. ∈dent The case study is presented as an example of the Transdisciplinary Integrated Planning and Synthesis (TIPS) approach (citeauthorch14:scholz2006, citeyearch14:scholz2006). TIPS is an approach to embed a formal, scientifically based, integrated planning approach into a real world setting, allowing for mutual learning among scientists and practitioners. It starts from a faceting of the case, then uses system analysis and scenario construction for the problem investigation procedure. In the problem transformation (or ‘implementation’) phase, the preferences of the stakeholders are evaluated through multi-criteria procedures and area development negotiation. The results from the different facets are integrated, and cross-sectoral development strategies for the case are formulated. ∈dent The chapter gives an overview of the organisation, methodology and epistemology of the TIPS approach. The following three sections describe the transdisciplinary TIPS approach: problem identification, problem investigation and problem transformation. Each step of the TIPS approach is explained and illustrated by examples from the case study. Special emphasis is put on the integrated project architecture and on the linkage between problem investigation and problem transformation, these being the main challenges from a transdisciplinary point of view. The last section draws some conclusions on the applicability of the TIPS approach and presents recommendations for similar projects.

If, and to what extent, landscapes can be governed by legal and social norms was the guiding question of a transdisciplinary research project funded by the Austrian Cultural Landscape Programme. The project involved three research organisations and several partners in public administration, politics and business. In a common effort, they developed a new methodological tool for the evaluation of legal effects on landscape development. The legal-ecological assessment draws on the basic assumption that legal regulations cannot impact on the ecological sphere directly, but can only intend to influence human behaviour.[-12pt]

Deliberately or not, human activities shape landscapes and impact on their aesthetic, recreational and ecological functions. The sociology of law and anthropology of law are scientific disciplines that are dedicated to the analysis of the interdependencies between law and society. Interestingly, the relationship between law and landscape has not yet attracted major scientific attention. Nevertheless, numerous legal regulations are not only supposed to control the social system, but in the case of environmental law, they are also intended to influence ecosystems, biodiversity, or landscape development. The extent to which law can help to govern landscape development is examined in the remainder of this chapter, using the agricultural landscape and the associated socio-economic and ecological processes as anbreak example.[-12pt]

The tool for systematic impact assessments is based on a framework of crucial determinants that describe legal effects on human behaviour and landscape development and on procedures to assess the extent of legally induced landscape effects. The assessment tool has been applied for different types of regulations in three Austrian case studies. The empirical research indicates varying gaps between the intended and actual landscape effects, which might be explained by different determinants, such as the actual knowledge and acceptance of norms by the land users or frequency and average severity of controls and actualbreak penalties.[-12pt]

Based on the theoretical and empirical insights into the mechanisms of how law impacts on landscape, an ‘outlook’ section reflects on opportunities for more effective landscape governance in the future. In the context of this project, the hboxtransdisciplinary approach proved a successful procedure, which was based on the personal dedication of all people involved inside and outside academia and their willingness to contribute to integrative intellectual dialogs.

The research project ‘Children and Divorce – Current Legal Practices and their Impact on Family Transitions’ is part of the Swiss National Research Programme ‘Childhood, Youth and Intergenerational Relationships in a Changing Society’ (NRP 52). Its objective is the scientific analyses of the amended Swiss divorce law, in order to get, on the one hand, an estimation of its outcomes on children’s well-being and, on the other, to find out if it takes into account and encourages modern forms of familial allocation of duties and responsibilities in an appropriate manner. The research project is embedded in a societal evaluation process of law amendment, for which the dialogue between science and practice is fundamental.

The project, ‘Children and Divorce’, aims at following a transdisciplinary approach, integrating various disciplinary perspectives and methods. It is managed by a jurist and a psychologist. The research team includes jurists, psychologists and sociologists and is supported by a group of external experts working in the field.

To elaborate the research questions, various mutually complementary qualitative and quantitative methods of empirical social research have been applied. Data was collected synchronically at three levels: (a) analysis of court files and interviews with judges, (b) written interviews with divorced mothers and fathers, (c) in-depth interviews with children, mothers and fathers. The analyses of the data focus on the following main questions:

- The experiences with the revised Swiss divorce law focusing on the well-being of the affected children.

- The decisions taken in divorce proceedings such as the award of custody (sole and joint custody), the settlement of visitation rights and maintenance, the right of the child to be heard, and the representation of the child.

- The everyday life of divorced parents and their children.

- Interrelations between legal context, resources of divorced families and the best interest of the child.

- The participation of children of divorced parents in the reorganisation process of the family. endhyphenlist

As to the inter- and transdisciplinary process, the elaboration of a common theoretical framework and the integration of the results, provide the most interesting and challenging parts. The aim of the following chapter is to focus on these aspects, without going into the results.

Mobility of pastoralists in arid and semi-arid zones renders access to primary social services difficult. The experiences, local concepts and propositions of nomadic communities of Chad were essential to fill the information gaps on how to provide adapted health services to mobile communities. In Chad, we have taken an iterative, corkscrew-like research and action strategy: a better understanding of the determinants of health and communities’ health priorities – obtained by interdisciplinary collaborations between medicine, anthropology, epidemiology, social geography and microbiology – were integrated in the participatory identification of intervention options out of a range of possible responses by the health and veterinary services. Recommendations from national stakeholder workshops paved the way for implementing and testing new interventions. All stakeholders reviewed outcomes of interventions periodically. The programme provided opportunities for participatory processes and actions that were defined in an open way at the beginning. An appropriate North–South research partnership framework and the long-term commitment of all partners have been crucial in the process of building stakeholders’ ownership. University curricula rarely enable scientists to communicate with other disciplines, and researchers first needed to acquire skills in crossing the boundaries between human and natural sciences and between sectors. We describe here in a chronologic way the elements that led to innovative health and veterinary services for nomadic pastoralists of Chad; such as joint vaccination services of the public health and the livestock sectors and subsequent initiatives that were initiated by the nomadic communities once they began to trust the programme.

Water-skin contact associated infections constitute a considerable portion of the most important parasitic infectious diseases in tropical and subtropical environments, with significant public health and economic consequences. Though these diseases have been recognised as ‘diseases of behaviour’ for many decades, an essential approach to reduce their incidence, namely changing attitudes to infection risk situations, has been largely neglected.

It was thus the aim of this project to develop an awareness campaign to minimise infection risk situations at the waterside. The awareness campaign is focused in a local setting endemic for water-skin contact associated infections, mainly schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH). It is based on the assessment of environmental features, socio-cultural and behavioural factors of local population groups, which affect the transmission of schistosomiasis and STH. Local communication patterns and information sources are evaluated, to help the awareness campaign reach its target. Accordingly, a transdisciplinary approach, taking into account all these diverse aspects, has been adopted. This required the collaboration of researchers from the natural, socio-cultural and communication sciences, local health and media workers, and members of the community at risk.

The studies revealed that schistosomiasis and STH are not known to the targeted population groups, though they are endemic to the region. Therefore, defecating at the waterside where people swim, fish or wash clothes and dishes, is common. Using sanitary structures is not perceived as an efficient health care strategy. The visual medium of TV turned out to be a suitable way of bringing the awareness campaign to the mostly illiterate members of the target population. Animated cartoons in the form of ‘TV-spots’, alerting people to the infection risk situations caused by particular activities at the waterside and the possibilities for avoiding these activities have been developed.

The project was run in cooperation with a comprehensive programme for integrated control of human parasitoses in the region of Man in western Côte d’Ivoire.

The main goal of this project has been threefold: first, to create an hboxintegrated course system under the name ‘Behavioural Science’ in which students of medicine and health sciences are provided with a set of social and behavioural sciences applicable to medicine; second, to develop a health status monitoring system by means of two surveys (Hungarostudy which collects data on the health status of the Hungarian adult population, and South Plain Youth Study which gathers data on the health status of the adolescent population); and third, to apply theoretical knowledge and empirical research results in the field of practice. In this case, practical prevention programmes and skills development training are planned and implemented. The phases are built on each other and multiple feedback systems are used to integrate them into a joint transdisciplinary project. The methods contained six main steps: (1) to collect the most relevant statistical data about the population’s health status, health needs and professional and public knowledge; (2) to apply a biopsychosocial approach to evaluate the statistical data and understand its background; (3) to introduce the biopsychosocial model in medical/health science courses; (4) to carry out surveys to collect information on the psychosocial aspects of the population’s health status, based on the biopsychosocial model; (5) to evaluate data from the surveys (Hungarostudy, South Plain Region Youth Study) and to develop prevention programmes and skills training; (6) to get continuous feedback from prevention programmes, including the updated statistical data. ∈dent

A system based theory was applied which provided a line of theories which contributed to the development of a systematic concept of transdisciplinary research.

Browsing by ungulates is broadly seen as a major problem for tree regeneration in Alpine forests. At the regional or local level, a resource management problem arises because there is still a lack of scientific knowledge about the long-term importance of herbivore impact on forest dynamics and because conflicting interests between different stakeholders such as foresters, hunters, farmers and nature conservationists persist. A common understanding of the problem and an agreement on the management aims are needed before an effective and broadly accepted wildlife and forest management strategy can be established.

Within the framework of the Swiss National Research Programme 48 (NRP 48, Landscapes and Habitats of the Alps) we developed instruments and procedures for solving a regional forest–wildlife conflict in a mountainous environment by means of a ‘platform for resource use negotiation’ and collaborative learning. A management concept has been developed, in consultation with all the relevant stakeholders, defining the most appropriate measures for improving the situation and based on a common understanding and common objectives. Particular emphasis has been given to involving the scientists of two projects of the NRP 48 as stakeholders in the platform. The active involvement of scientists, and mutual learning between scientists and practitioners, facilitated the conflict-solving process and produced an added value as revealed by an external evaluation of the learning process. The platform project was carried out in four conceptual phases and contributes new transdisciplinary knowledge about how to structure and implement a process of problem solving in the field of resource use negotiations.

This chapter reports on the transdisciplinary process initiated, structured and orchestrated by the Interdisciplinary Research Group on Suburbs (GIRBa) between September 2002 and November 2003 with the goal of redefining the future of postwar neighbourhoods in the City of Québec.

The developed methodology combined scientific analysis, action research and participatory design in an effort to identify which urban design and planning solutions could have a positive impact on the vitality of aging suburbs. Its successive phases involved a diagnosis of the demographic, physical and social characteristics of postwar suburbs, the definition of general orientations and objectives for retrofitting these suburbs, and the elaboration of a strategic revitalisation plan along with an implementation strategy.

Preliminary findings indicate that the process led participants to reach and share a better understanding of postwar suburbs, as well as to increase their capacity for action as professionals. Numerous aspects of the reflection on the future of postwar suburbs were also integrated into government planning policies, from the municipal to the provincial levels.

Participation is a core element of transdisciplinary research. A look at the different project descriptions reveals that participation is more prominent in the first and the third phase of the research process. Also, the intensity and the specific meaning of participation differ substantially between the projects. Transdisciplinary research could benefit from more reflexivity on questions such as who is empowered by participation, or on which criteria are used to decide who is in and who is out.

Transdisciplinary research and post-normal science (PNS) are a complementary pair of approaches to the new understanding of science. Post-normal science concentrates on questions like ‘what-about?’ and ‘what-if?’ The issue of ‘safety’ is an exemplar of the post-normal approach, since it cannot be managed by a linear, reductionist analysis.

The question of how transdisciplinary research contributes to scientific knowledge cannot be answered without calling into question a broadly accepted view of the nature of scientific knowledge. Transdisciplinary projects are mixtures of idiosyncratic and nomothetic knowledge structures and the strategies combine research, development, and implementation. The classification into four types of learning offers an analytical view without forcing the projects into epistemic boxes. Distinguishing different perspectives and models of collective learning lowers the burden of legitimising the ‘scientific value’ of case studies. This attempt to understand transdisciplinary research from an epistemological point of view employs categories developed in the 19th century for defining the differences between the humanities and the natural sciences. Transdisciplinary projects are equally committed to the disciplinary knowledge bases of the natural sciences and technologies and to the value-laden themes of the humanities, but also to procedural methods of the social sciences.

This introductory chapter discusses management problems associated with transdisciplinary (TD) research. The chapter gives an outline of the relevance and challenges of TD project management. The means and skills necessary for the effective coordination of transdisciplinary research are discussed. The two main tasks facing TD management are identified as: facilitating mutual learning, and enabling shared goal definition in heterogeneous teams. A number of recommendations for the management of transdisciplinary research are identified based on this discussion and on the empirical chapters in this volume.

When Roderick Lawrence and Carole Després introduced a special issue of the journal Futures on transdisciplinarity in 2004, they called it a word ‘à la mode’ (Lawrence and Després,2004). More attention has been paid in the literature to research practice. From the beginning, however, the concept was linked with the goal of changing higher education and its relationships to society. This chapter presents an overview of theoretical and conceptual frameworks for transdisciplinary (TD) education, curriculum models, in situ modes of learning in professional practice and community settings, and a culminating reflection on transdisciplinary skills.

Integration is a core feature of transdisciplinary research. The challenge we address is that there has been no systematic development of integration concepts and methods. Historically, crossing boundaries between disciplines and between research and practice became a particular feature of 20th century research. Three cognitive objectives influenced this development – (1) the ideal of a unity of all sciences and other disciplines, (2) solving problems in basic research by innovation, and (3) responding to the knowledge demands of the knowledge society.

We present key entry points for a more systematic discussion of integration methods. We develop a matrix with three basic types of collaboration – common group learning, deliberation among experts, and integration by a subgroup or individual – and four methods of integration – mutual understanding, theoretical concepts, models and products. After focusing ‘inwards’ on research methodology, we look ‘outwards’ at institutional support and constraints, and explore integration within and beyond science and integration across activities and across structures. Finally we explore the relationship between funding, capacity and demonstrated success, and argue that we are at a cross-roads which will determine whether this relationship becomes a vicious or virtuous cycle. We suggest that promoting a virtuous cycle requires the development of integrative methodology and a college of peers and outline steps towards this.

The following explanations of core terms in transdisciplinary research are meant to guide readers who are not familiar with transdisciplinary research or who are confused by the variety of meanings given to terms. It is important to keep in mind that the explanations refer to the use of terms in the context of transdisciplinary research – they do not provide general definitions. For instance the meaning of ‘actor’ as described below may not hold from a sociological or psychological perspective and is wrong in the context of a theatre. The explanations are taken from the ‘Principles for Designing Transdisciplinary Research’ (citeauthor*ch28:pohl2007, citeyearch28:pohl2007) and from the Handbook (Chapter 2). Authors of the Handbook were invited to refer to a preliminary and shorter version of term descriptions when writing their contributions, but they were free to use the terms in their own way.

The debate on transdisciplinarity is still fairly young and the process of transdisciplinary research is still being developed. This final chapter is an attempt to stimulate the debate on, and the development of, transdisciplinary research. With the 15 propositions, the editors of the Handbook take a position on the definition, scope and process of transdisciplinary research; then we give hints on how to deal with some of the most persistent stumbling blocks in transdisciplinary practice; and finally, we highlight the corner stones needed to face the scientific, the institutional and the societal challenge.