Foundations of Inter- and Transdisciplinary Research

Scope

Urgent and complex environmental and sustainability research often needs a combination of scientific insights, as well as the support and knowledge of those who can implement the findings or are affected by the changes required. This requires researchers to transcend their disciplinary knowledge and seek collaboration and knowledge integration both among different academic disciplines (interdisciplinary) and with people outside academia (transdisciplinary). Implementing inter- and transdisciplinary research approaches is not easy, nor straightforward. This type of research not only requires different skills and competencies from researchers, but also a different approach to how they design the research process, with whom and how they collaborate, and what type of societal and scientific impact and outcomes the research endeavors to achieve.

So which factors come into play now that you are taking an inter- or transdisciplinary approach, how do you plan, reflect on, and adjust your process?

This interactive course is designed to provide participants with foundational concepts, tools, and experiences to translate inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to their own research. Five themes help participants to consider the various aspects of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches: the individual, collaboration, outcomes, the research process and reflection.

Learning goals

At the end of the course, participants are expected to be able to:

•Develop conceptual foundations for the individual, collaboration, outcomes, process, and reflection for interdisciplinary (ID) and transdisciplinary (TD) research approaches

•Experience and reflect on practical implications of applying these concepts and related tools

•Translate ID and TD concepts and techniques related to the individual, collaboration, outcomes, process, and reflection to their own research.

Principal themes

The course will explore the concepts of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches to research, by providing participants with the theory, practical considerations, tools and experience in order to apply their learnings to their own research.

During the course we focus on 5 different themes:

• The Individual (Positionality, individual skills and competencies needed)
• Collaboration (Working with people from different backgrounds, why, who, and how)
• Outcomes (How to envision various outcomes and include different people's needs)
• Process (Process design, forms of collaboration, integration of various data etc.)
• Reflection (Various forms for different purposes for iterative processes and learning)

We will approach the themes by grounding them scientifically, providing practical tools and real world examples. Participants will work on real-life cases where case givers present questions they would like to gain deeper insights in.

Programme

Each day combines conceptual background, practical tools, opportunities to gain experience in the five themes, and exercises to help participants translate the learned material to their own work. Embedded in the course are real-life cases that the participants will work on to gain experiences in inter- and transdisciplinary approaches. After the course, there will be opportunities to reconnect and discuss practical experiences and challenges encountered.

Day 1 The Individual

• Why interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary approaches in my research?
• Complexity, positionality (what does a researcher come in with), relationality
• Skills and competencies related to inter- and transdisciplinarity

Day 2 Collaboration

• How to develop an inter- and transdisciplinary community
• Reasoning behind selecting different forms of collaborations
• Ideal vs practical limits and the ethics of deciding who is in and who out - Making collaborative processes explicit, e.g. building trust and team development

Day 3 Outcomes

• Vision creation (making of, alignment), what kind of transformation (shared starting values or shared horizon), goal-setting
• Shared vision-making
• Perspective-taking practice
• Ethical implications of outcomes

Day 4 Process -

• Inter- and transdisciplinary process design
• Practical tools and experience for structuring collaborative moments

Day 5 Reflection

• Exploring forms and purposes of different modes of reflection
• Practice and experience with using and designing different forms of reflection

General information

Registration requirements

This is an interactive course and requires your active participation for the duration of the week 9-13 December, 2024.

In order to participate, we ask you to include a short motivation (max 750 words) in your course registration where you address the following three questions:

• What is your understanding of inter- and transdisciplinary research?
• Why are inter- or transdisciplinary concepts important for your research?
• In what ways can you contribute to the learning environment in the course (e.g. skills, experience, insights)?

When we go over the maximum number of registrations this motivation will be used to select participants. You will be informed if you are accepted at the latest one week after the registration deadline. After this deadline, we will use your motivation to check if you meet the course requirements before admitting you to the course.

You can register for the course here. Registration closes on the 31^st of October. Register before the 14th of September to qualify for the early bird fee.

Mandatory required knowledge

We expect participants to have a starting understanding of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary concepts, and to have an interest and motivation to apply these concepts to their current or future work.

Group size

Maximum: 24 participants

Credit points

2 ECTS

Fee

Fee includes tea, coffee, lunch during the course, and one dinner. The fee does not include accommodation.

In case you need to find a place to stay we recommend you to look at Airnbnb, booking.com or https://www.shortstaywageningen.nl. Alternatively you can have a look at hotel De Wageningsche Berg or WICC. If you prefer to stay at a campsite you can have a look at de Wielerbaan or Quadenoord. When searching in Wageningen does not provide you with any options, try Bennekom, Ede, Rhenen or Renkum.

Note:
For people from outside of WUR: If you need an invoice to complete your payment, please send an email to wimek@wur.nl, including ALL relevant details that should be mentioned on the invoice (e.g., purchase order no., specific addresses, attendees, etc.).

The Early-Bird policy is such that the moment of REGISTRATION (and not payment) is leading for determining what fee that applies to you.

Please make sure that your payment is arranged within two weeks after your participation has been confirmed, according to the instructions stated in the confirmation email. Your registration is only completed once we have received your payment.

It is the participant's responsibility to make sure that they (or their secretary) complete the payment correctly and in time

Cancellation conditions

Up to 8 (eight) weeks prior to the start of the course, cancellation is free of charge.

Up to 4 (four) weeks prior to the start of the course, a fee of 50% of the full costs will be charged.

In case of cancellation within four weeks prior to the start of the course, a fee of 100% of the full costs will be charged.

If you do not show at all, a fee of 100% of the full costs and a fine of 100 EUR will be charged.

Note: If you would like to cancel your registration, ALWAYS inform us.

Also note that when there are not enough participants, we can cancel the course. We will inform you if this is the case a week after the early bird deadline. Please take this into account when arranging your trip to the course (i.e. check the re-imbursement policies).