What is Trandisciplinarity?

 
 

This session a) provides a brief historical perspective on transdisciplinarity, b) discusses different forms of integrative knowledge production like interdisciplinarity, multidisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity, and c) introduces the two most common understandings of transdisciplinarity and common features. 

This session gives a short overview over 1) the history of science, thereby introducing the differentiation of science in disciplines, the differentiation between scientific and practical knowledge and the fragmentation of different types of methods, forms and norms (i.e. paradigms); and 2) how these debates and discussions relate to the discussions on science communication and whether and how this can help us to understand the possibilities and relevance of transdisciplinarity as a new framework for knowledge production.

This session focusses on how to do transdisciplinary research. Thereby the second understanding of transdisciplinarity which sees it as an operational modus of research connecting knowledge production and societal problems (see session “The History of Transdisciplinarity”) is in the center of interest. This presentation will a) introduce the ‘ideal’ phases of a transdisciplinary research project, b) discuss the challenges and c) lay out strategies presented for to coping with challenges that might accompany the implementation of transdisciplinary projects. Therefore, it is important to keep in mind that the focus is on researchers and their perspectives.