Transdisciplinary Research and Sustainability

Transdisciplinarity is a new way of scientifically meeting the challenges of sustainability. Indeed, interdisciplinary collaboration and co-operation with non-academic 'practice partners' is at the core of this; creating contextualised, socially relevant knowledge about complex real-world problems. Transdisciplinary Research and Sustainability breaks new ground by presenting transdisciplinary research in practice, drawing on recent advances by the vibrant transdisciplinary research communities in the German-speaking world. It describes methodological innovations developed to address wide-ranging contemporary issues including climate change adaptation, energy policy, sustainable agriculture and soil conservation. Furthermore, the authors reflect on the challenges involved in integrating non-academic actors in scientific research, on the tensions that arise in the encounter of theory and praxis, and on the inherently normative, political nature of sustainability research. Highlighting the need for academic institutions to be transformed to reflect transdisciplinarity, this timely volume will appeal to postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers interested in fields such as Sustainability Science, Transdisciplinary Studies and Philosophy of Science.

Martina Padmanabhan is W3 Chair of Comparative Development and Cultural Studies - Southeast Asia, University of Passau, Germany

Preface: Bernhard Gläser & Heike Egner, series editors Foreword by the editor: Martina Padmanabhan Introduction: Transdisciplinarity for sustainability Martina Padmanabhan Section 1: Understanding sustainability science as challenge and necessity A transdisciplinary approach to the process of socio-technical transformation: the case of German 'Energiewende' Armin Grunwald Real-world laboratories as an institutionalisation of the new social contract between science and society Mandy Singer-Brodowski & Matthias Wanner & Uwe Schneidewind Transdisciplinarity in social-ecological research: Constraints, challenges and opportunities. Reflections on personal experience Sabine Hofmeister Section 2: Cooperating with partners of practice From the plurality of transdisciplinarity to concrete transdisciplinary methods. The case of PoNa and its dialogue with practitioners on a picture discourse analysis. Daniela Gottschlich & Jedrzej Sulmowski Social learning videos: A method for successful collaboration between science and practice Patricia Fry Developing landscape scenarios and identifying local management options: Outcomes and evaluation of a participatory approach in the Swabian Alb, Germany Claudia Bieling, Holger Gerdes, Bettina Ohnesorge, Tobias Plieninger, Harald Schaich, Christian Schleyer, Kathrin Trommler & Franziska Wolff Section 3: Pursuing methodological innovations for transdisciplinarity This is the case (study) - so what? Reflections on a constitutive tension in sustainability science Rafael Ziegler Facilitating change: Methodologies for collaborative learning with stakeholders Anja Christinck & Brigitte Kaufmann Dream team or evil twins? International tandems in transdisciplinary research Martina Padmanabhan Section 4: Policy Interface: Creating dialogues with policy makers Die Landforscher: Independent researchers networking for sustainable agriculture Andrea Fink-Keßler & Karin Jürgens Prospective scenario planning in collaborative transdisciplinary research Ingo Neumann Neumann &, Sonja Deppisch Policy foresight: Conceptual ideas on how to engage with dynamics of policy instrument design Carsten Mann & Jan-Peter Voss Outlook: The future of transdisciplinarity Martina Padmanabhan