Updates

13. November 2024

Workshop with Students from Leuphana University Lueneburg: Reflecting on the Context and Format of one’s own Transdisciplinary Research Project

On October 28, 2024, the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Oeko-Institute held a workshop on behalf of the tdAcademy with students from Leuphana University Lueneburg on the role of context, formats and methods in transdisciplinary research. The sustainability science students are currently working for a year in transdisciplinary research projects with actors from the local or regional level.

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13. November 2024

Report: Workshop on the Context-Sensitive Selection and Adaptation of Formats in Transdisciplinary Research – Towards an International Perspective

As part of the tdAcademy intersection work on the context dependency of formats, the Öko-Institut organised an online workshop together with the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). The workshop dealt with the relationship between contextual conditions and the selection and adaptation of formats in transdisciplinary (TD) research and emphasised the importance of international perspectives. The aim was therefore to improve the understanding and effectiveness of TD research by incorporating different perspectives from different cultures.

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30. September 2024

Getting to know Transdisciplinary Methods in Alt Empordà (Catalonia) – A Report on the Third International tdAcademy Summer School

The international tdAcademy Summer School 2024 had very good resonance and was successfully held, this time again in the region of l’Alt Empordà in Catalonia. 16 Master and PhD students with very different disciplinary and geographic backgrounds came together from 14th to 20th of September to learn about transdisciplinary methods and to apply them in an exemplary way to questions of regional land use conflicts. Read the report to learn more.

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26. September 2024

New SÖF Newsletter: “Sustainability Research in Cities and Regions” (German-speaking)

Interested in socio-ecological projects and sustainability research in urban and rural areas? We recommend the newsletter of the BMBF funding programm on Socio-Ecological Research (SÖF).

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25. September 2024

Save the Date: Final Conference of the tdAcademy - New Horizons in Transdisciplinary Research

From second to third April, we would like to celebrate the successful conlusion of the tdAcademy project with you. We cordially invite you to Frankfurt am Main to discuss the results of our work and actively shape the future of transdisciplinary research.

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22. Juli 2024

tdAcademy goes ITD24 – An Overview of the Contributions

This year's ITD24 conference “Inter- and Transdisciplinarity Beyond Buzzwords: Educational Pathways for Sustainable Research Collaborations” will take place in Utrecht, the Netherlands, from November 4-8, 2024. In this update, we would like to give you an overview of our contributions.

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22. Juli 2024

What is the current Status of the tdAcademy Fellowship Program and which Fellows we are going to Welcome in the final Project Phase?

The fellowship program of the tdAcademy is entering its final phase: the program is still available until March 2025 and is open to further interested candidates. In this post, we report on our current fellows, where they stand, what activities are still planned and which new members we will soon be welcoming.

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15. Juli 2024

New Publication on the Impact Reflection of Real-World Labs with the Help of Structuration Theory

Wanner et al. use sociological structuration theory to describe the medium and long-term effects of real-world labs. They analyse six projects of co-productive city-making at neighbourhood level.

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2. Juli 2024

Synergies and Trade-offs between Social and Scientific Effects of Transdisciplinary Research

On June 12, 2024, Topic Lines 1 (societal impact) and 2 (scientific impact) of the tdAcademy project organized a digital workshop on interlinkages of scientific and societal impact of transdisciplinary research. Read the short report to find out more about the process and results of the workshop.

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2. Juli 2024

New Publication on Forstering reflective Impact Orientation in Transdisciplinary Research

During the first funding phase of the tdAcademy, Martina Schäfer and Josefa Kny developed a workshop format to strengthen impact-oriented project management as well as research activities and tested it by monitoring the impact of seven transdisciplinary projects. Together with Emilia Nagy, they describe the procedure in detail in their article.

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12. Juni 2024

New Publication: Emergent Impacts of Real-World Lab Process

A new publication in GAIA is dedicated to the question of what social impacts arise from real-world laboratory processes. Using the “Future City Lüneburg 2030+” real-world laboratory as an example, the authors shed light on how these impacts can be better understood.

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11. Juni 2024

New Publication on Categories of and Pathways to Impact in Real-World Labs

New publication on real-world laboratories and social impacts has been published in GAIA. Based on empirical analyses of 48 projects, Kreß et al. examine and systematize categories of social impacts and their interrelationships as well as key principles for promoting these impacts.

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11. Juni 2024

Working Groups of the GTPF: Together for Transdisciplinary and Participatory Research

The working groups of the GTPF are the central place for discourse and content development within the professional society. With six already established and four in the process of being established, they offer all GTPF members the opportunity to actively participate in the developments of the GTPF. The tdAcademy is also active in the working groups. Learn more about the thematic focuses and the current work program of the respective working groups.

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11. Juni 2024

Panel Contribution at the EASST-4S Conference 2024: Formative Evaluation of Real-World Laboratories

In July 2024, the tdAcademy will be represented with a panel contribution at the EASST-4S Conference in Amsterdam. Jasmin Wiefek, Emilia Nagy, and Martina Schäfer will present their approach to the formative evaluation of transdisciplinary research. The method was developed within the project tdAcademy (see Schäfer et al. 2024). Using practical examples from two research projects, they will illustrate the application of their evaluation approach.

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4. Juni 2024

Job Vacancy: Student Assistant for the tdAcademy in Karlsruhe

KIT ITAS in Karlsruhe is looking for a student assistant (40-52 h/M) for the tdAcademy project starting July 1. Application until June 10.

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9. April 2024

Join now: Interesting working groups in the Society for Transdisciplinary and Participatory Research (GTPF)

tdAcademy has initiated the founding of the Society for Transdisciplinary and Participatory Research (GTPF, German speaking) in May 2023. Members of the tdAcademy are also active in establishing working groups in the GTPF (German speaking) which pursue foci of different topic lines.

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3. April 2024

New Publication on the Evaluation of Transdisciplinary Projects Published

Explore our new publication presenting a framework for evaluating the societal impact of transdisciplinary research in real-world laboratories. Our Design Report introduces a comprehensive approach to formative evaluation, highlighting examples from biodiversity management and consumer logistics projects.

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3. April 2024

We Talked About it! In Conversation with Yonne Siegmund and Laura Brings on the Topic of Emotions in Participatory Research and Transformation Processes

The tdAcademy, the Center for Technology and Society (ZTG) and the Science and Society staff unit at TU Berlin have once again invited participants to an informal discussion as part of the "Let's talk about it" series. This time with Yvonne Siegmund and Laura Brings on dealing with emotions in participatory research and transformation processes.

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3. April 2024

Available now: Online-course on Narratives in Sustainability Transformations

The tdAcademy fellow group on narratives in transdisciplinary processes has developed an online course on the role of narratives in transformations. The online course can be used both as a self-study course and as open educational material in teaching. The course materials are in English.

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24. März 2024

Isabella Radhuber reports on her Time as a tdAcademy Fellow

Isabella Radhuber was a tdAcademy Fellow at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) for three months. She provides us with insights into her activities and experiences during this time and how her perspective on transdisciplinary research has evolved.

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11. März 2024

TdAcademy Fellow Groups in Frankfurt discussed “good” Transformations with ISOE Members

Two tdAcademy Fellow Groups met ISOE members in Frankfurt in November 2023. The exchange was about "good transformations" and critical social science skills in transdisciplinary transformative change initiatives.

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6. März 2024

Get to Know the tdAcademy Team... Regina Rhodius

As part of the series "get to know the tdAcademy team", you had the opportunity to learn more about the "new ones" in the team, their exciting backgrounds and interests over the past few months. Now, we would like to introduce you to the colleagues who have been with us from the very beginning and contributed to building up the tdAcademy. Today, we are pleased to introduce Regina Rhodius (Senior researcher in the topic line 4, OEKO-INSTITUT e.V.).

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8. Februar 2024

GTPF Working Group on Impact is Launched

The working group "Impacts" was established at the annual assembly of the Society for Transdisciplinary and Participatory Research (GTPF) on 22.11.2023 in Chemnitz on the initiative of the ZTG and ISOE. The group's first working meeting took place on January 29, 2024 with 36 participants from a wide range of disciplines and institutions involved in participatory, transdisciplinary and citizen science. Other interested persons are warmly invited to join.

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7. Februar 2024

GTPF Working Group on Formats, Methods and Context consolidates Itself

On 12 January 2024, a group of 15 people met to initiate the establishment of a working group on "Formats, methods and context". The kick-off online meeting was used to get to know each other and agree on expectations and goals.

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7. Februar 2024

Get to Know the tdAcademy Team... Lena Theiler

As part of the series "get to know the tdAcademy team", you had the opportunity to learn more about the "new ones" in the team, their exciting backgrounds and interests over the past few months. Now, we would like to introduce you to the colleagues who have been with us from the very beginning and contributed to building up the tdAcademy. Today, we are pleased to introduce Lena Theiler (project team member, topic line 2, ISOE – Institute for Social-Ecological research).

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6. Februar 2024

Get to Know the tdAcademy team... Oskar Marg

As part of the series "get to know the tdAcademy team", you had the opportunity to learn more about the "new ones" in the team, their exciting backgrounds and interests over the past few months. Now, we would like to introduce you to the colleagues who have been with us from the very beginning and contributed to building up the tdAcademy. Today, we are pleased to introduce Oskar Marg (project team member, topic line 2, ISOE – Institute for Social-Ecological research).

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22. Januar 2024

Video (EN): The What and How of Transdisciplinary (TD) Learning

On 6 December 2023, the tdAcademy fellowship group “Transdisciplinary Learning Towards Collective Transformation” hosted a webinar, sharing their experiences on TD learning. You couldn't be there or would like to listen again? Watch the recording in full length. 

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14. Dezember 2023

Get to Know the tdAcademy Team...Jasmin Wiefek

With the start of the second funding phase of the tdAcademy on June 1, 2023, we welcomed some new colleagues who have been enriching our team with their different backgrounds and enthusiasm for transdisciplinary research for several weeks now.  With the series "Get to know the tdAcademy team" you can learn more about the "new ones". Today we are pleased to introduce you to Jasmin Wiefek (Project Associate, ZTG/TU Berlin).

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11. Dezember 2023

Get to Know the tdAcademy Team...Emilia Nagy

With the start of the second funding phase of the tdAcademy on June 1, 2023, we welcomed some new colleagues who have been enriching our team with their different backgrounds and enthusiasm for transdisciplinary research for several weeks now.  With the series "Get to know the tdAcademy team" you can learn more about the "new ones". Today we are pleased to introduce you to Emilia Nagy (Project Associate, Topic Line 1, ZTG/TU Berlin).

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4. Dezember 2023

Get to Know the tdAcademy Team...Annika Weiser

With the start of the second funding phase of the tdAcademy on June 1, 2023, we welcomed some new colleagues who have been enriching our team with their different backgrounds and enthusiasm for transdisciplinary research for several weeks now.  With the series "Get to know the tdAcademy team" you can learn more about the "new ones". Today we are pleased to introduce you to Annika Weiser (Project Associate, Topic Line 3, ITAS KIT).

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4. Dezember 2023

High Involvement of tdAcademy-Members at PartWiss 23

From 22 to 24 November 2023, the "Second Conference on Networking and Strengthening Participation in Science" (in German language) took place in Chemnitz. The tdAcademy was involved with several panels. We were very pleased about the inspiring discussions with members of various research communities.

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1. Dezember 2023

GTPF General Assembly attracts a lot of Interest

On November 22, 2023, the german-speaking Society for Transdisciplinary and Participatory Research held its first major general assembly in Chemnitz in advance of PartWiss 23. The GTPF now has nearly 200 members and is looking forward to welcoming further new members.

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14. November 2023

New Article on the Scientific Effects of Transdisciplinary Research Published

Recent literature on the evaluation of transdisciplinary research has focused almost entirely on the societal effects. But what about the added value of transdisciplinary research for science? An article published by topic line 2 explores this question.

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3. November 2023

Get to Know the tdAcademy Team...Nina Frölich

With the start of the second funding phase of the tdAcademy on June 1, 2023, we welcomed some new colleagues who have been enriching our team with their different backgrounds and enthusiasm for transdisciplinary research for several weeks now.  With the series "Get to know the tdAcademy team" you can learn more about the "new ones". Today we are pleased to introduce you to Nina Frölich (Project Associate, Topic Line 3, ITAS KIT).

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1. November 2023

We talked about it! Discussing the proposed „Reallabor-Act“ with Regina Rhodius (Öko Institut e.V.)

The tdAcademy, the Center for Technology and Society (ZTG), and the Science and Society Department of the TU Berlin have once again invited for an informal exchange in the discussion series 'Let's talk about it'.

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15. Oktober 2023

Experimenting with Transdisciplinary Research - using the example of Climate Adaptation of Cities. Report on the first Trinational tdacademy Summer School of the Öko-Institut in cooperation with EUCOR

From 25.09. to 29.09. the first trinational Summer School took place at the Studienhaus Wiesneck (Buchenbach, close to Freiburg), conceptualized and organized by the Öko-Institut in cooperation with EUCOR and the University of Freiburg. 20 Master and PhD students from 20 disciplines from the trinational EUCOR region spent five days intensively working on formats and methods of transdisciplinary research using the example of urban climate adaptation. 

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4. Oktober 2023

Getting to know Transdisciplinary Methods in Rural Areas of Brandenburg – A Report on the Second International tdAcademy Summer School

The second international tdAcademy Summer School took place in 2023 and found positive resonance once again. 19 Master and PhD students with very different disciplinary and geographic backgrounds came together in Bad Freienwalde from 17th to 22nd September to learn about transdisciplinary methods and to apply them in an exemplary way to questions in rural areas of north-eastern Brandenburg. For all participants, this was an exciting and enriching continuation of the Summer School cooperation between the tdAcademy team at the ZTG and the ISST of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC).

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16. August 2023

Get to Know the tdAcademy Team...Michael Kreß-Ludwig

With the start of the second funding phase of the tdAcademy on June 1, 2023, we welcomed some new colleagues who have been enriching our team with their different backgrounds and enthusiasm for transdisciplinary research for several weeks now.  With the series "Get to know the tdAcademy team" you can learn more about the "new ones". Second up is Michael Kreß-Ludwig (project coordination, main office, ISOE).

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16. August 2023

Get to Know the tdAcademy team...Chantal Krumm

With the start of the second funding phase of the tdAcademy on June 1, 2023, we welcomed some new colleagues who have been enriching our team with their different backgrounds and enthusiasm for transdisciplinary research for several weeks now.  With the series "Get to know the tdAcademy team" you can learn more about the "new ones". The first one is Chantal Krumm (research assistant, main office, ISOE).

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16. August 2023

TdAcademy-Fellows Workshop: Narratives of Change in transdisciplinary Projects

What role do narratives play in shaping inclusive transdisciplinary processes? This is the question addressed by the tdAcademy Fellowgroup "Fostering inclusivity and transformative research through narratives in transdisciplinary processes". Different perspectives on this question are the result of a workshop with experts from science and practice.

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1. August 2023

Call for applications: position of a full professor of Social Ecology in Vienna.

The University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU) seeks to appoint a Full Professor of Social Ecology with 1st December 2023. Apply until 15th September 2023.

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18. Juli 2023

The tdAcademy Project enters its Second Funding Phase

Since June, the second phase of the tdAcademy project has commenced, with a research focus on exploring the interfaces between the topic lines.

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7. Juni 2023

Transdisciplinarity and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) – a look Back to the Roots and a look into the Future of Educational Institutions

In April and May 2023, the fellow group on Transdisciplinarity for Holistic Sustainability Education: New Learning Approaches spent two months at Leuphana. In this short report you will learn more about the work of the Fellows.

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5. Juni 2023

On the Future Design of continuing Education Programs in transdisciplinary Research - Insights from tdAcademy.

In this article, Farina Tolksdorf and Celina Bittger (Topic Line 3) report the findings of the tdAcademy collected in the first phase of the project on continuing education programmes in the context of transdisciplinary research.

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5. Mai 2023

Position Paper: Impulses for transdisciplinary and participatory Research

The tdAcademy group of supporting partners has published a position paper on the promotion of transdisciplinarity as well as participatory and transformative approaches in science, business, civil society and politics. Support the cause with your signature!

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4. Mai 2023

New Publication of the Fellow Group "Societal Impact" Published

The tdAcademy Fellow Group "Societal Impact" present the results of their collaboration on " Measuring and Evaluating Societal Impact" in their paper recently published in GAIA. Read now!

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1. April 2023

Society for transdisciplinary & participatory research: Project management wanted in Berlin!

The TU Berlin is looking for a projectmanager (m/f/x) to establish and manage an office within the newly founded Society for Transdisciplinary and Participatory Research. Application deadline: May 1, 2023.

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1. April 2023

Fellow Spring: Numerous New Fellow Groups in the tdAcademy

At the beginning of spring, we are looking forward to exciting and promising fellow groups visiting the partner institutes of the tdAcademy in the coming weeks and months and do research on a variety of topics relevant to transdisciplinary research.

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20. März 2023

Participate Now: Online Survey tdAcademy – Towards a dynamic Knowledge & exchange Platform

We ask for your participation in our short online survey for the further development and optimization of the tdAcademy online hub. Please take about 5 minutes of your time and give us feedback!

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7. Dezember 2022

Video (EN): The responsive and constitutive Character of Transdisciplinarity: Consequences for higher Education

The webinar with Ulli Vilsmaier (Responsive Research Collective, Switzerland) on is now available online.

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5. November 2022

Video (EN): Webinar: Transdisciplinary Research for Sustainable Rural Development in the Mexican context: knowledge co-production and rural change

The webinar with Ana Burgos (Autonomous University of Mexico, UNAM) is now available online.

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1. Oktober 2022

“Transdisciplinarity provides a much more participatory vision of the world!” Interview about the tdAcademy International Summer School 2022

In September 2022, the first Summer School of the tdAcademy took place. Two participating students talked with Gemma Tejedor (ISST/UPC) about the format and its pilot implementation.

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30. Juli 2022

Video (EN): Webinar on developing Theories of Change in inter- and transdisciplinary Contexts

In the webinar „Keep rol(l)ing! Developing Theories of Change in inter- and transdisciplinary contexts“ on July 12, 2022, the tdAcademy team at ZTG and Sabine Hoffmann (eawag) presented the results of their collaborative working process.

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30. Juli 2022

Video (EN): Webinar with Gemma Tejedor and Jordi Segalas on the topic "Introducing Transdiciplinary to Higher Education"

The webinar with Gemma Tejedor and Jordi Segalas (ISST/UPC) on "Introducing Transdisciplinarity in Higher Education" is now available online.

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20. Juli 2022

Interview with tdAcademy Fellow Tamara Mitrofanenko on her TD work and contextual Dependencies

In this short interview Tamara talks about her time at tdAcademy and reflects on her past and current points of contact with transdisciplinary research and contextual dependencies.

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1. April 2022

Video (German): Webinar with Peter Wehling on disputes about the Scientificity of TD Research

In this webinar, Peter Wehling analyses the relationship between established science and transdisciplinarity and deconstructs the most common objections towards transdisciplinarity.

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20. März 2022

DTdT22 Workshop: Capacity Building for Transdisciplinary Research

In March 2022, the tdAcademy conducted a workshop together with the Schader Foundation on how educational offerings promote mutual learning and design processes.

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25. Februar 2022

Video: Webinar with Sadaf Taimur on Design Thinking in Higher Education

Watch the recording from our Webinar with Sadaf Taimur on 'Design thinking as Digital Transformative Pedagogy in Higher Sustainability Education.'

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15. Dezember 2021

Video (German only): Florian Knutzen on participating in our Impact Workshop

Florian Knutzen (GERICS, Helmholtz Center Hereon) talks about his experiences from our Impact Workshop.

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9. Dezember 2021

Documentation: Webinar on Hegemony in institutional Transformation

In the webinar on December 9th, 2021, tdAcademy-Fellows Livia Fritz and Ulli Vilsmaier elaborated on and discussed the concept of hegemony in the work of Antonio Gramsci.

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1. Dezember 2021

2nd Meeting of the tdAcademy Supporting Partners

On November 26th 2021, the Supporting Partners of the tdAcademy met virtually for their second meeting.

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15. Oktober 2021

Video: Presentation on “Action-oriented knowledge for sustainability”

As a kickoff of the tdAcademy Capacity Building event series Guido Caniglia and Christopher Luederitz shared fruitful insights into action-oriented knowledge for sustainability with us on September 21, 2021.

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1. Oktober 2021

Workshop Summary: ECR Session on Capacity Building needs at ITD21

Results from the early-career session as part of the ITD Conference in September 2021

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20. September 2021

#ITD21 Session: Call for Contributions "How to assess societal impact of research"

At the ITD Conference 2021, topic line 1 will be present with a session on impact assessment and reflection. Interested researchers can already contribute in advance.

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15. September 2021

Feedback on the tdAcademy Events Calendar

Please provide feedback to our event calendar and our current  capacity-building offers. In this way you help us to improve and diversify our offers!
 

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15. September 2021

ITD Session: Potentials and Limitations of Theory of Change (ToC)

In preparation for the session, we present the submissions for the ITD workshop on ToC.

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1. September 2021

Video: Simone Rödder on the tdAcademy

Simone Rödder, elected member of the tdAcademy Steering Committee, talks about her role and the importance of the tdAcademy group of Supporting Partners.

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20. August 2021

ITD Session: How to assess Societal Impact of Research

In preparation for the session, we present the submissions for the ITD workshop on impact assessment.

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1. August 2021

Short Report: Dialogue Forums in Topic Line 4

In March and July 2021, two dialogue forums for scientists and practitioners with different methodological approaches took place. The short report summarizes the process and results of the workshops.

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26. Juli 2021

Video: (German) Christoph Siemers on Impact Workshop

Christoph Siemers from Stadtentwässerung Braunschweig GmbH talks about his experiences and impressions of the tdAcademy impact workshop. 

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22. Juli 2021

Video: Caroline Fernolend on Impact Workshop

Caroline Fernolend (Mihai Eminescu Trust) reports on her experience from the tdAcademy Impact Workshop.

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22. Juli 2021

Video: Flurin Cappis on Impact Workshop

Flurin Cappis from the Economic, Energy and Environment Directorate of the Canton Bern on the tdAcademy Impact Workshop.

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8. Juli 2021

Video (German): Feedback on Impact Workshop

Several workshops on impact reflection have taken place in the topic line Societal Effects. Participant Stephanie Moser (CDE, University of Bern) shares her insights in the video (in German).

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10. Juni 2021

Video (German): Feedback on Impact Workshop

The first workshops on impact reflection have taken place in the topic line Societal Effects. Participant Hannah Sachße shares her insights in the video (in German).

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21. Mai 2021

Video: Christian Pohl on the tdAcademy

Christian Pohl, elected member of the tdAcademy Steering Committee, talks about his role and the importance of the tdAcademy group of Supporting Partners.

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