Source: Luisella Planeta LOVE PEACE, Pixabay, 2023
Transdisciplinary research aims at contributing to the understanding and promoting of societal change. This has been widely recognised in the scientific community and has been discussed in a several publications. However, what about the added value of transdisciplinary research for science?
A peer-reviewed scientific article by Oskar Marg and Lena Theiler (both ISOE - Institute for Social-Ecological Research) explores this question. The article was published in the journal "Research Evaluation" at the beginning of November 2023, and presents the results of topic line 2 of tdAcademy. Oskar Marg and Lena Theiler interviewed 22 scientists from the fields of environmental sociology, sustainable chemistry and participatory health research. All of the interviewees have already gained experience in transdisciplinary research and are firmly established in their disciplines; most of them hold professorships at German universities.
The exploratory study addresses a research gap by empirically demonstrating the added value of transdisciplinary research for science: Transdisciplinary research can produce new insights into the object of research and research results and increase the reflexivity of researchers in relation to their own discipline and to the science field as a whole.
In the second phase of the tdAcademy the topic of scientific effects and its interconnections with societal effects will be further explored in collaboration with topic line 1.
Marg, O., & Theiler, L. (2023). Effects of transdisciplinary research on scientific knowledge and reflexivity. Research Evaluation, rvad033. https://doi.org/10.1093/reseval/rvad033