In July 2024, results from tdAcademy will be presented at the conference of the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) and the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) in Amsterdam by Jasmin Wiefek, Emilia Nagy, and Martina Schäfer. In the panel contribution "Formative evaluation of transdisciplinary research for systematic impact orientation in real-world laboratories," we will introduce experiences with the approach of formative evaluation of transdisciplinary research in real-world laboratories.
Our approach aims to systematically enhance and document project-specific societal effects in transdisciplinary research projects. We use the Theory of Change (ToC) to establish an impact orientation in the project from the start. We clarify assumptions about impact pathways and foster a shared understanding among team members about the intended outputs and effects. Our formative evaluation approach is based on the development and regular review of project-specific ToCs and includes continuous data collection and joint reflection on the evaluation results within the project team. The method was developed within the project tdAcademy (see Schäfer et al. 2024).
We illustrate the application of our evaluation approach using two real-world laboratory-oriented projects: "Biodiversity Valuing & Valuation" (BioVal), where science and practice develop methods for corporate biodiversity management, and "UCKER Warentakt", which introduces new logistics services to strengthen public transport and reduce car traffic in a German rural region.
The panel "Impact assessment and formative evaluation as a core element of transformative research in real-world labs," featuring our contribution, will take place on Tuesday, July 16, from 4:00 to 5:30 PM.
More information can be found here: : https://nomadit.co.uk/conference/easst-4s2024/p/14440