Creating Inspiring Workshops and Courses in Transdisciplinarity: A Guide - Manual / Resource - Page 99
Integrating different 昀椀elds of expertise
Practices in transdisciplinary research
Integrating different 昀椀elds of expertise
Integration
Why is integration central to TD?
Integration is seen as a crucial challenge and opportunity in
transdisciplinary research. Different scholars define integration
differently, but it generally involves exploring whether and how
it makes sense to relate various separate elements, entities, or
issues to each other, and then working toward achieving this
cohesion. This can concern knowledge of different kinds and with
different content, mindsets, theories, linguistic forms, models
and concepts, values and norms, and ways of sense-making, as
well as methods and practices from different expert communities
from science and practice.
What are the bene昀椀ts of integration?
Integration is important in transdisciplinary research, because it
leads to a more comprehensive and integrative understanding of
an issue. It also typically results in greater clarity on where and
why it makes more sense to work with a plurality of perceptions.
Integration is useful for developing a shared understanding,
and at the same time clarifies its limits. Integration can be
understood as a learning process in which people may question,
adapt, or extend their own understandings and views.
How is integration accomplished?
In TDR projects, it is not only important to achieve integration
of different types of disciplinary expertise, methods, and
Practices Integration
knowledge, but also the integration of scientific and tacit
knowledge (e.g., traditional ecological, organizational, or practical
knowledge, as well as different ways of knowing).
Integration is not assigned to a specific phase in transdisciplinary
research but remains an issue throughout the entire duration of
the project. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to integration,
because each project varies in many ways. Various methods have
been proposed to integrate different types of expertise, and the
development of methods, tools, and processes to support project
teams in transdisciplinary research is ongoing.
Further reading:
•
Deutsch, Lisa, Sabine, Hoffmann. 2023. Integration
in inter- and transdisciplinary research: how can the
leadership challenges be addressed? Integration and
Implementation. February 14, 2023.
•
Klein, Julie Thompson. 2016. Integration – Part 1: The
‘What. Integration and Implementation Insights. August
30, 2016.
•
Pohl, Christian, Julie Thompson Klein, Sabine Hoffmann,
Cynthia Mitchell, and Dena Fam. 2021. Conceptualising
Transdisciplinary Integration as a Multidimensional
Interactive Process. Environmental Science & Policy 118
(April): 18–26.
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