“Transdisciplinary research is an approach to understanding and solving societal problems by bringing together different knowledge streams.”

-Caroline Adler

Last week our MEES 620 class discussed the last but not least approach: transdisciplinary approaches¹. During the class, we also had an exercise by positioning ourselves on the undisciplinary compass adapted from Haider et al. (2017) and realized the limitation of the compass pointed out by Dr. Rose⁴. Before we dive into the following content, let us refresh the meaning of transdisciplinary research by reading the quote above and noticing that transdisciplinary research is problem-oriented by integrating perspectives from different disciplines. When it comes to sustainability science, complex environmental issues augment the collaboration needs across disciplines to synthesize knowledge and inform solutions for sustainable management⁵. Currently, it is very exciting to see the emergence of boundary organizations, which provides an excellent platform for conducting interdisciplinary research, so what does boundary organization mean? A boundary organization is an organization that could promote collaboration and knowledge flow among various disciplines as well as the research and public policy community⁷. The National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) is a great example of boundary organization by bringing natural scientific knowledge with human behavior and decision-making to solve environmental issues⁷. However, it is not that easy to establish these boundary organizations without a large number of investments put in and a team with a combination of unique skills.

Collaborating with non-academic stakeholders, as the core of transdisciplinary research, is critical to achieving sustainability⁸. Stakeholders refer to the group of people with different expertise in a research question who both are interested and impacted by this particular issue². Acknowledging the significance and valuable inputs from stakeholders is the premise of co-production. Taken from my research project as an example, during the early development of models constructing N flows in crop and livestock systems, involving stakeholders representing different perspectives in N management, such as farmers, agency, academic, private sector/industry could help us better target possible socioeconomic and ecological drivers with nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and better improve the model. However, we have to admit that academic scientists and non-academic stakeholders are not used to working together so there are some big gaps that we need to overcome³. The valley of wasted knowledge is described as a place where the most recent sustainability research never got to the hands of practitioners and also ideas generated from practitioners never researched by academics, resulting from different languages and purposes from two sides³. So, how can we bridge the gap between academics and practitioners?

Irwin et al. (2018) pointed out that the legacy reward system is the essential mismatch hindering the development of transdisciplinary research⁵. That means researchers are still rewarded based on the number of papers and grants that they lead, which are considered as their achievements at the personal level under disciplinary-based contexts⁵. However, sustainability science needs collaboration across disciplines to integrate knowledge and move beyond the disciplinary boundary. Some suggestions are put forward to solve this mismatch. For example, non-academic products, such as sustainable development plans for local communities, should also be considered as important research outcomes produced from transdisciplinary work⁵. Moreover, during the promotion process, acknowledging collaborative contribution by obtaining inputs from non-academic stakeholders is also critical in incentivizing transdisciplinary work⁵. Another possibility is to involve practitioners in the proposal review process to guarantee the funding goes to the collaboration work addressing the particular issue with practical significance⁵.

From above, we keep emphasizing the importance and highlighting some potential solutions for promoting transdisciplinary research, but please don’t forget that disciplinary-based research is also inseparable from achieving sustainability. Recall from one of the readings by Haider et al. (2017), researchers created an undisciplinary compass for helping readers reflect their current position in the research process, the upper right quadrant is advocated as the ultimate goal for conducting rigorous sustainability science successfully⁴. However, connecting with our class discussion, there is no so-called good or bad in the four quadrants here, and we do need experts from different trained research backgrounds. For example, in the development of evaluating the climate mitigation capacity of innovative agricultural management practices such as cover crop, we do need to have researchers who belong to the “disciplinary immersion” quadrant, specializing in soil microbiology in understanding the impacts of below-ground mechanisms on the above-ground greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions⁶.

In all, promoting conversation and cooperation from different perspectives such as academia, stakeholders, and communities can help generate creative approaches in addressing environmental issues jointly by transcending the disciplinary boundary. But as we mentioned earlier, highlighting the significance of transdisciplinary studies is not to discount the necessity and importance of disciplinary-based research, the key is to narrow the gap between research findings provided by the academic side and practical solutions indicated from findings.

References:

1. Dennison, B. (2018, September 5). New Environment & Society course launched. Retrieved from https://ian.umces.edu/blog/new-environment-society-course-launched/
2. Effect of Sustainability on Stakeholders. (2021, May 18). Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/effect-sustainability-stakeholders-35892.html
3. Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation. Bridging the Valley of Wasted Knowledge. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rlWEyadz4I
4. Haider, L.J., Hentati-Sundberg, J., Giusti, M. et al. (2018). The undisciplinary journey: early-career perspectives in sustainability science. Sustain Sci, 13, 191–204. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-017-0445-1
5. Irwin, E.G., Culligan, P.J., Fischer-Kowalski, M. et al. (2018). Bridging barriers to advance global sustainability. Nat Sustain, 1, 324–326. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0085-1
6. Lameiras, M.M. (2021, November 11). CAES combines research and Extension efforts to develop climate solutions. Retrieved from https://newswire.caes.uga.edu/story/8793/changing-world.html
7. SESYNC About. Retrieved from https://www.sesync.org/about
8. Who: Stakeholder Engagement? Retrieved from https://www.uu.nl/en/research/transdisciplinary-field-guide/in-practice/who-stakeholder-engagement