From idealised transdisciplinary research to reality : Reflections from research practitioners

Summary

The actual real-life challenges that research practitioners (and others) face when attempting to work transdisciplinarily are not well documented. To encourage reflection, WUR organised the Wageningen Integration for Impact event in June 2022. Based on an analysis of lessons learned during this event, and a number of subsequent reflection sessions, a group of mostly WUR researchers developed this report. The aim is to identify strategies to overcome often experienced challenges among researchers engaging in transdisciplinary research. We developed a number of recommendations: 1. Embed learning about transdisciplinary research better in the organisational culture. 2. Acknowledge and value the expertise that is required to bring together different types of knowledge. 3. Identify and apply specific selection criteria for project leaders and business developers, so that people are selected based on their expertise in managing transdisciplinary projects. 4. Acknowledge that politics are part and parcel of transdisciplinary research and develop a clear vision on how to navigate knowledge politics as WUR. 5. Lobby for more flexible and longer-term funding; apply this to internal research projects. 6. Strengthen and professionalize transdisciplinary education at BSc, MSc and PhD level, as students are the future. 7. Build on and nourish the positive energy that exists within knowledge institutes among a growing group of researchers who is eager to work transdisciplinarily. The above mentioned suggestions could result in a (WUR) community which, on the longer-term, could contribute significantly to the co-creation of societally relevant solutions but also to bringing the conceptual discussions about transdisciplinarity to a higher level.