Keywords: early career researchers; interdisciplinary cooperation; ... among Ph.D. students and early career Postdocs wo
Doing transdisciplinary research │ Addressing challenges faced by early career researchers Workshop organizers: • • • • • • • • • • • •
Marco Sonnberger (corresponding author), Dr., University of Stuttgart, GERMANY Johanna Kramm, Dr., Institute for Social-Ecological Research, GERMANY Carolin Völker, Dr., Institute for Social-Ecological Research, GERMANY Antonia Graf, Junior Professor Dr., University of Münster, GERMANY Christian Albert, Junior Professor Dr., Leibniz Universität Hannover, GERMANY Kathleen Hermans, Dr., Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, GERMANY Melanie Jaeger-Erben, Dr., Technische Universität Berlin, GERMANY Steffen Lange, Dr., Institute for Ecological Economy Research, GERMANY Tilman Santarius, Dr., Institute for Ecological Economy Research, GERMANY Barbara Schröter, Dr., Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research, GERMANY Stefanie Sievers-Glotzbach, Junior Professor Dr., University of Oldenburg, GERMANY Janis Winzer, Dr., Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration, GERMANY
Keywords: early career researchers; interdisciplinary cooperation; stakeholder involvement Abstract: This workshop is organized by seven junior research groups funded under the program of socialecological research of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. It aims at fostering exchange among Ph.D. students and early career Postdocs working in the field of transdisciplinary social-ecological transformation research. Particularly, early career scientists are faced with a number of complex and ambivalent challenges going along with their involvement in transdisciplinary research. On the one hand, they are supposed to build capacities and develop skills in the fields of interdisciplinary knowledge integration, collaboration between academia and societal actors (e.g. stakeholder and citizen involvement) and science communication. On the other hand, such skills and capacities are already required when carrying out and managing transdisciplinary research projects. Demands of scientific excellence, generation of practice-oriented results and development of individual research profiles impose further challenges. The workshop focuses on strategies to meet these challenges and to guide transdisciplinary research between theoretical pretense and pragmatic reality. Challenges and respective solutions are discussed focusing the following aspects of transdisciplinary research: • • • •
Integration of natural and social sciences Collaboration between academia and society Science-policy interface and science communication Balancing of societal and disciplinary academic impact
Each of the four topics will be thoroughly elaborated in moderated breakout groups during the workshop. In the breakout groups, participants’ personal experiences with challenges concerning the four topics will be systematically gathered. Then, solutions to these challenges will be jointly identified, discussed and specified taking into account participants’ knowledge of best as well as worst practice examples. The workshop results will be compiled in form of recommendations for early career researchers working in transdisciplinary research. Options for disseminating the outcomes of the workshop, for example in a joint paper, will be discussed with the workshop participants. The workshop will contribute to the further development and application of transdisciplinary research.
The following bullet points illustrate the proposed workshop agenda: • • • • •
General introduction [objectives, scope, procedure] (5 min) Input statements [on each of the four topics by members of the junior research groups] (10 min) Breakout groups [each working on one of the four topics] (45 min) Presentation of group results and plenary discussion (20 min) Synopsis (10 min)
