A reflection on the role, potential and challenges of transdisciplinarity at the University of Fort Hare

Ward, Chene E.; Dube, Nomzamo; Nyambo, Siphamandla; Chawatama, Christopher T.

doi:10.4102/td.v15i1.648

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Regarding the areas of interconnection suggested above, this would mean identifying risk and protective factors within the social determinants of health and criminal behavior using epidemiological methods, as well as applying the results to aid strategies aimed at crime prevention based on the public health approach. Some argue that transdisciplinarity is the most appropriate approach for addressing global challenges, especially society's so-called "wicked problems" and the global increase in crime [78]. It is important to discuss with students the ongoing debate in many countries about the need for collaboration between criminal justice and public health professionals in crime prevention and intervention.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is suggested that interdisciplinarity can be complex, owing to difficulties arising from the need for communication across the different fields and their perspectives and from the potential incompatibility of theories and methods. It is also difficult because of limited funding and financial resources [78][79]. In a conceptual literature review on transdisciplinary collaboration, McGregor identified four main challenges: (a) managing group processes; (b) reflexivity; (c) common learning processes; and (d) facilitating integration and synthesis.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Common Problems! and Common Solutions? — Teaching at the Intersection Between Public Health and Criminology: A Public Health Perspective

Macassa,

McGrath

2024

Annals of Global Health

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Public health and criminology share similar current and future challenges, mostly related to crime and health causation, prevention, and sustainable development. Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches to education at the intersection of public health and criminology can be an integral part of future training in areas of mutual interest. Based on reflections on teaching criminology students, this viewpoint discusses the main interconnections between public health and criminology teaching through the public health lens. The paper discusses potential challenges associated with interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity. Among these challenges is communication across the different fields and their perspectives to be able to achieve the desired complementarity at the intersection of the two disciplines.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Common Problems! and Common Solutions? — Teaching at the Intersection Between Public Health and Criminology: A Public Health Perspective

Macassa,

McGrath

2024

Annals of Global Health

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“…Organisational resources in various forms helped enable collaboration by creating operational environments, such as dedicated project management and administrative support to alleviate the burden of logistical coordination from core researchers (Bark et al, 2016; Black et al, 2019; Brown et al, 2015; Cundill et al, 2018; Datta, 2018; de‐Graft Aikins et al, 2012; Heaton et al, 2016; OECD, 2020; Roux et al, 2019). In‐kind support from partner institutions, including event spaces and publicity, and robust communication and data storage capabilities, were practical enablers of implementation (Bark et al, 2016; de‐Graft Aikins et al, 2012; Ward et al, 2019). Availability of seed funding from partner institutions helped maintain collaboration in absence of other funding (Brown et al, 2015; de‐Graft Aikins et al, 2012; Ely et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussion: Interplay Among Groups Of Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enabling transdisciplinary research collaboration for planetary health: Insights from practice at the environment‐health‐development nexus

Wardani

Bos

Ramírez-Lovering

et al. 2022

Sustainable Development

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In recent decades, transdisciplinary research has been increasingly recognised as necessary to produce solutions for sustainable development; however, implementation challenges remain. The emerging field of planetary health offers a unique lens to guide a new synthesis of perspectives, recognising interlinkages between environmental and human health, and interdependence across global development contexts, that is, at the environment‐health‐development nexus. This broad, practice‐based literature review consolidates learnings from previous transdisciplinary research across these diverse yet interrelated fields, and aims to deepen understanding of, and identify opportunities for, enabling collaborative practice. This review found structural, relational, and individual factors enabling and constraining collaboration. Local research contexts and academia's disciplinary traditions posed structural constraints that required relational efforts at the project, organisational and individual levels to address. This analysis revealed strategic opportunities for funding programs and researcher training that can be leveraged to increase capacity for relational work, further enabling collaboration in transdisciplinary research.

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“…A few HEIs have gone beyond incorporating sustainable development concepts into their existing framework and have adapted their missions and organisational structures around strengthening engagement with society and addressing societal challenges. They have done so by establishing dedicated institutes, centres of excellence, think tanks or networks for inter‐ and transdisciplinary research (Cuesta‐Claros et al, 2022; OECD, 2020a; Ward et al, 2019). Yet, institutions that specialise in transdisciplinary research and related approaches, often have a competitive disadvantage vis‐à‐vis traditional research institutions when it comes to research funding (OECD, 2020a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research−implementation organisations and their role for sustainable development

Saric

Breu

Fokou

et al. 2022

Sustainable Development

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Over the past decade, considerable progress has been made by higher education institutions (HEIs) to align with sustainable development goals. Specifically, aspects of sustainable development have been integrated into the existing mandates of HEIseducation, research and operations. The main objective of the current study was to assess a sub-group of African HEIs that have an explicit mandate for implementation science and pursue development assistance-type services and to describe their added value to advance sustainable development. We conducted a qualitative situational assessment, including 22 institutions from 13 countries. Interviews and surveys were done with 42 participants composed of director-level representatives and staff members engaged both in research and implementation. The data were subjected to qualitative content analysis. The main strengths of the participating organisations vis-à-vis implementation projects and wider sustainable development were the quality of implementation, local relevance of the research and uptake of research evidence into policy and practice. A major weakness was the challenge of operating such a bi-sectoral model, while maintaining high-level performance in both areas. Yet, the examined researchÀimplementation institutions draw from and combine the competences of research, education and implementation and have a distinctive role to play in the attainment of sustainable development, especially when operating by an optimised support system and within strong research ecosystems. Based on our study, we provide a definition of researchÀimplementation organisations that may serve institutions to enhance their standing, their operations and their significance for sustainable development.

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A reflection on the role, potential and challenges of transdisciplinarity at the University of Fort Hare

Cited by 3 publications

References 22 publications

Common Problems! and Common Solutions? — Teaching at the Intersection Between Public Health and Criminology: A Public Health Perspective

Common Problems! and Common Solutions? — Teaching at the Intersection Between Public Health and Criminology: A Public Health Perspective

Enabling transdisciplinary research collaboration for planetary health: Insights from practice at the environment‐health‐development nexus

Research−implementation organisations and their role for sustainable development

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