Balancing divergence and convergence in transdisciplinary research teams

Abstract

Jaap Perenboom conducted his Master thesis in the field of organisation studies at TilburgUniversity. balancing of divergence and convergence should be taken into account during the design stage of these projects. In the context of knowledge co-production for environmental challenges, project management should proactively consider project structure, required level of partner diversity and project size. Acknowledgements

Climate change and transdisciplinary science: Problematizing the integration imperative

“…While transdisciplinarity is not yet considered 'mainstream' science and struggles to receive long-term support from funding organizations (Lawrence, 2014;Lyall et al, 2013), its allure for climate science lies in its promise of balancing epistemologicaldisciplinary heterogeneity and broader demands for knowledge convergence around climate action (Boon et al, 2014). For transdisciplinary science to influence policy it must be credible (involving the adequacy of evidence and arguments); salient (relevant to needs of decision makers); and legitimate (production of knowledge is respectful, unbiased, and fair) (Cash et al, 2003).…”

“…Ideally, integration occurs on several levels: framing the problem, managing the project, including team members and stakeholders, wrangling data, synthesizing results, and applying insights (Groß and Stauffacher, 2014;Lang et al, 2012). Because climate science projects are often positioned at the confluence of science, policy, and practice, inclusion of different stakeholders and disciplines in knowledge production is often a high priority (Boon et al, 2014). As the argument goes, effective adaptation to climate change requires informed policy making, which in turn will require research paradigms to evolve toward an integration of natural and social science approaches and local knowledge (Ayre and Nettle, 2015;Lynch et al, 2008).…”

“…Foremost among these is the notion of 'transdisciplinarity,' which has come to represent an idealization of how scientists 'should work' with the diversity of actors\stakeholders affected by environmental issues (Boon et al, 2014;Hadorn et al, 2006;Lynch et al, 2008;Romero-Lankao et al, 2013). By definition, transdisciplinarity is understood as a reflexive, integrative, method-driven approach aimed at producing normative knowledge and policy-relevant solutions for societal problems like climate change (Hadorn et al, 2010;Lang et al, 2012).…”

Joint knowledge production for climate change adaptation: what is in it for science?

“…Recent empirical analyses of JKP have started to zoom in on the quality of the knowledge production processes in projects in which scientists, public policy makers, and sometimes other societal actors collaborate in "climate proofing" specific regions (Hegger et al 2012, Edelenbos et al 2011. Other recent studies have dealt with project structures and project management in transdisciplinary research teams (Boon et al 2014), knowledge management in the context of ecosystem-based management (Giebels et al 2015), interactive knowledge development in coastal projects (Seijger et al 2014), JKP in sustainability partnerships (Offermans and Glasbergen 2015), and knowledge gaps regarding the desirable link between sciencepolicy interfaces and problem types (Van Enst et al 2014). …”

Co-managing public research in Australian fisheries through convergence–divergence processes

“…Through these iterative cycles of dialectical phases, stakeholders' representatives (in convergence phases) and their constituencies (in divergence phases) reach a synthesis on how research results may address stakeholder needs and generate complex innovations [4,49]. In the literature, convergence-divergence processes are described as dialectical in different social contexts, including corporate social responsibility [25] and large transdisciplinary research teams [5]. In the context of this study, the notion of dialectical convergence-divergence processes helps to explain how participatory research is programmed and executed to support innovation at multiple levels, and appropriately involves industry constituencies.…”