Beyond Disciplinary Constraints: Designing Transdisciplinary Research and Collaboration in Real-World Laboratories

Abstract

Topics related to sustainable development are at the forefront of current local and global debates, involving social, economic, and political perspectives. To address these complex and interconnected challenges, it is necessary to think and act beyond disciplinary and field-specific boundaries. Participating in project work, research, experiments, and designing social transformation processes are at the core of transdisciplinary research and methods, such as Real-World Laboratories. This means that all participants are involved in co-designing, co-producing, and co-disseminating the project from the beginning. In these participatory processes, a systematic evaluation and evidence of the transdisciplinary process is often difficult to show even though it would be important to improve scalability and the transferability of the process. Using the example of the Tiny Fop Mob, a Real-World Laboratory on wheels, we wanted to understand how to evaluate transdisciplinary research thinking within the project team and demonstrate how systematic evaluation is crucial in participatory research. Findings show that there is a need to reflect on context-specific and team-oriented strategies during the planning and the beginning of the project.

Promoting collective precycling behavior: results from a group intervention with Berlin households in Germany

“…Finding robust and sustainable responses to pressing and complex environmental and societal challenges – such as the global packaging waste crisis – requires new formats, that transcend disciplinary boundaries and bring together researchers, civil society organizations, and private individuals ( Beaudoin et al, 2022 ; Kofler, 2023 ). So-called real-world laboratories (e.g., Heiskanen et al, 2018 ) and living labs (e.g., Liedtke et al, 2012 ; Salter and White, 2013 ) are two formats that have become increasingly important to stimulate socio-ecological transformations ( von Geibler, 2013 ; Kofler, 2023 ). Approaches such as these have been implemented to promote resource conservation behavior ( Davies and Doyle, 2015 ; Devaney and Davies, 2016 ; Breadsell J. et al, 2019b ; Breadsell J. K. et al, 2019a ).…”

Data_Sheet_1.docx

“…Finding robust and sustainable responses to pressing and complex environmental and societal challenges -such as the global packaging waste crisis -requires new formats, that transcend disciplinary boundaries and bring together researchers, civil society organizations, and private individuals (Beaudoin et al, 2022;Kofler, 2023). So-called real-world laboratories (e.g., Heiskanen et al, 2018) and living labs (e.g., Liedtke et al, 2012;Salter and White, 2013) are two formats that have become increasingly important to stimulate socio-ecological transformations (von Geibler, 2013;Kofler, 2023). Approaches such as these have been implemented to promote resource conservation behavior (Davies and Doyle, 2015;Devaney and Davies, 2016;Breadsell J. et al, 2019b;Breadsell J. K. et al, 2019a).…”

Data_Sheet_4.docx

“…Finding robust and sustainable responses to pressing and complex environmental and societal challenges -such as the global packaging waste crisis -requires new formats, that transcend disciplinary boundaries and bring together researchers, civil society organizations, and private individuals (Beaudoin et al, 2022;Kofler, 2023). So-called real-world laboratories (e.g., Heiskanen et al, 2018) and living labs (e.g., Liedtke et al, 2012;Salter and White, 2013) are two formats that have become increasingly important to stimulate socio-ecological transformations (von Geibler, 2013;Kofler, 2023). Approaches such as these have been implemented to promote resource conservation behavior (Davies and Doyle, 2015;Devaney and Davies, 2016;Breadsell J. et al, 2019b;Breadsell J. K. et al, 2019a).…”