Skip main navigation

Wrapping up

Read how Tobias Buser summarizes the key learnings of Week 2 of this free online course about transdisciplinary research.

What is transdisciplinary research (TDR)? What are its goals and principles and when is it applicable? In Week 2, TDR is described as an approach to address complex societal challenges with research.

Congrats, you have reached the end of the second week! In it, goals and principles of TDR were introduced as well as elements of a definition of TDR. We looked into the key concepts of TDR, including the three types of knowledge, the production of knowledge that is societally relevant and scientifically valid, and the question on what it could mean to contribute to the common good. We also discussed when TDR is applicable and where you see the potential to use transdisciplinary approaches in your work. In the case steps, you learnt about the background and context conditions of each project. What constitutes the challenges? Where are the projects situated, and which actors do you consider as potentially relevant?

Based on the learnings of this week, we now have the basis to look deeper into the process of transdisciplinary projects, both theoretically and practically with the projects.

Author: Tobias Buser

This article is from the free online

Partnering for Change: Link Research to Societal Challenges

Created by
FutureLearn - Learning For Life

Reach your personal and professional goals

Unlock access to hundreds of expert online courses and degrees from top universities and educators to gain accredited qualifications and professional CV-building certificates.

Join over 18 million learners to launch, switch or build upon your career, all at your own pace, across a wide range of topic areas.

Start Learning now