Exploring Approaches to Catalyzing Transdisciplinary Engagement

Session Submission Type: Open Panel

Abstract

Interdisciplinary approaches to scholarship and teaching traditionally combine experts from different academic disciplines to provide innovative responses to complex problems; transdisciplinary approaches, by contrast, extend expert combination out beyond the walls of the academy. Academic institutions are increasingly interested in transdisciplinary combinations that engage community partners and non-academics in longitudinal partnerships. This transdisciplinarity has assumed a variety of forms, such as participatory action research or citizen science, but missing in these forms is the participation of the arts and the humanities. This panel seeks international contributions that reflect on previous and current approaches to transforming infrastructure to support transdisciplinarity, especially those approaches that involve building communities. This panel is interested in exploring the following questions: What is the role of interdisciplinary units or programs in work that expands beyond the bounds of the academy? What critical infrastructure is necessary for transdisciplinary research? To what extent should local communities be involved in shaping and programming an academic institution’s approach to transdisciplinarity? What are the best ways to involve local arts and maker communities in transdisciplinary efforts? How do we prepare students and postdocs for transdisciplinary careers outside of academia through engaged research and coursework? How do we transform the traditional institutional infrastructure around reappointment, promotion, and tenure in order to support transdisciplinary collaboration and education?

Sub Unit

• Papers for Open Panels / Exploring Approaches to Catalyzing Transdisciplinary Engagement

Chair

• Stephanie Vasko, Michigan State University

Discussant

• Michael O O'Rourke, Michigan State University

Individual Presentations

• Building Transdisciplinary Research Communities: Re-envisioning “Community” Engagement - Stephanie Vasko, Michigan State University

• Commons Wealth: Integrative Design Catalyzing Community Solar from Uni, to Muni, to State - Jeffrey R. S. Brownson, Penn State University

• The role of Open Value Networks in Catalyzing Transdisciplinarity - Ele Jansen, University of Technology Sydney; Jacqui McManus, Faculty of Transdisciplinary Innovation, University of Technology Sydney; Susanne Pratt, University of Technology, Sydney; Monique Potts, Faculty of Transdisciplinary Innovation, University of Technology Sydney; Katie Ross, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

• Transdisciplinarity: From Policy to Practice? The Case of the Centre for Digital Life Norway - Maria Bårdsen Hesjedal, Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture. NTNU; Heidrun Åm, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Session Organizer

• Stephanie Vasko, Michigan State University