Quo vadis transdisciplinary and participatory research?

Transdisciplinary approaches are increasingly an important component for successful funding in large research projects and are often requested when submitting applications. For example, the German Marine Research Alliance (DAM) explicitly emphasises the integration of practical knowledge outside of academic research in all three missions and provides considerable funding for implementation. Research sponsors such as the Volkswagen Foundation also have programs in which transdisciplinary methods play an important role. 

In the Kiel Marine Science (KMS) priority reasearch area at Kiel University, the topic has been firmly anchored in the Center for Ocean and Society (CeOS) for years. CeOS researchers use various methods that have been tried and tested in sustainability research for stakeholder dialogue and participatory research. However, numerous Kiel University working groups outside CeOS are also increasingly integrating corresponding formats into their projects or developing new projects together with stakeholder groups. Against this backdrop, a workshop on ‘Transdisciplinarity and Participatory Research’ was held on 17 January 2025 at the new Marine Science Campus in Fraunhoferstraße with more than 20 participants from science and science management in order to strengthen the topic within KMS and across the university. It was initiated by the Center for Ocean and Society.

Kathrin Wieck from the Science and Society staff unit at TU Berlin gave a keynote speech in which she presented the experiences in Berlin of anchoring transdisciplinarity in the university. As part of the Excellence Initiative, TU Berlin had set up a staff unit for the topic, which centralizes the university's activities and provides impetus for further development. In addition to the establishment of formats, concepts for measuring impact are also initiated here. Axel Koch, Head of the Transfer Division, described the institutional framework conditions created at Kiel University to support transdisciplinary research. A strategy process is currently taking place here at management level in order to bring together the various experts and develop a common direction. 

The organizers of the workshop from the Center for Ocean and Society used the World Café method to create as much exchange as possible among the participants based on their own experiences and needs. There were discussions on the following topics: How can transdisciplinary projects be supported? And how can the transdisciplinary community within the CAU be strengthened? Two main challenges became clear. On the one hand, transdisciplinary research requires staying power. This is because relationships need to be established with stakeholders, and the successes of a collaboration can sometimes bear fruit much later. On the other hand, it is precisely this aspect that makes it difficult for academic careers, but also for research projects that are very much orientated towards measurable variables and impact. The next step will be to clarify how the challenges can be dealt with and how the ideas developed can be implemented. A second focus was on discussing conceptual issues. The differences between a real-life laboratory and a real-life experiment were discussed, as well as the differences to natural and social science experiments. In addition, the challenges of developing project questions together with practitioners (stakeholders) were discussed.

The workshop highlighted how much experience with transdisciplinary and participatory approaches to research already exists within KMS. A continuation of the exchange is planned.