Transdisciplinary research

The renewables expansion, sustainable mobility strategies, model regions for organic agriculture: the challenges associated with equitable and sustainable transitions are considerable, the problems complex, the stakeholders diverse. In transdisciplinary research, scientists work with stakeholder groups – representing politics and government, business and civil society, for example – to find solutions. Transdisciplinary research involves cooperation from the outset – from the identification of problems to the development and trialling of joint solutions. Scientific findings are combined with knowledge generated by practical experience of daily life.

The Oeko-Institut is involved in numerous transdisciplinary projects, including real-world labs. Here, new approaches are trialled under real-life conditions, often in a spatially limited area, and product or service innovations are tested on a multi-stakeholder basis. The Oeko-Institut’s scientists are also engaged in advancing the concept of transdisciplinary research as a whole and therefore participate in networking with the German and international research community. They refine existing quality standards and initiate partnerships with a view to creating experimental spaces for the trialling of methodologies and innovations.