BOKU PhD students focus on transdisciplinary research

In their doctoral theses, Jana Plöchl, Maximilian Muhr and Fiona L. M. de Fontana focus on transdisciplinary and participatory research – in some cases as part of the Doctoral School Transitions to Sustainability (T2S). In doing so, they see collaboration with marginalised groups – that is, people with limited opportunities for social participation in a democracy – as offering and as a significant added value in terms of content, which guides their research and improves results (epistemic quality). In addition, this cooperation also reflects a view of universities as spaces for democratic exchange that should promote social cohesion (normative quality). In the session at at the GTPF conference in Eberswalde (Brandenburg), they emphasized on the challenges they have already encountered in this context and the lessons they have drawn from them. The session discussed topics such as selection and recruitment, inclusive process design, empowering methods of knowledge integration, as well as dissemination and impact. The topic aroused great interest among the participants and also on the GTPF Executive Board. Building on this, plans for the future include making the GTPF itself more inclusive, publishing a special issue on the inclusion of marginalised groups in transdisciplinary research processes, and developing recommendations and standards for diversity-sensitive settings.