290128 VU Inter- and transdisciplinary Research (2016S)

This course provides You will basic knowledge on inter- and transdisciplinary research and offers You the opportunity to elaborate a case study design for a transdisciplinary sustainability issue in a group of students. During the input phase you will gain insights to the historical development and contingency of the landscape(s) of knowledge and learn about the history of inter- and transdisciplinarity. This will serve you to better grasp epistemological and methodological foundations of inter- and transdisciplinary research. Further, the course provides you with an overview of different methods for inter- and transdisciplinary research, ranging from methods for knowledge integration to methods for research management. The course is divided in two slots. We will have an extensive working block during three days and another one that lasts for 1 day. We will start elaborating on the case study designs during the first block. Groups of 3-4 students will continue working until the second block that provides time for presentation, discussion and critical evaluation of transdisciplinary sustainability research and similar types of research and their status in geographical research.

The overall objective of this seminar it to get familiar with inter- and transdisciplinarity, to get to know a range of different methods for inter- and transdisciplinary research and to develop a case study design that serves sustainability transformations.