Sabine Hoffmann is Cluster Leader Inter- and Transdisciplinary Research at Eawag (the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology).
In her seminar titled "Integrating the integrator! A call for establishing academic careers for integration experts" Dr Hoffmann argues that:
Meeting pressing environmental and societal challenges of our time requires inter- and transdisciplinary (ITD) research that formulates ‘socially robust’ responses by crossing boundaries of not only different disciplines (i.e., interdisciplinary integration) but also research, policy and practice (i.e., transdisciplinary integration).
Integration across such boundaries is widely regarded the key characteristic and core challenges of ITD research. Yet, it is critical to the success or failure of ITD research projects or programs.
Given the importance of integration, it is surprising that the current academic system does not provide permanent positions for integration experts, i.e., experts who lead, administer, manage, monitor, assess, accompany, and/or advise others on integration. Based on empirical results of an ITD 2019 Conference Workshop entitled “Is there a new profession of integration experts on the rise?” held in Gothenburg, Sweden, and our own experience in leading and studying ITD integration, the talk sheds light on the questions “What are integration experts?”, “What roles do they assume?”, “What personal qualities and expertise do they need?” and “What career challenges do they face?”. The talk concludes by suggesting different ways to support integration experts in building their academic careers.
The seminar was moderated by Professor Rob Raven from the Monash Sustainable Development Institute in Melbourne Australia. Prof Raven is also a member of the NITRO-Oceania Executive.
The seminar was held online on September 1, 2022 and was co-organised by Monash Sustainable Development Institute and NITRO-Oceania: the Network of Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Research Organisations in Oceania. For more information see: [ Ссылка ]
