Transdisciplinary Research in Science

Conducting inter- and transdisciplinary research is a challenging, but rewarding, experience. This website presents materials from three large projects, listed below, so that other research teams can learn from and build on our team’s experience. Browse the tabs along the top of the website and use the “Contact Us” form to ask questions you have about this type of research.

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Sustainability, Ecosystem Services, and Forest-related Bioenergy Development across the Americas

Funded by the National Science Foundation's Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE), IIA #1243444 

 

Our six-country TD scientific team conducts a TD scientific study of the sociecological impacts of bioenergy development within our home countries and across our six bioenergy cases. We use qualitative interviews, pre- and post-meeting and project quantitative surveys, and assessment of project outputs to assess the impacts of our training and work together. Our findings will be disseminated to the international global change research community through peer reviewed journal articles in English and Spanish, and our publicly-available short courses.

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For more information see: http://www.mtu.edu/forest/research/partnerships/pire/

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Transdisciplinary science team skill building through the study of socio-ecological impacts from bioenergy development across the Americas

Funded by the Inter-American Institute (IAI) for Global Change Research, CRN3105

 

This project tests hypotheses with regard to the effectiveness of transdisciplinary (TD) science teamwork skill building strategies in changing scientists’ beliefs about TD science teamwork, increasing their self-perceived TD science teamwork efficacy, and creating effective TD science teamwork to study global change problems. Our team of researchers and students meets regularly via conference call, biannually at in-person meetings and through fieldwork rotating across our countries, and is conducting a TD scientific study of the socio-ecological impacts of bioenergy development within our home countries and across our six bioenergy cases. We use qualitative interviews, pre- and post-meeting and project quantitative surveys, and assessment of project outputs to assess the impacts of our training and work together. Our findings will be disseminated to the international global change research community through peer-reviewed journal articles in English and Spanish and our publicly available short course.

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For more information see: http://www.iai.int

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Pan American Biofuels and Bioenergy Sustainability

Funded by the National Science Foundation's Research Coordination Network, CBET #1140152, SES-0823058

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The implications of large-scale biofuels and bioenergy production on environmental systems and social conditions are largely unknown. Yet despite this lack of fundamental sustainability knowledge, there currently is a rapid movement toward the development of biofuels and bioenergy production systems that will likely lead to dramatic changes in extant human and natural systems.

These changes may be beneficial or detrimental, and may involve a number of issues such as land ownership and management, creation of new employment opportunities, occupational safety, unforeseen transportation and logistical challenges, impacts on water availability and quality, and potentially many others changes to social and environmental systems.

An award to create a network of biofuels/ bioenergy researchers and industry, government & NGO practitioners as a core group concerned with sustainable biofuels and bioenergy development across the Americas has been funded under NSF's Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES) activities, which aim to address the challenges of creating a sustainable world.

 

For more information see: https://www.aiche.org/panamrcn/about-panam-rcn