Production of Innovations within Farmer–Researcher Associations Applying Transdisciplinary Research Principles

Small-scale farmers in sub-Saharan West Africa depend heavily on local resources and local knowledge. Science-based knowledge is likely to aid decision-making in complex situations. In this presentation, we highlight a FiBL-coordinated research partnership between three national producer organisations and national agriculture research bodies in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Benin. The partnership seeks to compare conventional, GMObased, and organic cotton systems as regards food security and climate change

South American Expert Roundtable : increasing adaptive governance capacity for coping with unintended side effects of digital transformation

This paper presents the main messages of a South American expert roundtable (ERT) on the unintended side effects (unseens) of digital transformation. The input of the ERT comprised 39 propositions from 20 experts representing 11 different perspectives. The two-day ERT discussed the main drivers and challenges as well as vulnerabilities or unseens and provided suggestions for: (i) the mechanisms underlying major unseens; (ii) understanding possible ways in which rebound effects of digital transformation may become the subject of overarching research in three main categories of impact: development factors, society, and individuals; and (iii) a set of potential action domains for transdisciplinary follow-up processes, including a case study in Brazil. A content analysis of the propositions and related mechanisms provided insights in the genesis of unseens by identifying 15 interrelated causal mechanisms related to critical issues/concerns. Additionally, a cluster analysis (CLA) was applied to structure the challenges and critical developments in South America. The discussion elaborated the genesis, dynamics, and impacts of (groups of) unseens such as the digital divide (that affects most countries that are not included in the development of digital business, management, production, etc. tools) or the challenge of restructuring small- and medium-sized enterprises (whose service is digitally substituted by digital devices). We identify specific issues and effects (for most South American countries) such as lack of governmental structure, challenging geographical structures (e.g., inclusion in high-performance transmission power), or the digital readiness of (wide parts) of society. One scientific contribution of the paper is related to the presented methodology that provides insights into the phenomena, the causal chains underlying “wanted/positive” and “unwanted/negative” effects, and the processes and mechanisms of societal changes caused by digitalization

Cyber-Physical System and Curriculum Heutagogy Implementation in Higher Education for Creating 4.0 Generation

Higher education management must change its management model because the student's current needs in the Industrial Revolution 4.0 era are very diverse and the demand from the industrial world is more specific. This situation required a new approach in learning that can meet the students learning needs, therefore, can generate higher education graduates that have the capability, not competencies. This article is compiled based on the results of thoughts supported by a literature review using content analysis based on the results obtained from 58 articles that were published between 1999 and 2020. The universities can implement heutagogy in the curriculum which is supported by the cyber-physical system in learning. This is causing the students to be able to choose scientific competence they want independently with learning across disciplines for occupying certain ability. The cyber system development in higher education is used to assist the online learning process and as an administrator in supporting learning activities. The cyber-physical system refers to the physical things and the campus atmosphere felt by the students.

Teaching sustainability within the context of everyday life: steps toward achieving the sustainable development goals through the EUSTEPs module

In a world characterized by Ecological Overshoot, education can nurture sustainability-minded citizens and future leaders to help accelerate the transition towards a one-planet compatible society. Despite the essential role of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in contributing to a sustainable society, a holistic understanding of how to incorporate sustainability initiatives into HEIs is still lacking. Given the importance of HEIs in societies and considering the number of students, educators, and staff they host every day, ensuring that sustainability is both taught and practiced within campuses becomes fundamental. To this end, a strategic partnership was created in 2019 to set up the ERASMUS+ project EUSTEPs - Enhancing Universities’ Sustainability Teaching and Practices through Ecological Footprint. Among the main outputs of the project is a teaching module for introducing the sustainability concept to students. This module takes a 360-degree approach to teach sustainability, allowing students to endogenously realize the full complexity of sustainability, in an engaging and captivating manner. This paper thus aims to: 1) present the EUSTEPs Module, its pedagogical approach and structure, and the learning outcomes and competencies students are expected to gain; 2) review the outcomes of its first pilot teaching in four European HEIs, and 3) shed light on how this Module contributes to the development of competences and pedagogical approaches for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our findings show that 90% of the students were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with the Module, rating the Ecological Footprint as the most useful teaching tool among those included in the Module, and appreciated the interactive nature of the proposed teaching. Feedback obtained from students during the pilot teaching contributed to shaping the Module’s final structure and content. The Module – an important interactive sustainability pedagogical tool – is now ready for use with students from different disciplines, thus contributing to progress towards the UN 2030 Agenda, particularly SDG 4, SDG 11, SDG 12, and SDG 13.Project “EUSTEPs: Enhancing Universities’ Sustainability Teaching and Practices through Ecological Footprint,” KA 203, Strategic Partnership in Higher Education 2019–2022, Agreement No. 2019-1-EL01-KA203-062941.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Shaping Real-World Laboratories by Comparing Them

Various experimental approaches of transformative research in real-world settings have emerged. Yet, similarities, differences, and specific contributions remain unclear. A characteristic-based comparison reveals complementarities and provides orientation. Real-world laboratories (RwLs, German Reallabore) belong to a family of increasingly popular experimental and transdisciplinary research approaches at the science-society interface. As these approaches in general, and RwLs in particular, often lack clear definitions of key characteristics and their operationalization, we make two contributions in this article. First, we identify five core characteristics of RwLs: contribution to transformation, experimental methods, transdisciplinary research mode, scalability and transferability of results, as well as scientific and societal learning and reflexivity. Second, we compare RwLs to similar research approaches according to the five characteristics. In this way, we provide an orientation on experimental and transdisciplinary research for societal transformations, and reveal the contributions of this type of research in supporting societal change. Our findings enable learning across the different approaches and highlight their complementarities, with a particular focus on RwLs

Handbook Transdisciplinary Learning

What is transdisciplinarity - and what are its methods? How does a living lab work? What is the purpose of citizen science, student-organized teaching and cooperative education? This handbook unpacks key terms and concepts to describe the range of transdisciplinary learning in the context of academic education. Transdisciplinary learning turns out to be a comprehensive innovation process in response to the major global challenges such as climate change, urbanization or migration. A reference work for students, lecturers, scientists, and anyone wanting to understand the profound changes in higher education

Sustainability Conversations for Impact: Transdisciplinarity on Four Scales

Sustainability is a dynamic, multi-scale endeavor. Coherence can be lost between scales – from project teams, to organizations, to networks, and, most importantly, down to conversations. Sustainability researchers have embraced transdisciplinarity, as it is grounded in science, shared language, broad participation, and respect for difference. Yet, transdisciplinarity at these four scales is not well-defined. In this dissertation I extend transdisciplinarity out from the project to networks and organizations, and down into conversation, adding novel lenses and quantitative approaches. In Chapter 2, I propose transdisciplinarity incorporate academic disciplines which help cross scales: Organizational Learning, Knowledge Management, Applied Cooperation, and Data Science. In Chapter 3 I then use a mixed-method approach to study a transdisciplinary organization, the Maine Aquaculture Hub, as it develops strategy. Using social network analysis and conversation analytics, I evaluate how the Hub’s network-convening, strategic thinking and conversation practices turn organization-scale transdisciplinarity into strategic advantage. In Chapters 4 and 5, conversation is the nexus of transdisciplinarity. I study seven public aquaculture lease scoping meetings (informal town halls) and classify conversation activity by “discussion discipline,” i.e., rhetorical and social intent. I compute the relationship between discussion discipline proportions and three sustainability outcomes of intent-to-act, options-generation, and relationship-building. I consider exogenous factors, such as signaling, gender balance, timing and location. I show that where inquiry is high, so is innovation. Where acknowledgement is high, so is intent-to-act. Where respect is high, so is relationship-building. Indirectness and sarcasm dampen outcomes. I propose seven interventions to improve sustainability conversation capacity, such as nudging, networks, and using empirical models. Chapter 5 explores those empirical models: I use natural language-processing (NLP) to detect the discussion disciplines by training a model using the previously coded transcripts. Then I use that model to classify 591 open-source conversation transcripts, and regress the sustainability outcomes, per-transcript, on discussion discipline proportions. I show that all three conversation outcomes can be predicted by the discussion disciplines, and most statistically-significant being intent-to-act, which responds directly to acknowledgement and respect. Conversation AI is the next frontier of transdisciplinarity for sustainability solutions

Didactic strategies to promote competencies in sustainability

Higher education is a principal agent for addressing the sustainable development goals proposed by the 2030 Agenda, because of its key mission of knowledge generation, teaching and social innovation for sustainability. In order to achieve this, higher education needs to integrate transversally the values of sustainability in the way of developing the field of management, as well as research, university life and, of course, teaching. This paper focuses on teaching, and more specifically on the didactic strategies considered most relevant for training in sustainability competencies in college students, according to the guidelines commonly accepted by the international academic community. Through collaborative work among experts from six Spanish universities taking part in the EDINSOST project (education and social innovation for sustainability), funded by the Spanish R&D+i Program, in this paper the role of five active learning strategies (service learning, problem-based learning, project-oriented learning, simulation games and case studies) in education for sustainability are reviewed, and a systematic approach of their implementation in higher education settings is presented. The results provide a synthesis of their objectives, foundations, and stages of application (planning, implementation, and learning assessment), which can be used as valuable guidelines for teachersThe Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness has financed this work under contract EDU2015-65574-R

Sustainable options to improve household solid waste management of Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Das weltweit zunehmende Hausmüllaufkommen erfordert ein neues Systemdenken und neue Methoden der Wissenserweiterung zur Unterstützung der lokalen Akteure (z.B. der Abfallproduzenten, Entscheidungsträger und NGOs) insbesondere im Hinblick auf Themen der Nachhaltigkeit in den Schwellenländern. In den Schwellenländern ist es entscheidend, in den häufig durch schnelles wirtschaftliches Wachstum und extreme soziale Ungerechtigkeiten gekennzeichneten städtischen Regionen lokales Wissen, soziale Werte und Präferenzen mit einem systematischen Verständnis der weltweiten technologischen Entwicklung in der Abfallwirtschaft zu vereinen. Die vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich mit den daraus resultierenden komplexen Alltagssituationen, die in einigen Städten bewältigt werden müssen und die in transformativen Ansätzen oft nicht berücksichtigt werden. Die brasilianische Stadt Belo Horizonte ist eine Lernplattform für die Erfassung, Darstellung und Analyse von Daten zu dieser umfassenden Herausforderung. Belo Horizonte ist eine der Wirtschaftsachsen Brasiliens. Dort landen ca.98% des gesamten Hausmülls unbehandelt auf der Abfalldeponie. Der verbleibende Anteil entspricht dem von Menschen aus der armen Bevölkerung, d. h. von Müllsammlern, sortierten Abfall. Belo Horizonte ist ein verlässlicher Referenzort eines auf der Struktur der Organisation der Müllsammler in Kooperativen basierenden weltweit angewandten sozialen Modells. Dennoch wird die Stadt von vielen Entscheidungsträgern, Investoren und Wiederaufbereitungsunternehmen Stagnation attestiert. Der Fall Belo Horizonte soll als Strategie zur Beantwortung dreier problemorientierter Forschungsfragen im Rahmen dieser Arbeit verwendet werden: I. Wie kann die Abfallwirtschaft in Belo Horizonte verbessert werden? II. Stellt das soziale Modell von Belo Horizonte den besten Weg zur Verbesserung der Abfallwirtschaft im globalen Süden dar? III. Was bezwecken wir in einem Zeitalter des zunehmenden und vernetzten technologischen Wandels mit dem Einbeziehen von Müllsammlern in die Abfallwirtschaft? Die genannten Forschungsfragen sind bestimmend für den Ansatz dieser Arbeit. Wissenschaftler und Akteure sollen in die Lage versetzt werden, die Aspekte zu verstehen, derentwegen in den Schwellenländern Müllsammler im Sinne des gesellschaftlichen Wandels in die Abfallwirtschaft einbezogen werden sollten. Zur Erweiterung des methodischen Wissens, das mit Hilfe von vier im Zuge dieser Dissertation erarbeiteter Publikationen gewonnenen werden konnte, wurde als wissenschaftliches Instrument der dreiteilige transdisziplinäre Rahmen (Tripartite Tansdisciplinary Framework - TTF) entwickelt. Wie der Name sagt, ist der strukturelle Ansatz des TTF Teil miteinander verbundener Konzepte aus den Sozialwissenschaften und der transdisziplinären Forschung in den Nachhaltigkeitswissenschaften, etwa des idealtypischen transdisziplinären Forschungsprozesses, der wertorientierten Gestaltung und der historischen Analogien. Das Instrument des TTF hat dazu beigetragen, das im Laufe der transdisziplinären Forschung akkumulierte Wissen zu extrahieren. Dieses Wissen konnte durch das Aufzeigen von Problemen, das Darstellen der Beziehungen zwischen den Akteuren und das Beleuchten dreier möglicher wesentlicher Auswirkungen auf die soziotechnische Zukunft der Abfallwirtschaft in Belo Horizonte (Forschungsfrage I) gewonnen werden. TTF lieferte darüber hinaus die zum Verständnis der Resilienz im Zusammenhang mit der Beantwortung von Forschungsfrage II und des grenzüberschreitenden Denkens im Zusammenhang mit der Beantwortung von Forschungsfrage III erforderliche Struktur. Um die soziotechnische Zukunft der Abfallwirtschaft in Belo Horizonte voranzutreiben, werden in der vorliegenden Arbeit drei Optionen vorgestellt: die individuelle Option, die technologische Option und die Option der Nachhaltigkeit. Die individuelle Option hält fest an den spezifischen sozialen Werten (Respekt, Solidarität, Fairness, Verantwortung und Gegenseitigkeit), d.h. den zur Förderung einer lokalen Kreislaufwirtschaft für bestimmte recyclingfähige Haushaltsabfälle (z.B. Aluminiumdosen und Flaschen aus Polyethylenterephthalat) geschaffenen Nischen. Die durch die Einführung der mechanisch-biologischen Abfallbehandlung gekennzeichnete technologische Option lenkt die Aufmerksamkeit auf die Reduzierung der Deponien und die Minimierung der sozialen Hindernisse, die eine als bahnbrechend für die Abfallwirtschaft geltenden Technologie zu bewältigen hat. Die Nachhaltigkeitsoption berücksichtigt die Vorstellungen der Akteure, u.a. hinsichtlich des sozioökonomischen Nutzens der Verringerung der Armut in der Stadt, der Verbesserung der Materialrückgewinnung und der Bewusstmachung durch direkten Kontakt zur Unterstützung von Änderungen im Sozialverhalten. Belo Horizonte kann für andere Städte historisch gesehen als beispielhaft in Bezug auf die Kooperativität der Müllsammler betrachtet werden. Der transformative Ansatz beschreibt jedoch die Praxis und nicht die Vollendung des Fortschritts. Die mit Belo Horizonte gemachten Erfahrungen lassen die Müllsammler als Symbol der Bedeutung intragenerationeller Gerechtigkeit erscheinen. Die Müllsammler haben ihre eigenen, an das städtische System angepassten oder nicht angepassten Prinzipien. Im Sinne des Entwickelns von Regeln für eine funktionierende Abfallwirtschaft stellen sie innerhalb der globalen Problematik ein Gefühl des Zusammenhalts und der Einigkeit her. Derartige globalisierte und standardisierte Maßnahmen nehmen der Gesellschaft die Möglichkeit, ein produktives System auf Grundlage ihres Potenzials und ihrer Fähigkeiten zu schaffen. Diese Arbeit vermittelt ein problemorientiertes und theoretisches Verständnis soziotechnischer Ansätze im Hinblick auf Nachhaltigkeitsfragen und legt den Fokus dabei auf bisher nicht berücksichtigte lokale Probleme