About Us

In our courses, students design and lead their own transdisciplinary projects. Across these courses, we pilot didactic formats and tools that enable students to co-produce knowledge with societal stakeholders. Such co-production is essential for addressing complex challenges associated with sustainable transformation.

We introduce doctoral students and postdocs to the transdisciplinary literature on case studies, theories and methods. external page Using the 10-steps, they reflect on how to make their research projects more transformative and societally relevant.

Transdisciplinary bachelor, master or doctoral theses reach beyond the academic world into society. To support students in embedding their theses in the scientific and the societal context, we pilot co-supervision by experts in content and experts in transdisciplinarity. Furthermore, we pilot transdisciplinary dissertations that provide other outputs than scientific articles, such as videos, websites, exhibitions, workshops, or tools for society.

In the external page Real-world Lab Jurapark Aargau, we pilot methods to co-produce knowledge and practices. Regional stakeholders and researchers from D-USYS jointly frame sustainability problems and experiment with measures to address them. We design, lead and organize the process of co-production, manage relationships, expectations, integration, and communication.

We conduct multiple third-party funded projects that examine how researchers collaborate across disciplines and societal sectors and the contextual factors and structures that shape this (e.g., institutions and funding). Thereby, we contribute to knowledge on inter- and transdisciplinary research, collaboration, and engagement, which feeds back into our own projects and the international transdisciplinary community.

Our doctoral students, postdocs and research assistants initiated an Early Career Researchers (ECRs) support group as a safe space. The group meets once a month to discuss research, supervision, personal and interpersonal questions. TdLab’s head initiated a leadership body that facilitates inclusive participation and democratic decision-making, allowing all to co-develop the lab’s future direction. Besides the head, it includes doctoral students, postdocs, research assistants, lecturers and group leaders. It is responsible for all matters that concern TdLab as a whole.

We have high regard for all people and beings. We think of others in equal terms, and promote social and ecological justice. We express our respect by listening and recognizing strengths; by thinking critically and disagreeing in curious, caring ways; and by accepting differences.

We believe in the importance of making explicit the assumptions, framework conditions, power relations and values that guide (co-production) processes. By making these elements clear, people can understand the reasoning behind decisions, while also allowing space for disagreement.

We want people at the TdLab to be in the driver’s seat of their projects. They must experience how it is to develop their own ideas and to take responsibility for their decisions. Trusting in people’s competence is key for unlocking their potential.

Upholding scientific integrity, people at TdLab shall dare to fail. They are invited to try half-baked ideas, make mistakes, reflect and learn from them, and try again. We consider failing forward key to the development of ideas and co-production processes.

We understand reflexivity as the critical engagement with everything we do, including the assumptions and positions we bring into our work, the outcomes we create, and the processes we follow.

Co-production as central to teamwork and transdisciplinary activities refers to knowledge and practices that are produced in a participatory process (e.g., by researchers and societal actors). It builds on diversity of perspectives, expertise, interests and abilities, and helps them to flourish.

Inclusion means creating a sense of belonging among members of the team, newcomers, and participants, where everybody feels valued, welcomed, and heard. This means providing the tools and resources needed to participate; and standing up to exclusionary behaviours and structures.

We care about participation as a distinctive feature of transdisciplinarity, research, teaching, and governance. Our starting point is the functional-dynamic stakeholder involvement, i.e., a reflection of who to include, and why, when and how.

Pragmatism is about accepting that not every decision or activity can be done or completed in a perfect way. It rather means focusing on practical, solution-oriented outcomes and developing the best possible results within the realities of our resources and participatory processes.

Care in leadership means providing the resources and creating the conditions for people to grow intellectually and as human beings. We consider needs based scaffolding important, and creating a psychologically safe environment where people feel secure to express their ideas and concerns.

With “Zuversicht”, we value the firm confidence that things are going to be okay. This means trusting each other, having both courage and tolerance to fail forward, trusting the process, and trusting in the strength that comes from working together.

We aim to achieve greater integrity in all these areas, in the sense of a congruence of thoughts, words and actions.