Structuring the science-policy nexus

Research that aims at contributing to desired social changes needs to be scientifically sound and avoid only serving particular interests. This research is particularly challenged by the complexity of values like sustainability and the complexity that comes along with policy-relevance. These challenges are often dealt with in an implicit manner. We develop conceptual tools that support the reflection of an adequate complexity reduction in research (i.e. recommendations, guidelines, principles).

Among our focuses are inter- and transdisciplinary research* as promising approaches to deal with these challenges, and sustainability research as a scientific field that is particularly important for the Department of Environmental Sciences.

Projects

• Structuring the science-policy nexus in sustainability research
  This project forms a part of the larger interdisciplinary project "Climate Policy Making for Enhanced Technological and Institutional Innovations" of the Competence Center Environment and Sustainability of the ETH Domain (CCES-CLIMPOL).
  Contact: Gabriela Wuelser
  
  
• Analysis and design of inter- and transdisciplinary sustainability research
  Contact: Christian Pohl

Key publications

Wuelser, G.; Pohl, C. and Hirsch Hadorn, G. 2012. Structuring complexity for tailoring research contributions to sustainable development: a framework. Sustainability Science 7(1): 81-93. DOI: 10.1007/s11625-011-0143-3

Pohl, C., Rist, S., Zimmermann, A., Fry, P., Gurung, G.S., Schneider, F., Ifejika S., Chinwee, K.B., Boillat, S., Serrano, E., Hirsch Hadorn, G. and Wiesmann, U. 2010. Researchers’ Roles in Knowledge Co-production: Experience from Sustainability Research in Kenya, Switzerland, Bolivia and Nepal. Science and Public Policy, 37(4): 267-281.

Pohl, Christian; Wuelser, Gabriela & Hirsch Hadorn, Gertrude 2010. Transdisziplinäre Nachhaltigkeitsforschung: Kompromittiert die Orientierung an der gesellschaftlichen Leitidee den Anspruch als Forschungsform? In: Bogner, A., Kastenhofer, K. & Torgersen, H., (Eds.). Inter- und Transdisziplinarität im Wandel? Neue Perspektiven auf problemorientierte Forschung und Politikberatung. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 123-143.

Hirsch Hadorn, G., Hoffmann-Riem, H., Biber-Klemm, S., Grossenbacher-Mansuy, W., Joye, D., Pohl, C., Wiesmann, U. and Zemp, E., (Eds.) 2008. Handbook of Transdisciplinary Research. Springer, Dordrecht.

Pohl, C. and Hirsch Hadorn, G., 2007. Principles for Designing Transdisciplinary Research - proposed by the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences, oekom Verlag, München.

* “Interdisciplinary research (IDR) is a mode of research by teams of individuals that integrates information, data, techniques, tools, perspectives, concepts, and/or theories from two or more disciplines or bodies of specialized knowledge to advance fundamental understanding or to solve problems whose solutions are beyond of the scope of a single discipline or area of research practice.”

(The National Academies 2005. Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research. Washington, The National Academies Press: 188)

"Transdisciplinary research (TR) aims at better fitting academic knowledge production to societal needs for solving, mitigating or preventing problems such as violence, disease or environmental pollution. TR strives to grasp the relevant complexity of a problem, taking into account the diversity of both everyday world and academic perceptions of problems, linking abstract and case-specific knowledge, and developing descriptive, normative and practical knowledge for the common interest. Integration is a core feature and major challenge of TR. Practitioners of TR call for a recursive approach to problem solving, focusing on problem identification and structuring, investigation, and bringing results to fruition as the three phases of the TR process.”

(Hirsch Hadorn, Gertrude; Pohl, Christian & Bammer, Gabriele 2010. Problem Solving through Transdisciplinary Research and Integration. In: Frodeman, Robert, Thompson Klein, Julie & Mitcham, Carl (eds.). Oxford Handbook on Interdisciplinarity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 431-452.)