Methods of Transdisciplinary
Collaboration Within Sustainable
Research and Development Projects
Andrea Heilmann and Hardy Pundt
1 Introduction
In 2015, The United Nations Member States adopted the 17 Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs, see UN 2018). They provide a framework of aims and measures for a
better and more sustainable future and should be achieved by 2030. The SDGs are
interconnected and therefore partnerships of different groups and people, scientists,
as well as non-scientists, on different levels are required. Research and development, however, require the cooperation of actors from various scientific disciplines
and practitioners from a broad range of sectors. The involvement of stakeholders
and practitioners has become additionally important due to the need for sustainable concepts on the one hand, and their concrete implementation on the other. The
collaborative work of scientists and practitioners on real life problems is referred to as
transdisciplinary research (TDR). TDR must be differentiated from interdisciplinary
research, which is referred to as an interaction between two or more disciplines.
TDR appears to be a pathway to sustainability because it integrates scientific expertise and practical needs, as well as legal regulations and rules. All these aspects must
be considered, if decisions are envisaged that are accomplishable in societal frameworks. Establishing this as a basis, the collaboration between universities and other
societal institutions and organizations, namely TDR, becomes a necessity to achieve
sustainable solutions for a great variety of problems.
Schulte and Heilmann (2019) conducted a literature review and analyzed several
definitions of TDR. Finally, she defined TDR as a combination of Pohl (2011) and
Cronin (2008):
A. Heilmann (B) · H. Pundt
Department of Automation and Computer Sciences, Harz University of Applied Sciences,
Friedrichstr. 57-59, 38855 Wernigerode, Germany
e-mail: aheilmann@hs-harz.de
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
W. Leal Filho et al. (eds.), Universities, Sustainability and Society: Supporting
the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, World Sustainability Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63399-8_6
81
Collaboration Within Sustainable
Research and Development Projects
Andrea Heilmann and Hardy Pundt
1 Introduction
In 2015, The United Nations Member States adopted the 17 Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs, see UN 2018). They provide a framework of aims and measures for a
better and more sustainable future and should be achieved by 2030. The SDGs are
interconnected and therefore partnerships of different groups and people, scientists,
as well as non-scientists, on different levels are required. Research and development, however, require the cooperation of actors from various scientific disciplines
and practitioners from a broad range of sectors. The involvement of stakeholders
and practitioners has become additionally important due to the need for sustainable concepts on the one hand, and their concrete implementation on the other. The
collaborative work of scientists and practitioners on real life problems is referred to as
transdisciplinary research (TDR). TDR must be differentiated from interdisciplinary
research, which is referred to as an interaction between two or more disciplines.
TDR appears to be a pathway to sustainability because it integrates scientific expertise and practical needs, as well as legal regulations and rules. All these aspects must
be considered, if decisions are envisaged that are accomplishable in societal frameworks. Establishing this as a basis, the collaboration between universities and other
societal institutions and organizations, namely TDR, becomes a necessity to achieve
sustainable solutions for a great variety of problems.
Schulte and Heilmann (2019) conducted a literature review and analyzed several
definitions of TDR. Finally, she defined TDR as a combination of Pohl (2011) and
Cronin (2008):
A. Heilmann (B) · H. Pundt
Department of Automation and Computer Sciences, Harz University of Applied Sciences,
Friedrichstr. 57-59, 38855 Wernigerode, Germany
e-mail: aheilmann@hs-harz.de
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
W. Leal Filho et al. (eds.), Universities, Sustainability and Society: Supporting
the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, World Sustainability Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63399-8_6
81