About barriers and transdisciplinary literacy: Context-sensitive design of transdisciplinary research

This paper was published in: GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society, Volume 35, Number 3, 2026, pp. 157-161(5)

Transdisciplinary research (TDR) aims to develop socially robust knowledge in the form of concepts, methods, practical applications and more – in response to a societal problem and through close collaboration between academia and practice. Given the complexity of societal problems associated with sustainability transitions, this form of research is particularly necessary and requires practical knowledge. In TDR, collaboration and integration are crucial for the development of transformation knowledge and are shaped by the TDR phases of a project – Phase 0, co-design, co-production, co-evaluation and the co-integration phase. But what conditions must be taken into account to ensure effective collaboration? TDR is always influenced by context and is accommodated through the appropriate selection and adaptation of formats and methods. Transdisciplinary research formats structure the research process, such as the real-world laboratory format. Methods serve to operationalise – that is, to implement – various approaches within a format.