The Summer School: Co-creating Transformative Knowledge: Inter- and Transdisciplinary Research in Practice met for 5 days in ETH Zurich researchers such as Germano and Mariya, doctoral students at the UPV, and students from various disciplines to work together to tackle complex problems that do not have a single answer.
The initiative brought together some thirty participants selected from more than 200 applicants, representing various disciplines and universities. Over the course of an intensive week of workshops, debates, and hands-on activities, the participants explored new ways of collaborating to address some of the complex challenges facing today’s society.
Much more than just bringing disciplines together
Interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity may seem like abstract concepts until they are put into practice. That is precisely why the Summer School He opted for a primarily hands-on approach to learning.
Throughout the week, participants experimented with different methods and tools for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research and applied them to various case studies. The goal was to understand not only what these approaches entail, but also how they can actually be used to build knowledge and find solutions to complex problems.
One of the key takeaways for participants was the realization that these concepts are not merely terms used in academia, but rather involve specific definitions, methodologies, and tools that can be incorporated into research projects. The experience thus made it possible to give a name and structure to ways of working that many researchers were already exploring intuitively.
Learning from People Who Think Differently
One of the keys to the Summer School was the composition of the work teams. Participants were grouped based on their academic backgrounds and work styles, creating deliberately diverse teams. The result was an opportunity to tackle issues outside their own areas of expertise. Among the challenges addressed were, for example, the tensions between environmental sustainability and access to affordable housing, as well as local food systems.
“In addition to the knowledge I’ve gained for my research, I’m taking away the experience of spending these days with colleagues from the various ENHANCE universities, sharing our experiences, and the bonds we’ve formed.”
Germano, a doctoral student at the UPV
From Theory to Practice
The training combined workshops, discussions, and hands-on exercises with a visit to the Energy System Integration Platform at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI). During this visit, participants were able to see firsthand large-scale energy integration and storage systems and observe how one of the major challenges of the energy transition—the storage of renewable energy—is addressed in practice.
The week concluded with presentations by the teams, who shared proposals and ideas for future research. However, the outcome of the experience is not limited to the proposals they developed. For the participants, one of the key lessons was discovering new ways to ask questions, collaborate, and tackle problems from different perspectives.