Led by the Dean’s Office of the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Centre for Sustainable Development of the University of Tartu, a guidance material has been developed for researchers on how to conduct interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research.
The ever-growing global problems call for closer cooperation between representatives of different spheres of life and fields of research to find solutions. Such research, however, is much more complex in terms of methodology than research done within a specific discipline.
Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences Margit Keller admitted that while Estonia has considerable experience in interdisciplinary research, it has never been systematically analysed. To fill this gap, the Dean’s Office of the Faculty of Social Sciences, led by Analyst Anna-Kati Pahker, has produced guidelines to support researchers who want to cross the disciplinary boundaries in their research. “The guidelines help them find clarity in their searches and provide tips on how to use interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research techniques, based on international sources,” Keller explained.
The guidelines aim to support researchers who were inspired by the conference “Building bridges between science and society. Why and how to do cross-disciplinary research?” in November, and would like to start using the knowledge in their work. The opening keynote presentation at the conference introduced, among other things, the experiences gained from the Netherlands universities’ Centre for Unusual Collaborations, also featured in the autumn issue of the Nature journal. The guidelines, published on the website of the Centre for Sustainable Development, include theoretical approaches drawn from international sources as well as experience stories by researchers of the University of Tartu.
Those who want to immediately put the knowledge gained from the guidelines into practice can participate in the workshop focusing on transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary collaboration at the research funding info day Funding Nudge 2025 on 12 February.
Read the guidelines on the website of the Centre for Sustainable Development.
By clicking the Accept button, you agree to us doing so.