Social capital accumulation and the role of the researcher: An example of a transdisciplinary visioning process for the future of agriculture in Europe

Transdisciplinarity is a demanding paradigm, considered by many in the literature as the way to move forward in terms of science and policy integration. In this paper we present the example of a tailored transdisciplinary (TD) process to tackle a key topic of European policy – the future of agriculture at the regional level. This phased process was followed in seven regions across Europe and involved the co-construction of future visions, engaging both researchers and a range of relevant stakeholders. This paper presents results based on a critical reflection made by researchers and stakeholders in Portugal and Scotland, throughout the participatory process. These results provide insights into the roles and responsibilities of researchers and stakeholders in TD processes. One main conclusion is that accumulated social capital can be essential to initiate and maintain a TD process, and requires a commitment between the research community and the surrounding society. Our analysis demonstrates the challenges of implementing a TD process within the temporal frame/boundaries of a research project and the added value of having transdisciplinarity as part of the long term strategy of a research group, not just one part of a specific project. Not acknowledging this may lead to disappointment and fatigue amongst those connecting with researchers. We also found that researchers position themselves differently in a TD process depending on their soft skills, experience and knowledge about transdisciplinarity; hence we call attention to the need to work more explicitly with these skills in the research environment and to present this concept in an early stage of researcher training, if better transdisciplinarity is to be achieved.

[1]  I. Darnhofer,et al.  Transition pathways towards sustainability in agriculture: case studies from Europe. , 2015 .

[2]  S. McGregor,et al.  Reframing the conception of nature conservation management by transdisciplinary methodology: From stakeholders to stakesharers , 2012 .

[3]  Tanja Tötzer,et al.  Designing the future—A reflection of a transdisciplinary case study in Austria , 2011 .

[4]  Peter H. Verburg,et al.  Sensitising rural policy: Assessing spatial variation in rural development options for Europe , 2011 .

[5]  J. Spangenberg Sustainability science: a review, an analysis and some empirical lessons , 2011, Environmental Conservation.

[6]  Malin Mobjörk Consulting versus participatory transdisciplinarity: A refined classification of transdisciplinary research , 2010 .

[7]  Kathleen M. MacQueen,et al.  Applied Thematic Analysis , 2011 .

[8]  Ortwin Renn,et al.  Using participation to create resilience: how to involve citizens in designing a hospital system? , 2014, Environment Systems and Decisions.

[9]  Fergus Lyon,et al.  Transdisciplinary environmental research: building trust across professional cultures , 2013 .

[10]  D. Lang,et al.  A review of transdisciplinary research in sustainability science , 2013 .

[11]  C. Pohl,et al.  Handbook of transdisciplinary research , 2008 .

[12]  B. Cooke,et al.  Participation: the New Tyranny? , 2001 .

[13]  A. Idil Gaziulusoy,et al.  Proposing a heuristic reflective tool for reviewing literature in transdisciplinary research for sustainability , 2013 .

[14]  Andreas Neef,et al.  Stakeholder participation in agricultural research projects: a conceptual framework for reflection and decision-making , 2011 .

[15]  F. Wickson,et al.  Transdisciplinary research: characteristics, quandaries and quality , 2006 .

[16]  Arthur C. Petersen,et al.  The reflective futures practitioner: Balancing salience, credibility and legitimacy in generating foresight knowledge with stakeholders , 2015 .

[17]  J. Klein Discourses of transdisciplinarity: Looking Back to the Future , 2014 .

[18]  C. Pohl What is progress in transdisciplinary research , 2011 .

[19]  Manfred A. Max-Neef Foundations of transdisciplinarity , 2005 .

[20]  Sabine Maasen,et al.  Transdisciplinarity: a new mode of governing science? , 2006 .

[21]  R. Burton,et al.  Good Farmers, Good Neighbours? The Role of Cultural Capital in Social Capital Development in a Scottish Farming Community , 2011 .

[22]  A. Newton,et al.  Transdisciplinary conceptual modeling of a social-ecological system—A case study application in Terceira Island, Azores , 2013 .

[23]  S. Fast A Habermasian analysis of local renewable energy deliberations , 2013 .

[24]  Bernhard Freyer,et al.  Co-production of knowledge in transdisciplinary doctoral theses on landscape development—An analysis of actor roles and knowledge types in different research phases , 2012 .

[25]  Franz Höchtl,et al.  Pure theory or useful tool?: Experiences with transdisciplinarity in the Piedmont Alps , 2006 .

[26]  Julie Thompson Klein,et al.  Prospects for transdisciplinarity , 2004 .

[27]  M. Lima,et al.  Putting transdisciplinarity into practice: a mixed mode procedure for stakeholder participation in natural resource management , 2015 .

[28]  Carole Després,et al.  Futures of Transdisciplinarity , 2004 .

[29]  Kasper Teilmann Measuring Social Capital Accumulation in Rural Development. , 2012 .

[30]  Anna L. Carew,et al.  The TD Wheel: A heuristic to shape, support and evaluate transdisciplinary research , 2010 .

[31]  Arnim Wiek,et al.  Measuring societal effects of transdisciplinary research projects: design and application of an evaluation method. , 2007, Evaluation and program planning.

[32]  Tanya Augsburg,et al.  Becoming Transdisciplinary: The Emergence of the Transdisciplinary Individual , 2014 .

[33]  M. Reed Stakeholder participation for environmental management: A literature review , 2008 .

[34]  M S Reed,et al.  Participatory scenario development for environmental management: a methodological framework illustrated with experience from the UK uplands. , 2013, Journal of environmental management.

[35]  T. Pinto-Correia,et al.  Transdisciplinarity in deriving sustainability pathways for agriculture. , 2015 .

[36]  D. Roux,et al.  Framework for participative reflection on the accomplishment of transdisciplinary research programs , 2010 .

[37]  G. Cundill,et al.  A review of assertions about the processes and outcomes of social learning in natural resource management. , 2012, Journal of environmental management.

[38]  D. Goodman,et al.  Jürgen Habermas' theory of communicative action: An incomplete project , 2001 .

[39]  P. Bourdieu Forms of Capital , 2002 .

[40]  Bradley D. Parrish,et al.  What is social learning , 2010 .

[41]  S. Arnstein,et al.  Ladder of Citizen Participation , 2020 .

[42]  Pim Martens,et al.  Transdisciplinary research in sustainability science: practice, principles, and challenges , 2012, Sustainability Science.