Moving from monodisciplinarity towards transdisciplinarity: Insights into the barriers and facilitators that scientists faced

Transdisciplinary research aims to integrate scientific knowledge and societal perspectives. Although transdisciplinarity increasingly plays a role in science, practical implications remain largely unreported in literature. A dialogue is common strategy in this type of research to stimulate mutual learning between scientists and societal stakeholders. This paper presents a four-year dialogue, using tailor-made interventions, between scientists in an interdisciplinary animal welfare research program and societal stakeholders. The dialogue aimed to encourage the scientists to move from a monodisciplinary approach to a more transdisciplinary one. Three learning phases were identified and described along with elements that worked as either barriers or facilitators of learning. We argue that this learning process can be shortened by starting with team building and the design of a shared research project after which individual experiments can be planned. Additional practical strategies are discussed.