IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/vrs/founma/v16y2024i1p41-58n3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Transdisciplinary Research for Sustainable Development: Diverse and Best-Practice at European Technical Universities

Author

Listed:
  • LEURS Inge

    (Human Technology Center, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, GERMANY)

  • ROSTEK Katarzyna

    (Warsaw University of Technology, Faculty of Management, Warsaw, POLAND)

  • WIECK Kathrin

    (Technische Universität Berlin, Office for Science and Society, Berlin, GERMANY)

  • BACKHAUS Julia

    (Human Technology Center, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, GERMANY)

  • OROZCO-MESSANA Javier

    (Universitat Politècnica de València, Instituto de Tecnologia de Materiales, Valencia, SPAIN)

Abstract

As societal challenges grow, so does the role of universities in finding social and technological solutions. Technical universities are prominent in educating future innovators and developing desired technological and social change. This paper seeks to identify commonalities and better understand differences to develop strategies for mutual support and exchange of best practices. The methodological approach focuses on three questions concerning 1) the common understanding of transdisciplinary, 2) the diversity of transdisciplinary approaches to sustainable development, and 3) the different institutional structures that enable and promote transdisciplinary approaches to sustainability. The qualitative exploratory research suggests that a higher level of societal engagement in scientific research positively impacts societal transformation towards sustainability. This research is also a first step towards making transdisciplinary research at technical universities more visible and transparent to provide better support and create a mutual learning environment for discussing and continuously developing strategies for organizational change.

Suggested Citation

  • LEURS Inge & ROSTEK Katarzyna & WIECK Kathrin & BACKHAUS Julia & OROZCO-MESSANA Javier, 2024. "Transdisciplinary Research for Sustainable Development: Diverse and Best-Practice at European Technical Universities," Foundations of Management, Sciendo, vol. 16(1), pages 41-58, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:founma:v:16:y:2024:i:1:p:41-58:n:3
    DOI: 10.2478/fman-2024-0003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.2478/fman-2024-0003
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2478/fman-2024-0003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    transdisciplinary; societal impact; levels of engagement; sustainable development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:vrs:founma:v:16:y:2024:i:1:p:41-58:n:3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.sciendo.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.