ISETS07

Title:
"General Ecology" or "EcoTopia Science" ? chances and challenges of innovative inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to sustainable development issues

Speaker:
Prof. Ruth Kaufmann-Hayoz
University of Bern, Switzerland
Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for General Ecology (IKAO) (http://www.ikaoe.unibe.ch/)

Keywords:
Interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity, problem-oriented research, study programs, environmental problems, sustainable development

Abstract:
Science responded to the public awareness of environmental problems and the ecology movement that began 40 years ago and ultimately developed into the vision of Sustainable Development (as expressed in various United Nationsf documents since 1987) by establishing genvironmental sciencesh, either as special branches within existing disciplines (e.g., environmental chemistry, psychology, ethics, or history), or as inter- and transdisciplinary, problem-oriented research fields. While the first type of response requires only minor changes within the disciplines and is compatible with the developmental logic of the science system, the second way necessitates more fundamental methodological reflection and institutional adaptation and therefore encounters the numerous obstacles typical for transversal missions in vertically structured systems. The EcoTopia Science Institute (ESI) at Nagoya University, Japan, and the Interdisciplinary Centre for General Ecology (IKAOe) of the University of Bern, Switzerland, are examples of the second type of innovations. IKAOe has existed for 20 years now, and much could be learned about what it means to establish an inter- and transdisciplinary field of science, which is not intended to be a new discipline but lives of the disciplinary competences of those who collaborate on ever new real-world problems. The mission, history, organization, and future perspectives of IKAOe will be briefly described and discussed. Then some key insights concerning teaching and research will be presented. The current interdisciplinary study programs in General Ecology aim at enabling students of all fields to treat questions and problems of human-nature interrelations in an interdisciplinary way and to draw on their respective disciplinary competences. The lecture will describe these programs and discuss their conceptual underpinnings. With respect to research, the logic of inter- and transdisciplinary research and its common stumbling blocks will be overviewed, means to cope with them will be discussed, and illustrative examples of research projects will be given.