Open Online Course on Transdisciplinary Research

The course can be used for self-study or teaching and is fully accessible here. The next implementation will take place at the beginning of 2026. Exact dates to be confirmed. Registration for the learning group 2026 will open at the end of this year.

About the course

In today’s world, we face many complex societal challenges. Projects addressing these challenges often involve actors and stakeholders from different fields and disciplines bringing together their own perspectives or knowledge on a topic. Accordingly, collaborative transdisciplinary approaches are crucial for the success of a project.

The course presents transdisciplinary research as a living experience. With a basis on sound theoretical and methodological background, five outstanding projects illustrate promising different ways of dealing with complex societal challenges. The projects address a) health care for mobile pastoralists, b) water scarcity in the Alps, c) coping with decline in a mountain village, d) labour migration, and e) governance of antimicrobial resistance.Starting from these challenges, the course will take learners on a journey through the main phases and steps of transdisciplinary research projects.

The course consists of six chapters totalling 30 hours of workload for learners. Each chapter consists of a mix of formats, including videos, articles and discussions. All material is available year-round and can be integrated in lectures, courses, and self-studies.

Who is the course for?

Students and researchers from all backgrounds, policy makers and practitioners involved in searching solutions for complex societal challenges.

The course - as a whole or in parts - can nicely be integrated into seminars, courses, lectures, inversed classrooms and other formats. We are convinced, that students, researchers and practitioners from all backgrounds should have the opportunity to learn how to do research that helps to overcome societal challenges.

What topics will you cover?

Research skills needed in order to produce relevant outcomes for society and academia

• Transdisciplinarity: principles, research processes, and application
• Guiding questions, phases, and steps in transdisciplinary projects
• Pitfalls and opportunities in transdisciplinary projects
• Ethical implications of co-production processes
• Examples of transdisciplinary projects on sustainable development, migration, and health topics

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you'll be able to...

• Develop your research skills as you investigate how to co-produce knowledge for society and academia.
• Reflect transdisciplinarity – its principles, its research processes and the context in which it is promising.
• Apply transdisciplinary approaches to societally relevant questions.
• Identify guiding questions, phases and steps of transdisciplinary project.
• Apply the principles and steps of transdisciplinary research to examples in order to reflect the implication for your own projects.
• Reflect the role of scientists and stakeholders in society and consider the ethical implications of co-producing processes.

More information here.