Atienza Casas, Sara;
Calicis, Camille;
Candiago, Sebastian;
Dendoncker, Nicolas;
Desair, Jomme;
Fickel, Thomas;
Finne, Eirik Aasmo;
... Wübbelmann, Thea; + view all
(2023)
Head in the clouds, feet on the ground: how transdisciplinary learning can foster transformative change—insights from a summer school.
Biodiversity and Conservation
10.1007/s10531-023-02603-0.
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Abstract
There is a pressing need for transformative change, with a vision of long-term human well-being within planetary boundaries. The lack of progress—despite increasing awareness and action—illustrates how challenging it is to foster change in our complex global society. Education and learning are needed to enable change. Transdisciplinary learning, which meaningfully integrates diverse knowledge and perspectives, contributes to developing an integrative understanding—a necessity for tackling complex challenges. We explore how transdisciplinary learning for early-career researchers can foster transformative change and lead to increased biodiversity conservation. This paper focuses on a case study of the authors’ shared experiences during the 2021 Alternet Summer School, which focused on transformative change for biodiversity conservation and human well-being. In this introspective research, we gained insights through an online survey for participants and organizers of the summer school (n = 27). Using qualitative content analysis, we identify seven crucial elements of transdisciplinary learning which can lead to transformative change on (a) a personal level, as the learning process shifts values and helps researchers identify their roles; (b) a research level, by rethinking science and providing tools for transdisciplinary approaches, and (c) a societal level, by moving from the individual to the collective and constructing a shared vision for a sustainable future. Participants highlighted how changes on all these levels could benefit biodiversity conservation. These insights point to the benefit of transdisciplinary learning opportunities that empower young researchers to take up their part in fostering transformative change.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Head in the clouds, feet on the ground: how transdisciplinary learning can foster transformative change—insights from a summer school |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s10531-023-02603-0 |
| Publisher version: | http://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-023-02603-0 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © The Author(s) 2023. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Biodiversity protection, Education for sustainable development, Transdisciplinary education, Lifelong learning, Self-reflexivity, Qualitative research |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > STEaPP |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10170134 |
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