Integration experts are academics who lead, administer, manage, monitor, assess, accompany, and/or advise others on integration within inter- and transdisciplinary (ITD) projects or programs (Hoffmann et al. 2022). We here define integration as the process of constructively combining a wide range of perspectives from different disciplines (i.e., interdisciplinary integration) as well as from science, policy and practice (i.e., transdisciplinary integration) with the aim of developing a more comprehensive understanding of complex problems and generating more promising solutions. It is a multidimensional process that involves cognitive, social, and emotional dimensions (Pohl et al. 2021). We likewise refer to integration as the integrated output that emerges from this process (O'Rourke et al. 2016).
Integration experts play a range of different roles within ITD projects or programs which we consider a role in itself (Hoffmann et al. 2022). These roles change over time and depend on the specific purpose, scale and scope of integration as well as the specific context in which integration takes place (Hoffmann et al. under review). They are socially constructed within a project or program shaped by the overarching contextual conditions for integration at different levels – individual, team, project, program, institutional and societal (Deutsch et al. under review-b). Integration experts play such roles purposefully (‘role-taking’), or they develop them gradually depending on the purpose, scale and scope of integration, the contextual conditions for integration as well as the personal qualities and expertise they bring in (‘role-making’) (Hilger et al. 2021, Hoffmann et al. under review). Some of these roles (e.g., contributors) align well with the roles academics usually play, while others (e.g., bridge builders, boundary crossers) transcend existing roles (Hoffmann et al. 2022) and require other personal qualities and expertise than those academics usually possess (Hoffmann et al. under review).
Notwithstanding the range of different roles which integration experts play, they are often miscategorized as merely facilitators, coordinators, administrators or managers of ITD projects or programs (Hoffmann et al. 2022), who render solely ‘supportive’ contributions to such projects or programs (e.g., providing psychological, social and material support for creativity). Such miscategorizations obscure the very important creative contributions that integration experts provide (e.g., generating, refining and linking creative ideas, including their own). Building on Mainemelis et al. (2015)’s definition of integrative leadership as an interplay of supportive and creative contributions from both leaders and team members (Deutsch et al. under review-a), the question arises of the interplay of supportive and creative contributions that integration experts make to ITD projects or programs, while assuming the range of different roles described above. Addressing this question will enable us to make the nature and extent of supportive and creative contributions linked to the various roles that integration experts play visible and tangible.
We aim at organising an interactive workshop to disscuss this question of the interplay of supportive and creative contributions with participants interested in exploring the different roles of integration experts in ITD projects or programs. The proposed workshop design has been tested in a virtual pilot workshop organised as part of the ITD Alliance Working Group on Integration Experts and Expertise on February 6, 2024, and further developed based on the insights gained from the pilot workshop. Building on the existing conceptual and empirical insights on integration experts and integrative leadership (Deutsch et al. under review-a, Hoffmann et al. 2022, Hoffmann et al. under review, Lash-Marshall et al. 2017, Mainemelis et al. 2015), the workshop aims at:
• Exploring the range of different roles integration experts play in ITD projects or programs
• Discussing the interplay of supportive and creative contributions integration experts make to ITD projects or programs, and potential tensions and opportunities related to such interplay
• Exploring discrepancies between self-perception and perception of others related to the interplay of supportive and creative contributions.
Workshop design (90 min)
The workshop starts with a short discussion of the role(s) of integration experts in ITD projects or programs and the interplay of supportive and creative contributions integration experts make (max. 10 min). The discussion is followed by structured activities involving all workshop participants to reach the aims listed above, whilst generating empirical insights for a joint peer-reviewed publication on this topic co-authored by all participants interested in embarking on this collaborative writing endeavour.
We expect all participants to be interested in exploring integration experts’ different roles and the interplay of supportive and creative contributions, while being diverse in their motivations for participating. For example, participants may be more interested in practice, or in theory, or in the relationship between practice and theory; or they may have different kinds of integration experiences (from novice leaders to experts; from participants to leaders of integrative efforts). Our workshop design will account for this diversity. We will use various devices (individual reflections, small group discussions, whole group reflections) to enable mutual learning between and amongst novices, theoreticians, practitioners, experts, leaders, participants:
• To explore the range of different roles of integration experts in ITD projects or programs we will ask participants to first think individually on their role in a particular ITD project or program, then give such role a name (e.g., ‘bridge builder’) and finally specify that role by describing 3-5 key tasks related to such role (15 min).
• To discuss the interplay of supportive and creative contributions that integration experts make we will first introduce a specially developed chart based on Mainemelis et al. (2015) which will be displayed on the floor; we will then then discuss the x-axis (integrators’ supportive contributions) and y-axis (integrator’s creative contributions) of this chart. Based on this discussion, we will ask participants to first position themselves physically in the chart and then discuss with participants being positioned next to them: (a) the role’s name, (b) the specific 3-5 key tasks related to such role, (c) the interplay of creative and supportive contributions attached to such role and (d) the potential tensions and opportunities related to such interplay (20 min). After this group discussion, we will invite participants to share insights from their discussion with all participants (15 min).
• To explore discrepancies between self-perception and perception of others related to the interplay of creative and supportive contributions, we will ask participants to first place a sign on the chart where they position themselves (self-perception) and then place a sign where ITD project or program members would position them in the chart (perception of others), then discuss with participants next to them: (a) the potential tensions and opportunities related to potential discrepancies between self-perception and perceptions of others, and (b) the strategies they use to navigate such discrepancies (20 min). After this group discussion, we will invite participants to share insights from their discussion with all participants (15 min).
Workshop outcomes
The workshop culminates in planning a joint peer-reviewed publication on “The roles of integration experts in inter- and transdisciplinary research: The interplay of creative and supportive contributions” (working title) with all workshop participants interested in this collaborative endeavour.
References
Deutsch L, Björnsen A, Fischer AM, Hama MA, Zimmermann NE, Zurbrügg C, Hoffmann S. under review-a. Herding cats - Integrative leadership strategies in inter- and transdisciplinary programs. Sustainability Science.
Deutsch L, Pohl C, Bresch D, Hoffmann S. under review-b. Creating favorable conditions for inter- and transdisciplinary integration – an analytical framework and empirical insights. Global Environmental Change.
Hilger A, Rose M, Keil A. 2021. Beyond practitioner and researcher: 15 roles adopted by actors in transdisciplinary and transformative research processes. Sustainability Science 16: 2049-2068.
Hoffmann S, Deutsch L, Klein JT, O’Rourke M. 2022. Integrate the integrators! A call for establishing academic careers for integration experts. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 9.
Hoffmann S, Deutsch L, O’Rourke M. under review. Integration Experts and Expertise in Darbellay F, ed. Elgar Encyclopedia of Inter- and Transdisciplinarity. Edward Elgar Publishing
Lash-Marshall WG, Nomura CT, Eck K, Hirsch PD. 2017. Facilitating Collaboration across Disciplinary and Sectoral Boundaries: Application of a Four-Step Strategic Intervention. Issues in Interdisciplinary Studies 35: 200-220.
Mainemelis C, Kark R, Epitropaki O. 2015. Creative leadership: A multi-context conceptualization. The Academy of Management Annals 9: 393-482.
O'Rourke M, Crowley S, Gonnerman C. 2016. On the nature of cross-disciplinary integration: A philosophical framework. Stud Hist Philos Biol Biomed Sci 56: 62-70.
Pohl C, Klein JT, Hoffmann S, Mitchell C, Fam D. 2021. Conceptualising transdisciplinary integration as a multidimensional interactive process. Environmental Science & Policy 118: 18-26.
