Engaging citizens in participatory processes to solve complex sustainability challenges such as nuclear waste disposal, is for a variety of reasons (e.g., legitimacy, substantive, normative) a well-established approach. Citizens (stakeholders, ‘lay people’) contribute to science through e.g., citizen science by collecting data or posing their own research questions, or by co-producing knowledge in transdisciplinary projects.

In this presentation, we report on an approach that falls between the above and was implemented in a research project on high-level nuclear waste management in Germany. The aim was to engage citizens with diverse profiles (age, gender, profession; but no particular stake in nuclear issues) in a Citizens’ Working Group (CWG) in the scientific process. The central question revolved around how to build trust between the CWG and the project researchers, and to explore the underlying mechanisms at play (enabling factors and barriers). In addition to this social science research focus, other more technical inquiries explored citizens’ attitudes towards various concepts related to near-field monitoring of a deep geological repository.

The CWG was recruited in a comprehensive multi-step process based on a representative online survey in Germany. Acting as an ‘extended peer community’ providing an outsider perspective, this group contributed with experiential knowledge, their perceptions and attitudes. Currently, the CWG consists of fourteen individuals who have participated in the research process through workshops and project meetings for almost four years.

The work process was monitored through structured methods, including observation (using a self-developed matrix) and repeated surveys. The results suggest that the approach has boosted trust: The collaboration was characterized by a relaxed atmosphere, interpersonal respect, and support; this was achieved through the openness of the researchers and CWG members, and sustained through continuous interaction over time.

In terms of the research process itself, the involvement of the CWG in the project was highly beneficial: The CWG has contributed to the research in many ways over the years, focusing on political and social processes and target knowledge. It has fulfilled the role of an extended peer community, as its members' contributions have led to corrections of some researchers' views, highlighted value issues, and initiated new topics themselves.

Where the workshops’ guiding questions were adapted to value issues and trade-offs (e.g., safety reduction vs. knowledge gain from monitoring; note that monitoring to some extent compromises the impermeability of a repository’s host rock), the CWG was able to provide valuable insights. However, for specific scientific research questions, the innovation and knowledge gain was limited. Obviously, for narrow disciplinary research questions, a group of individuals with more specialized knowledge is more appropriate.

The focus of the presentation is on our observations and experiences from the collaborative work (e.g. workshop results).

The presentation introduces a coherent methodological concept, the Transment Approach: It draws on 25 years of experience in td-research (still fundamental Jahn et al. 2012/ Lang et al. 2012) with transformative ambition (Wiek and Lang 2016 ). It was further refined in the 5-years project "System innovations for sustainable development" in which it was tested in four different regional and transnational problem constellations:

- Future-orientated urban development

- Sustainable chemistry in the leather supply chains

- Interactive local heating networks

- Innovative regional mobility

The Transment Approach takes up sustainability challenges and related socio-ecological problems discussed in public and for which a general normative orientation already exists (Wuelser et al. 2012); e.g. in the context of the “European Green Deal” or the United Nations.

When addressing these real-word challenges change processes in the societal practices (Hirsch Hardorn et al. 2006) towards the “safe operating space” according to the planetary boundary concept are needed (Rockström et al. 2009; Richardson et al. 2023).

The challenge is, on the one hand, to integrate different interests and goals, but on the other hand also to overcome the established routines of the status quo. This involves the problem of managing a process that starts with a large number of mental models (Pearce & Ejderyan (2020).

For scientists who have not grown into the necessary procedure through trial and error, the roles and tasks associated with these processes are uncharted territory. A variety of roles have been identified (c.f. Hilger et al. 2021, Bulten et al. 2021, Wittmayer et al. 2014).

In our five-year project, we realised that there was a need to simplify this diversity of tasks and to formulate clear role expectations that can be fulfilled in day-to-day research. The Transment Approach responds to this demand by accompanying the actors step-by-step from the definition of the problem to joint solution generation. In doing so, the actors from science take on three different roles:

- Member of an interdisciplinary team: A common set of categories and criteria can help an interdisciplinary research group to develop a joint understanding of the problem. The Transment Approach draws on the heuristic of the interdisciplinary institutional analysis (Bizer & Führ 2015).

- expert in a transdisciplinary team: The process is based on the three-phase research approach that has emerged over the last 30 years in the context of sustainability research (still fundamental: Jahn et al. 2012)

- navigator of the team dynamics: Not only cognitive processes need to be taken into account, but also beneficial emotional and social-interactional conditions need to be created so that joint integration processes can succeed. Methods such as the scenario technique combined with a cross-impact analysis and a theory of change can help to constructively steer a transdisciplinary process.

The presentation will highlight the challenges in phases A to C of a transdisciplinary project. Understanding and practising these three roles helps scientists in the process to orientate themselves better and makes it easier to manage their own expectations and those of others adequately.

We would be delighted to exchange ideas with td-researchers who are dealing with similar problem constellations. What are their experiences, what do they do differently, what is similar? What results do they achieve?

key readings

Kleihauer, S./Führ M./Niebler R.: The Transment Approach. Scrollytelling https://itp.h-da.de/themen/transformative-prozesse-gestalten/transment-ansatz/scrollytelling.

The integration of interdisciplinarity into the core mission of research-intensive academic institutions is rapidly emerging as a key strategy to increase research relevance and impact. This highlights the growing recognition of interdisciplinarity's central role in advancing knowledge that addresses complex societal issues. Climate warming in the Arctic and Subarctic regions is a complex issue that requires integrated research efforts across disciplines. To help generate the knowledge needed to improve our understanding of the changing northern environment and its impact on humans and their health, Université Laval in Quebec City, Canada, launched the Sentinel North research strategy in 2015. This institution-wide initiative fosters interdisciplinary collaborations across faculty and department structures, spanning the engineering, natural, social and health sciences.

In this presentation, the Sentinel North institutional research strategy is introduced as a case study, focusing on key considerations in implementing, and evaluating a large-scale challenge-led interdisciplinary initiative. The preliminary scientific outputs of the strategy were assessed using a mixed approach and an assessment framework that prioritized a ‘self-controlled’ difference-in-difference method. A range of bibliometric indicators were used to capture the knowledge integration and impact of Sentinel North’s research outputs. Additionally, we present an innovative chord visualization approach to capture the multidimensional construct of interdisciplinarity. This visualization uses co-citation linkages between pairs of subfields in publications as a graphic implementation of the Rao-Stirling bibliometric indicator of interdisciplinarity.

This preliminary assessment and novel visualization approach revealed a notable increase in interdisciplinary knowledge integration in Sentinel North's scholarly outputs compared to those of the self-control set. In conclusion, the study examines the strategy's implementation and impact on researcher collaboration, network dynamics, and interdisciplinary knowledge production. It highlights the importance of monitoring and evaluating interdisciplinary strategies to drive meaningful change, providing valuable insights for implementing large-scale interdisciplinary research initiatives.