This webinar series highlighted opportunities and challenges of transdisciplinary approaches within agricultural research. Many of the problems facing agriculture are multifaceted, and traditional disciplinary boundaries may limit our ability to address them. Additionally, agricultural research has broad implications, affecting economics, social dynamics, and the environment. Transdisciplinary approaches is a critical tool for tackling agronomic issues. It can address complex challenges that single-disciplinary approaches are not able to solve, increase the likelihood of new practice adoption, and avoid potential unintended consequences of more narrowly investigated findings.
The increased need for large-scale solutions to complex agricultural problems has led to new, large-scale funding opportunities that require applicants to develop transdisciplinary research proposals that tackle program priorities in new ways. However, because of the novel nature of transdisciplinary approaches and challenges associated with transdisciplinary research, adoption of these practices and teams is limited.
This webinar series is targeted at researchers to better understand strategies for implementing transdisciplinary approaches, team building, and overcoming challenges, and university administrators to better support novel transdisciplinary teams and their research.
The webinar series playlist can be viewed on YouTube or as individual videos below.
Webinars in this Series
December 11, 2024. Reviewing and Evaluating Transdisciplinary and Engaged Research Projects
In this webinar, we heard from program leaders who have been soliciting, reviewing, funding, and evaluating transdisciplinary and engaged research for several years. They shared what they have learned about crafting requests for proposals to encourage the inclusion of transdisciplinary research practices, how their programs review and rate proposals, and the criteria and tools they use to evaluate the outcomes of individual projects and the impacts of their programs.
Speakers
- Alison M. Meadow (moderator)
- Aparna Bamzai-Dodson
- Maeghan Brass
- Charlotte Hudson
- Molly Hunter
September 9, 2024. Leveraging Extension and University Engagement
This session was presented by USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the National Agricultural Library. It features a moderated panel discussion among current Land-grant University administrators who reflect on their experiences supporting faculty and staff in adopting transdisciplinary approaches and leveraging the power of engagement; provide key insights related to the challenges of such work and the opportunities to overcome them; and discuss how to navigate multifaceted projects.
Speakers
- Marshall Stewart (Moderator)
- Chancellor Robert Jones
- Wendy Powers
- Jay Akridge
May 29, 2024. Tribal Research Partnerships: Indigenous Agroforestry, Food Security and Sovereignty
The fourth webinar in the series highlights opportunities and challenges of transdisciplinary approaches within Tribal agroforestry and food security research. The panel includes Tribal, Academic, Non-Governmental Organization, and US Department of Agriculture transdisciplinary research approaches, how and in what ways this research is serving tribal communities, and overcoming challenges. Panelists share information about what processes foster success among research partnership teams, and highlight the role of partners in large-scale projects.
Speakers
- Jennifer Sowerwine
- Vikki Preston
- Heather Rickard
- Kathy McCovey
- Stephanie Gutierrez
- Frank Lake
March 13, 2024. Lessons Learned from Teams Using Transdisciplinary Approaches
What do effective transdisciplinary approaches look like in practice? What kinds of systems, tools, and aspects of team culture contribute to successful transdisciplinary efforts? In this webinar, Hailey Wilmer (ARS), Greta Landis (University of Wisconsin-Madison), and their collaborators will dig deeper into how teams have implemented transdisciplinary approaches. Specifically, Hailey and co-authors will summarize methodological lessons from three recent collaborative rangeland projects. Greta Landis (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and colleagues will share strategies for transdisciplinary project management, leadership, and evaluation using lessons-learned from current projects in NIFA’s Strengthening Agriculture Systems (SAS) program.
Speakers
- Greta Landis
- Hailey Wilmer
December 6, 2023. Transdisciplinary Approaches: The Science of Team Science
Working on teams employing transdisciplinary approaches presents many challenges.
In the second webinar in the Transdisciplinary Approaches series, speakers share information about the keys to the success of complex teams and highlight the role of team function in large-scale projects.
Speakers
- Jeni Cross
- Anne Mook
August 30, 2023. Transdisciplinary Approaches: What They Are and Why They’re Important
The first webinar in the Transdisciplinary Approaches series looked at what transdisciplinary approaches are and why they matter.
Researchers engaged with transdisciplinary work, institutions that support research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries, and funding opportunities for transdisciplinary programs.
Speakers
- Alison Meadow
- Dan Ferguson
- Douglas Steele
- Amy Ganguli