TdLab Winter School 2018
What is the role of science in society? How can scientists contribute to solving complex societal problems? These are guiding questions that underpin the concept for the TdLab Winter School “Science Meets Practice”, now in its eighth consecutive edition under the framework originally set by CCES in 2011. The name of the winter school was changed to “TdLab Winter School” in 2018, to reflect the change in financial arrangements, which now includes funds from the SUK programme, in addition the remaining funds from CCES. The 2018 TdLab Winter School was carried out under the coordination of Dr BinBin Pearce. The procedures and program formats this year were redesigned, although in keeping with the learning goals of previous years.
Once again, the TdLab Winter School took place at Propstei Wislikofen, in Canton Aargau, continuing a tradition that has yielded many fruitful collaborations and exchange with the local community. A total of 45 applications were received, out of which 20 were finally selected. A total of 19 participants attended and completed the TdLab Winter School program in 2018.The 2018 cohort consisted of 17 PhD candidates, 2 MSc students and 1 postdoc from Swiss universities and institutions (ETH Zurich, PSI, University of Bern, University of Fribourg, University of Zurich) and universities in Germany, Austria, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
The programme took place during two blocks of four consecutive days each, from 16–19 and 22–25 January, 2018. In previous years, there was a few weeks’ break between the first and second parts of the Winter School. We decided to put only a weekend break between the two parts, in order to allow for more international participation, since this was previously a logistical obstacle for those studying outside of Switzerland, due to the cost of having to either stay for a long time outside of their home country or to travel back and forth. We plan on continuing this format for the 2019 programme.
The learning goal of the Winter School is to provide researchers with the knowledge and confidence to organize and implement meaningful stakeholder interactions within the framework of sustainable development and transdisciplinary research. This is in line with the goals of previous years. The approach to how this learning goal is to be achieved was, however, changed substantially. The guiding principles of this change are the following:
- Learning by doing: Participants are provided opportunities to observe “real-world” community meetings and processes. Participants have the space and expected to design the stakeholder interaction themselves. On balance, less time is spent on providing participants inputs and more time given to setting up opportunities for participants to apply methods and concepts in the real-world setting.
- Learning through iterations: Participants engage with stakeholders at a very early stage of the programme (rather than towards the end of the programme like previous years), to allow them to have enough time to build up their understanding of the system through collecting primary information and observations. This information used to trigger more questions, more observations and questions, and more information. This iterative format of learning is used for the understanding of a complex and ongoing process, where context, characters and interconnectedness of many variables are important to consider.
- Learning through adaptation: Participants learn to face and handle uncertainty in real-world situations by being responsible for designing, organizing and facilitating a stakeholder interaction. The participants test and adjust their interactions with the coaches before it is launched. They have to match their interactions with available resources and time constraints, much like what they would have to do in the context of their own projects.
This year, like the previous year, the theme selected was to accompany the ongoing current process of municipal amalgamations by helping to identify existing tensions and reflect on how this process of political administration could have implications for decisions on matters related to sustainable development. This theme was decided upon based on a mutual agreement through discussions with the mayor of Wislikofen, Heiri Rohner and the community secretary Andi Meier.
The diagram represents visually how we conceived of the curriculum:
First hand observation and informal interviews (attendance of community meetings “Echogruppen”, “Kaffee und Kuchen”) formed the basis of the participants’ understanding of the theme. This was supplemented by scientific sources of information provided to them prior to the start of the programme. The participants used this information to formulate and integrate their first understanding of the system they were working within through the use of rich pictures. They identified existing “tensions” within this system and were asked to frame these tensions as possible problems that may be present in the system, which they would like to focus on in the stakeholder interactions. Participants had a chance to “test” their impressions by doing further observations and informal interviews during a community event. New information brought back further refined their understanding of what might be matters of crucial importance to the impacted communities. Groups coalesced around different topics which emerged after this information gathering phase, based on what each individual wanted to work on. Within the groups, after clarifying the exact “tension” or “problem” the groups wanted to address, they went on to brainstorm and design the type of interaction that would help to clarify or further discuss this tension for the community. These interactions took place during the evening prior to the last day of the programme, where about 18 community members from Wislikofen and surrounding communities that are also a part of the community amalgamation process joined.
Parallel to this design and implementation of the community interaction, participants were encouraged to reflect on the relationship between science and society, the role of their own scientific work in this context, and to reflect on how they want to further contribute to this space. Tools from the td-net toolbox were introduced to the participants, which provided the basis for the design of their stakeholder interactions.
The curriculum this year placed an emphasis on the need for problem framing in stakeholder interactions. BinBin Pearce provided inputs related to this topic. With the invitation of Carmenza Robledo, we focused on providing additional resources regarding the facilitation of workshops and workshop design. Participants were asked to complete an assignment prior to the start of the Winter School, the 10-step method, which required them to consider the relevance and relationship of their research projects to societal concerns. During the Winter School, two creators of this method, Michael Stauffacher and Christian Pohl, engaged in several in-depth discussions with participants regarding their concerns and questions about the method. Patricia Fry shared with the students her experience of how to engage with stakeholders and how to capture these interactions for scientific research. A running thread throughout the programme was to allow participants to not only do but also to reflect on what they were doing, and to put the research they are currently engaged in, in perspective with what they were learning about stakeholder concerns and ways of interaction.
Professional translation services were provided to facilitate stakeholder interactions at the end of the programme, due to the large number of non-German speaking participants. Overall, the eighth edition of the TdLab Winter School obtained very positive feedback from participants. In addition to the diverse disciplinary backgrounds present, the gathering also benefited from a diverse mix of cultures and languages that participants found complemented a very enriching experience in learning to bridge the science-practice interface, adding to the quality of this offer.