Research

Transdisciplinary research represents a major leap in research innovation designed to respond to the unique nature of today’s complex, dynamic and networked societal challenges.

The TD School holds an established track record at the leading edge of education, research, and their integration. We work with stakeholders as co-creators of learning experiences and research projects to tap into creative responses to complex societal challenges. We have extensive expertise in designing and facilitating context-specific and adaptive workshops with distinctive tools and methods. Transdisciplinary (TD) research is ideally suited to problem spaces that are open, complex, dynamic and networked. It goes beyond solving discrete problems by opening doors to new questions and digging deeper at root causes instead of targeting symptoms.

TD research is primarily a process rather than a product. In plain terms, it typically involves:

mixing academic knowledges from multiple disciplines
mixing applied knowledges through collaboration with industry
co-design with stakeholders, including end-users through a human-centred approach.

Through that approach, transdisciplinary research does more than generate publications. Because engagement with stakeholders is built in from the design stages of research projects, it inherently involves mutual learning, engagement and impact for all parties involved.

To learn more, explore the TD Research website and watch the ResHub Physical launch video where our Director of Research, Martin Bliemel, explains what TD means with examples from across UTS.

Research themes

Transdisciplinary research is useful across a very broad range of areas. Within the TD School, we focus our research on four themes. We also enable others across UTS to use TD methods in their projects (aka ‘supported by TD School’). Our key themes are: Futures, Sustainable Societies, Technology and Humanity, and Transformative Learning.

Explore the themes below to find case studies and who we have collaborated with.