About TD research

Established in 2017, TD School is the focal point of transdisciplinary education, research and engagement at UTS. TD School offers internationally acclaimed coursework and undertakes research for real-world impact.

We are driven to tackle problems that matter by integrating expertise from diverse academic disciplines with expertise from professions, policy and lived experiences. Our approach combines creativity, futuring, reflexivity and systems thinking to evaluate complex challenges and to propose new ways forward. We operate across UTS and regularly collaborate with colleagues across all faculties and institutes.

TD School does research for real-world impact, by recognising that to tackle problems that matter, we must draw on expertise across academic disciplines, non-academic professions and stakeholder groups. We invite you to join us in grappling with these challenges.

Why TD?

Transdisciplinary (TD) research aims to address the root causes of challenges, rather than just their discrete symptoms, through applying open, complex, dynamic, and networking lenses. This is directly in line with the OECD's 2020 Science, Technology and Industry Policy Paper, 'Addressing societal challenges using transdisciplinary research'. TD research embodies collaboration, curiosity and creativity towards shared outcomes. In TD research, defining the challenge being tackled is crucial – we do so by taking a human-centred approach to build practical and theoretical knowledge together, for novel approaches in diverse situations.

What is TD?

Transdisciplinarity can be seen as a paradigm; a new way of holistically understanding our reality. At a personal level, it is a mindset or a way of being, including being centred and grounded in times of upheaval and uncertainty, in order to appreciate the messiness or complexity of a given situation from a more constructive perspective. At a practical level, we see transdisciplinary research as a process, including:

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

The mixing of disciplines and transcending them to include applied practices and end-user co-design can be visualised to differentiate TD from multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research. 

This image visualises different knowledge areas as separate circles. With multidisciplinarity, there is no overlap or interaction as each knowledge area views a problem from its own perspective. With interdisciplinarity there is some interaction, with the potential to form a new discipline and new practices. With transdisciplinarity, all areas overlap and integrate to form a new field of practice with which to address a complex problem situation.

Figure: A comparison of multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary approaches to innovation

In many cases, the solution is unknown or even unknowable at the start of a project. TD research, therefore, requires keeping an open mind about its direction and which stakeholders are affected by the problem. The impact of the project may also emerge during or long after the project.

Our work is about building innovative practices towards long-term impact. Students, researchers, practitioners, community members and other stakeholders combine their knowledge, tools, techniques, methods, theories, concepts, as well as cultural and personal perspectives to address complex applied challenges. By understanding problems holistically, the solutions that emerge are innovative and creative, as well as mutually beneficial. The difference between this approach and others is that transdisciplinary projects accommodate a far broader spectrum of approaches with their ability to combine a large number of insights and possibilities – accessing diverse perspectives from a variety of disciplines, industries and fields – well beyond the scope and reach of more linear approaches.

Transdisciplinary research, thus, does more than generate new knowledge to be communicated through traditional outputs, e.g. via publications. Because engagement with diverse stakeholders is built in from the design stages of research projects, Transdisciplinary research is engaged and a driver of outcomes and impact. Co-production of knowledge occurs through deep listening to the beings and non-beings affected by the challenge. Our work builds on our deep expertise, recognising the significance of other’s expertise, and the value of these perspectives when entering a new problem space with curiosity, creativity and an open mind.

Find out more about transdisciplinary research

For further reading about transdisciplinary research, we recommend our open access Special Issue on Transdisciplinary Innovation in the Technology Innovation Management Review.

We also recommend listening to episode 5 of the Impact at UTS podcast Breaking Out of Your Research Silo (opens Apple podcasts).

Follow TD research

Follow TD School on Google Scholar to receive email alerts in near real-time when we publish an article, chapter, conference paper or report. 

This is the header graphic from TD School's Google Scholar profile, including a TD School logo, reference to TD School's previous identity as the Faculty of Transdisciplinary Innovation.

Figure: Header graphics for TD School's Google Scholar profile

To follow us, open TD School’s profile on Google Scholar, then click ‘Follow’, select ‘New articles by this author’ and enter your email address.

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.