The National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center's video: Keynote: Dr Susanne Moser

Tuesday: June 12, 2018 No bystanders! On the roles, tasks and capacities of the researcher in societal transformations to sustainability Dr. Susanne Moser A large volume of existing scientific literature on spanning the boundary between science, policy and/or practice focuses on the type of research, the ways of doing research, and the obstacles to doing transdisciplinary (co-designed, co-produced) research. A far smaller body of work focuses on the roles and identity/ies of the researcher doing such work, and how it changes in the course of doing transdisciplinary work. Other, mostly pedagogical work, focuses on the changing educational needs to adequately prepare young researchers for work at the boundary, but less of it focuses on the inner capacities needed to stand between science and policy/practice. This is even more relevant to explore in the context of doing transdisciplinary research in the midst of societal transitions and transformations, particularly transformations toward ecological, economic and socially just sustainability. This keynote address will explore the challenges of working at the science-policy-practice interface not through an institutional or topical, but through a psychological and ethical lens, and identify roles, tasks and capacities needed to successfully work in this space of utter discomfort and - sometimes - great fulfillment.