News der Community

Mountain Research and Development Vol 45, No 2 available online and open access

Articles in this issue examine how pastoralist livelihoods in the Andes adapt to include temporary labor migration; define and analyze interface areas between mountains and lowlands as a new category for spatial planning in the European Alps; propose sustainability principles for trail running in Romania; explore climate challenges to off-piste skiing and possible adaptation pathways in France; and present the 30-year history of the ForumAlpinum conference series in the European Alps.

The fifth edition of SSH Energy, held in June 2025 and organized by the CSTS Group (TdLab, ETH Zurich), brought together researchers, modellers and practitioners to share perspectives on the societal implications, discourses, and transformation processes driving a more sustainable and equitable energy system. Framed within the SWEET CoSi project, the 1.5-day workshop featured a keynote, paper and poster presentations, micro-workshops, a stakeholder-focused workshop and roundtable on Living Labs. SSH Energy 2025 fostered an open, vibrant atmosphere, a space to connect, challenge assumptions, and co-reflect across disciplines.

The Journal of Creative Research Methods is a space for the creative research methods community; it publishes critical and engaged work on creative research methods and welcomes contributions from authors across all disciplines and sectors. We see creative methods as a field where researchers are thinking, questioning, or approaching research in a creative way, drawing from creative disciplines and practices, or extending these to other disciplines which have not traditionally foregrounded creative practices.

Mehr Fahrradabstellplätze in der Stadt, besser auf den konkreten Bedarf angepasste Takte bei Bussen und Straßenbahnen, ein außerstädtisches Park & Ride-System und insgesamt mehr Barrierefreiheit: Das sind nur ein paar Empfehlungen aus dem umfangreichen Maßnahmenpaket, von dem sich der Zukunftsrat – Würzburgs erster Bürger:innenrat – mehr Gerechtigkeit in der Mobilität in Würzburg verspricht.

Nach mehreren Treffen und intensiven Beratungen haben die Mitglieder des Rats ihre Empfehlungen jetzt an Würzburgs Oberbürgermeister Martin Heilig überreicht. Demnächst wollen sie die Ergebnisse ihrer Beratungen auch noch den Mitgliedern des Stadtrats vorstellen.

The programme of the International Creative Research Methods Conference and information on the keynote speakers Jacqueline Priego & Amanda Taylor-Beswick are now online. The confernece will take place on 8th and 9th September in Manchester, UK.

The Swiss National Research Programme NRP 82 has selected 15 research projects with a strong transdisciplinary approach, engaging scientists, NGOs, public authorities, and societal stakeholders. Chosen from 84 initial proposals, the projects address diverse themes such as sustainable wetland management, biodiversity education, urban nature, and legal aspects of species migration in the Alps. With a total budget of CHF 11.2 million, NRP 82 aims to strengthen biodiversity and ecosystem services in Switzerland by fostering collaboration across science and practice:

Die KI Gemini hat am 16. Juli 2025 ihre Rezension zum Buch von Luc Saner «Allgemeiner Teil der Wissenschaften»folgendermassen zusammengefasst: 

«Zusammenfassend lässt sich sagen, dass das Buch von Luc Saner eine hochrelevante und zukunftsweisende Vision für die Einheit der Wissenschaft darstellt. Sie steht im Einklang mit zeitgenössischen Trends in der Wissenschaftsphilosophie, die eine nuanciertere, pragmatischere und pluralistischere Form der Einheit anstreben, die von dem dringenden Bedarf an interdisziplinären Lösungen für globale Probleme angetrieben wird. Ihr Vorschlag für ein "echtes Studium Generale" und einen "allgemeinen Teil der Wissenschaften" bietet eine konkrete und potenziell sehr "nützliche Grundlage" für die Förderung einer stärker integrierten und effektiveren Wissenschaftslandschaft.»

The “Linking-Relinking” tool supports science teams through development of a transactive memory system, which is a form of shared cognition having to do with “who knows what” on a team. The Tool can support transactive memory system development by helping members determine how accurate their knowledge is of their teammates and calibrate appropriately. It can also help members identify potential areas of shared interest and help a team develop collective awareness of complementary expertise.

Place, integration and stakeholder engagement feature in recent stand-out contributions to i2Insights blog and repository. James Turner highlights eleven key principles associated with successful place-based community-led projects; Colleen Cuddy presents key facilitators of successful integration; and Emma Ligtermoet and colleagues show how context is used to centre exploration of interconnected elements of positionality, purpose, power and process in stakeholder engagement.

Die European Citizen Science Association fordert die dezidierte Förderung und Verankerung von Citizen Science im nächsten Forschungsrahmenprogramm der Europäischen Kommission. Das Positionspapier wurde mit Praktiker:innen und dem Projekt European Citizen Science erarbeitet kann digital unterzeichnet werden.

Von der Idee zum Konzept - unterstützt das Planungstemplate von mit:forschen! mit Leitfragen, Tipps und Literaturhinweisen bei der Planung eines Citizen-Science-Projekts. Das Tool hebt wichtige Themenfelder hervor, die bereits vor Projektstart zu berücksichtigen sind. Das Planungstemplate kann als PDF zum Ausdrucken oder als Miro-Vorlage genutzt werden.

Why a new name?
Since the foundation of the KFPE in 1994 debates on research and development cooperation have evolved. Successful collaborations of our member organizations with partners around the world have contributed to develop new perspectives on complex global interconnections. The new name reflects new understandings.

With the new name, we also have a new website: globalresearch.ch and a new e-mail: globalresearch@scnat.ch

The Swiss Social Sciences & Humanities Energy Research Group – sign up on our website!

You can always become active, send emails to the whole group, and suggest workshops, conferences, and other community formats for exchange on energy topics. Currently, we also are very interested in new members from the Arts, as well as from the civil society.

Please feel also free to join the Swiss Social Sciences & Humanities Energy Research Group on Linkedin.

By Collen Cuddy

What kinds of integration are required in interdisciplinary teams to truly synthesize diverse knowledge and perspectives, creating meaningful outcomes? What are the key facilitators of successful integration?

Mit einer feierlichen Auftaktveranstaltung ist das „Transformationslabor Stadt und Universität Würzburg“ gestartet. Ziel ist es, gemeinsam Lösungen für gesellschaftliche Transformationsprozesse zu entwickeln und zu erproben.

While many scientific institutions and public administrations strive to anticipate technological developments and their implications, TA-SWISS's scope is broader in that it analyses technological trends from a wide-ranging, macrosocial. At the express request of the Swiss parliament, it assesses technological trends from a wide-ranging, macrosocial perspective, outlining options for action.

In its annual report the Foundation provides insight into the various mechanisms put in place to ensure the relevance, breadth and analytical depth and quality of its interdisciplinary reports. 2024 can be seen as a prime example of this, with the foundation publishing four significant studies while simultaneously working on or initiating five additional projects.

The April-June 2025 i2S News provides the latest developments in the Integration and Implementation Sciences (i2S) theoretical framework covering research approaches, imperfection, and trust. Further, 19 tools were added to two repositories covering change, decision making, diversity, integration, research implementation, stakeholder engagement, systems and teamwork. In addition, there are two new videos featuring a South–North dialogue and pioneering teaching efforts, as well as two new blog posts discussing artificial intelligence

AI, Africa and advice on planning stakeholder workshops feature in recent stand-out contributions to i2Insights blog and repository. Faye Miller highlights capacities essential for transdisciplinarians to make the most of AI; Basirat Oyalowo lays out the critical role for TD in in achieving higher education’s third mission in Africa and PhD student, Maxine Fromm, provides practical lessons for planning transdisciplinary stakeholder workshops.

By Adrian Wolfberg.

How can solving today’s most complex challenges reckon with four fundamentally different ways of knowing? How can the collision of their distinct epistemic strengths and blind spots be harnessed for innovation in threat assessment and decision-making on complex problems?