Suchergebnisse

AbstractThe participation of practitioners in transdisciplinary sustainability research has been heralded as a promising tool for producing 'robust' knowledge and engendering societal transformations. Although transdisciplinary approaches have been advanced as an effective avenue for generating knowledge positioned to question and transform an unsustainable status quo, the political and power dimensions inherent to such research have hardly been discussed. In this article, we scrutinise the constitution of participation in transdisciplinary research through a power lens. Guided by social theories of power and a relational understanding of participation, we analyse how diverse actors equipped with a variety of material and ideational sources wield power over the subjects, objects, and procedures of participation. We applied a qualitative meta-analysis of five transdisciplinary projects from a major German research funding programme in the field of sustainability to unveil the ways in which the funding body, researchers, and practitioners exercise instrumental, structural, and discursive power over (i) actor selection and (re-)positioning, (ii) agenda setting, and (iii) rule setting. We found that researchers primarily exert instrumental power over these three elements of participation, whereas practitioners as well as the funding body wield primarily structural and discursive power. By elucidating tacit and hidden power dynamics shaping participation in transdisciplinary research, this article provides a basis for improving process design and implementation as well as developing targeted funding instruments. The conclusions also provide insights into barriers of participatory agenda setting in research practice and governance.

Cet article examine le vécu de la crise sanitaire en Suisse lors de la première vague de Covid-19. Il analyse les résultats d'un questionnaire en ligne diffusé en avril 2020 dans le cadre d'une recherche pluridisciplinaire (« Corona Citizen Science »). L'originalité de l'approche adoptée ici est d'inclure dans la question des inégalités résidentielles au temps du Covid-19 celle de la « plasticité » de la sphère domestique, au sens des possibilités, inégalement distribuées, de transformer et d'ajuster les objets, les relations et les pratiques qui prennent place à l'intérieur du logement pour faire face à la crise. Il ressort de l'analyse que les personnes confrontées à un cumul des difficultés sont celles qui sont le plus intervenues sur leur intérieur et ont le plus modifié leurs pratiques domestiques. Au contraire, l'absence de fortes contraintes est allée de pair avec la préservation de l'état du logement et des routines domestiques. L'étude de cette situation inédite montre que la plasticité est davantage un acquis des ménages aux conditions sociorésidentielles plus favorisées tandis que les catégories les plus jeunes, les plus exposées à la précarité et les plus féminines doivent s'engager dans un travail de mise en adéquation de leur logement pour faire face aux imprévus.

AbstractWe present results of a survey conducted with researchers and practitioners involved in a Swiss National Research Programme on steering energy consumption. We analyse what motivates practitioners and researchers to engage in a collaborative research project, their perception of the collaboration intensity in different project phases, and the extent to which the research project provided useful results for practitioners. Our analyses demonstrate that the intensity of collaboration is a key driver of successful collaboration as it fosters trust between researchers and practitioners. Thereby, it increases the usefulness of the research project for practitioners and their perceived contribution to the success of the research project. Research programmes should thus (1) foster trust through incentivising collaboration between research and practice; (2) facilitate the development of a shared understanding of researchers' and practitioners' respective roles; and (3) support the inclusion of practitioners in the project development phase through financial support during the proposal-writing phase.