Herding cats: integrative leadership strategies in inter- and transdisciplinary research programs

Abstract

This paper focuses on the critical role of integrative leadership in inter- and transdisciplinary (ITD) research programs. ITD programs have become one of academia's responses to address contemporary sustainability challenges. Fulfilling the promise of such programs is extraordinarily challenging for all involved participants, but especially for program leaders who have to ensure that the perspectives of the involved program participants become truly integrated and that final and useful synthesis outputs are created. We present six core leadership challenges and respective strategies to address them to advance integration within ITD programs. These challenges include (1) mastering complexity and ambiguity, (2) advancing decision-making with lateral leadership, (3) ensuring responsibility and accountability, (4) setting program boundaries, (5) selecting suitable projects, and (6) dealing with misconceptions. We derived these challenges and respective strategies from both leading and studying in-depth three ITD programs focusing on sustainability issues in Switzerland. With this paper, we intend to promote awareness about the range of leadership challenges in ITD programs and provide actionable knowledge, which can support in particular fellow and future leaders, but also funders and heads of research institutions in their efforts to realize the integrative potential of such programs.Graphical abstractImage 1: (c) Eawag: Lisa Deutsch & Sabine Hoffmann; St & uuml;ckelberger Cartoons: Christof St & uuml;ckelberger, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Keywords

Leadership; Interdisciplinary; Transdisciplinary; Integration; Research programs; Actionable knowledge

Published in

Sustainability Science
2024
Publisher: SPRINGER JAPAN KK

SLU Authors

• Zurbrügg, Christian

  • Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology

UKÄ Subject classification

Social Sciences Interdisciplinary

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-024-01585-4

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/139418