Transdisciplinary Case Study Research (TCSR)

Mission Statement

The TCSR group conducts research on transdisciplinary decision support methods for facilitating transition processes of complex human-environment systems. Its approach to decision support for large-scale problems provides tools for organising this process in a structured and coordinated way. Sustainable development is used as a guiding concept for formulating the goals of the system in focus.

• Transdisciplinarity is seen as a core element for coordinating a transition process. It provides a framework for integrating the knowledge of a wide range of experts and stakeholders. At the same time a common base of knowledge is a promising starting point for cooperation between the involved stakeholders. Integrating not only interests, but also different modes of thought, expert's and local knowledge leads to more robust results. We also refer to this process as analytic mediation.

• The term decision support is used to indicate that the group develops and evaluates methods of creating, exploring and assessing possible future developments of human-environment-systems. These developments provide a sound foundation for the actual decision-making processes taking place in the according societal institutions.

• An integrated and goal-oriented project architecture provides the necessary structure to organise the process in a transparent, consensus-oriented manner.

The expertise of the group lies in the area of decision sciences and systems sciences and their combination. Within those areas both quantitative and qualitative approaches are applied and integrated to achieve a comprehensive representation of the system and the decision process.

Research is done in the form of case studies concerning different issues related to sustainable development in the broadest sense, which is an established and accepted form of research in the fields of transition research and strategic planning. The case study approach is used to derive general aspects of decision making in complex and multi-actor decision situations from carefully selected and representative cases.