2019 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
Advancing transdisciplinary research for sustainability: a systems approach
| Project/Area Number |
18F18802
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| Research Institution | The University of Tokyo |
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Principal Investigator |
福士 謙介 東京大学, 未来ビジョン研究センター, 教授 (30282114)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
SIOEN GILES 東京大学, 未来ビジョン研究センター, 外国人特別研究員
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| Project Period (FY) |
2018-10-12 – 2021-03-31
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| Keywords | Stakeholders / Transdisciplinary / System, Network / Collaboration |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The activities by Dr Sioen for FY2019 was on building the explorative work developed during the previous phase on the challenges and opportunities in transdisciplinary research between urban and health. The literature review served as a basis for the design of a framework that could be used during two practical data gathering workshops with international stakeholders under the relevant Future Earth Knowledge-Action Networks. This framework has now been drafted into a publication, which is in preparation for submission.
The framework focuses on the design of a stakeholder value network in which qualitative inputs are provided by stakeholders from organizations, governments, and beneficiaries. Based on their expertise, these stakeholders then co-develop the stakeholder value network. Interviews with health stakeholders were completed by Dr Sioen, and the case study findings are integrated in the manuscript described above. Dr Sioen also conducted key informant interviews for the identification of opportunities and challenges related to the work with this value network approach. The interviews served to support the framework development and improve the understanding of the needs and opportunities.
Dr Sioen also initiated the process of developing system design scenarios on global level health issues with suggestions to integrated urban issues using socio-economic indicators. These indicators were identified from (1) secondary data, (2) findings from the stakeholder value network workshop, and (3) key informant interviews with a focus on organizational efficiency improvements.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
3: Progress in research has been slightly delayed.
Reason
The researcher succeeded in completing and moving forward most of the steps he had designed in his timeline. The first part of his research includes workshops and interviews with stakeholders. He was able to obtain valuable data, which supported the theory he had developed, enabling transdisciplinary processes across sectors and disciplines. This includes the workshop with international health experts and interviews with both health and urban experts.
Due to COVID-19, a delay occurred to his work. Essential participants of a second workshop with urban experts he had organized, which was planned to take place early March, could no longer attend because of travel restrictions in their respected institutions. As a result, Dr Sioen is now modifying the methodology to acquire the data from his target group through alternative means.
Dr Sioen’s research outcomes are under development for publication in a journal. He has completed the review work outlined in the previous phase and has incorporated several of the conceptual elements that were substantiated from his review, workshop, and interviews using a systems approach.
Dr Sioen has also conducted his planned quantitative analysis on socio-economic indicators and the scenario development of organizational system designs. The data he acquired from the quantitative analysis feeds in to the qualitative analysis from the first part of this phase. This also means that by now he has developed the necessary understanding of the data and what it means for transdisciplinary research for sustainability, enabling him to complete his work.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
The immediate need is for Dr Sioen to modify the workshop methodology with urban experts that was postponed due to COVID-19. He needs to modify this from in-person to online. Essentially, the data he will acquire from this will be similar to the in-person meeting but the facilitation and interactions will be different. I trust that the results Dr Sioen can acquire will be of similar quality to that of the in-person meeting. Once he can acquire the information he needs from that target group, he will be able to connect the results with that of the value network he developed on the health experts.
Next, he can continue and finalize the quantitative analysis on socio-economic indicators and identify the linkages between the different disciplines to advance the scenario analysis. The idea is that this can lead to interesting scenario developments using a tradespace analysis, which can inform the practical aspects of the roadmap for action that he envisioned to develop during the last phase of his project.
Finally, he can finalize and submit the manuscripts that he has been developing from the analysis of his work and engage in outreach activities to share the results within the Sustainability and Transdisciplinary science communities.
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Research Products
(11 results)
