International Transdisciplinarity Conference in Zurich

At the three-day conference in Zurich, organized by the program management of the Swiss Priority Program Environment, 700 participants from 57 nations discussed their successes and obstacles in conducting research in a transdisciplinary manner. Transdisciplinary research acts on concrete societal problems and develops solutions in collaboration with the people involved. Particularly in the sessions 'mutual learning' and 'dialogue' experiences were shared among participants. The presentations in the plenary sessions gave theoretical insight on how to conduct such applied investigations and why transdisciplinary activities are needed. In several presentations, however, one had the impression that a new discipline with its own vocabulary is about to form. It will be a great challenge to bridge the gap between fundamental and applied research or engineering on the one hand and the needs of society on the other in such a way that all groups are able to communicate through a mutually intelligible language.