School of Social and Political Science

Description

Meeting pressing environmental and societal challenges of our time requires inter- and transdisciplinary (ITD) research that formulates socially robust responses by crossing boundaries of not only different disciplines but also research, policy, and practice. Integration across such boundaries is widely regarded as both the core feature and the key challenge of ITD research. Yet, this integration is critical to the success or failure of ITD projects or programs. Given its importance, this talk will call for establishing a new type of academic career: integration experts, i.e. experts who lead, manage, monitor, assess, accompany, and/or advise others on integration in ITD projects or programs. Building on conceptual and empirical insights on integration and integration experts, the talk will address the following questions: What is integration? What are integration experts? What role(s) do they play? What personal qualities and expertise do they have? What career challenges do they face? The talk will conclude with some suggestions on how to support integration experts in building their academic careers at the interface between different disciplines, but also science, policy and practice.

Sabine Hoffmann, PhD, is Group Leader of Inter- and Transdisciplinary Research at Eawag, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, and Lecturer at ETH Zurich (Switzerland). She received her PhD degree in Development Studies from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva (Switzerland); she earned a Master of Advanced Studies degree in Development and Cooperation from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (Switzerland) and a Master of Science degree in Geo-Ecology from the University of Bayreuth (Germany). 

Her research focuses on integration and integrative leadership in large inter- and transdisciplinary research programs in both theory and practice.  She co-leads the ITD Alliance Working Group on Integration Experts and Expertise and is, among others, member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Network for Transdisciplinarity (td-net), Switzerland, and the Strategic Board of the ITD Conference 2017 in Lüneburg, Germany; 2019 in Gothenburg, Sweden; 2021 in Zurich, Switzerland; 2024 in Utrecht, Netherlands. 

Prior to her PhD, she worked as a development consultant for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the International Secretariat for Water (ISW) in Bolivia, Central and Eastern Europe.