Inter- and Transdisciplinarity: a b/ordering process? (2018)

The second UniGR-CBS seminar was organised at the University of Trier under the direction of Professor Antje Bruns and dealt with the topic "Interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity - a b/ordering process?  It took place on 6 and 7 November 2018 at the University of Trier and the Deutscher Hof Hotel in Trier. The seminar brought together 28 researchers from the CBS borders and 21 other interested researchers from the University of Trier and external institutions and universities.

This seminar, which was mainly methodological in nature, focused on cooperation between researchers in the field of studies on border areas. To do this, we adopted a dual perspective because, on the one hand, we sought to highlight the extent to which the different forms of multidisciplinary and multidisciplinary cooperation are essential to cope with the complexity of b/ordering processes. On the other hand, there was an exchange on multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary cooperation between researchers in the field of studies on border areas within the framework of the UniGR-CBS, which could be considered as a b/ordering process itself.

The first day was introduced by two keynote presentations by Professor Ulli Vilsmaier of Leuphana University in Lüneburg and Professor Peter Mollinga of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London who spoke about methods and practices in inter- and transdisciplinary research.

Following this, two CBS members and five external researchers gave brief presentations referring to their current research related to borders. The presentations focused on the theoretical aspects as well as on the topics of trans- and interdisciplinarity. At the end of the day, the working groups on "Employment and Vocational Training", "Bordertextures" and "Land Use Planning" met to discuss their current projects and future approaches.

The second day was dedicated to "Transdisciplinarity and Interdisciplinarity in / for Border Studies" - a topic that was discussed in an interactive "World Café" and then presented.

Then the previous day's working groups met to continue their work. Finally, Antje Bruns reviewed the seminar and discussed in plenary the results and questions relating to the format of the "border seminar".

Contact:

Antje Burns bruns@uni-trier.de

Rebekka Kanesu kanesu@uni-trier.de