Haider L Jamila, Hentati-Sundberg Jonas, Giusti Matteo, Goodness Julie, Hamann Maike, Masterson Vanessa A, Meacham Megan, Merrie Andrew, Ospina Daniel, Schill Caroline, Sinare Hanna
1Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
2Centre for Complex Systems in Transition, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Sustain Sci. 2018;13(1):191-204. doi: 10.1007/s11625-017-0445-1. Epub 2017 Jun 21.
The establishment of interdisciplinary Master's and PhD programs in sustainability science is opening up an exciting arena filled with opportunities for early-career scholars to address pressing sustainability challenges. However, embarking upon an interdisciplinary endeavor as an early-career scholar poses a unique set of challenges: to develop an individual scientific identity and a strong and specific methodological skill-set, while at the same time gaining the ability to understand and communicate between different epistemologies. Here, we explore the challenges and opportunities that emerge from a new kind of interdisciplinary journey, which we describe as 'undisciplinary.' Undisciplinary describes (1) the space or condition of early-career researchers with early interdisciplinary backgrounds, (2) the process of the journey, and (3) the orientation which aids scholars to address the complex nature of today's sustainability challenges. The undisciplinary journey is an iterative and reflexive process of balancing methodological groundedness and epistemological agility to engage in rigorous sustainability science. The paper draws upon insights from a collective journey of broad discussion, reflection, and learning, including a survey on educational backgrounds of different generations of sustainability scholars, participatory forum theater, and a panel discussion at the Resilience 2014 conference (Montpellier, France). Based on the results from this diversity of methods, we suggest that there is now a new and distinct generation of sustainability scholars that start their careers with interdisciplinary training, as opposed to only engaging in interdisciplinary research once strong disciplinary foundations have been built. We further identify methodological groundedness and epistemological agility as guiding competencies to become capable sustainability scientists and discuss the implications of an undisciplinary journey in the current institutional context of universities and research centers. In this paper, we propose a simple framework to help early-career sustainability scholars and well-established scientists successfully navigate what can sometimes be an uncomfortable space in education and research, with the ultimate aim of producing and engaging in rigorous and impactful sustainability science.
可持续性科学跨学科硕士和博士项目的设立，为初出茅庐的学者们开辟了一个充满机遇的令人兴奋的领域，使他们能够应对紧迫的可持续性挑战。然而，作为初出茅庐的学者投身于跨学科研究，会带来一系列独特的挑战：既要形成个人的科学身份认同以及强大而具体的方法技能组合，同时又要获得理解不同认识论并在其间进行交流的能力。在此，我们探讨一种新型跨学科历程所带来的挑战与机遇，我们将其描述为“非学科性的”。非学科性描述了（1）具有早期跨学科背景的初出茅庐的研究人员的空间或状态，（2）历程的过程，以及（3）有助于学者应对当今可持续性挑战复杂性的取向。非学科性历程是一个迭代且反思性的过程，旨在平衡方法的扎实性和认识论的灵活性，以从事严谨的可持续性科学研究。本文借鉴了广泛讨论、反思和学习的集体历程中的见解，包括对不同代际可持续性学者教育背景的调查、参与式论坛戏剧以及在2014年复原力会议（法国蒙彼利埃）上的小组讨论。基于这些多样方法的结果，我们认为现在有新一代独特的可持续性学者，他们以跨学科培训开启职业生涯，而不是在建立了坚实的学科基础后才从事跨学科研究。我们进一步将方法的扎实性和认识论的灵活性确定为成为有能力的可持续性科学家的指导能力，并讨论在当前大学和研究中心的机构背景下非学科性历程的影响。在本文中，我们提出一个简单框架，以帮助初出茅庐的可持续性学者和资深科学家成功驾驭教育和研究中有时令人不适的空间，最终目标是开展并参与严谨且有影响力的可持续性科学研究。
