The value of long-term socio-ecological research platforms in transdisciplinary research in Scotland

Abstract

The growing interest in transdisciplinarity as a mode of research and development, i.e. ‘problem solving science’, co-developed with non-academic stakeholders, is evidenced by the increase in academic literature and funding calls on the topic. Transdisciplinary research, particularly in the environmental, health and education sectors has the potential to better inform funding practices, policy and research impacts. However, academia often struggles with fully enabling either interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary science because of institutional barriers, funding constraints, time limitations, and evaluation criteria which can all hinder collaboration (Harris et al. 2024). The longitudinal studies which characterise long-term socio-ecological research (LTSER) platforms (Mirtl et al. 2021) can overcome some of these barriers through deep understanding of the local environmental and cultural issues, consistency of personal relationships and persistence of funding rounds, while setting local knowledge gaps in a global context.