Abstract This study contributes to the ongoing discussion on how to attribute and evaluate the contribution of transdisciplinary research to sustainable development. As co-created knowledge is a key product of transdisciplinary research, we tested the hypothesis that the extent to which this knowledge is utilized beyond the project consortia, in different areas – from scientific methods and insights to policy decisions – and across a continuum of geographical scales can be used to identify potential impact pathways. For this purpose, we developed an analytical framework that links the transdisciplinary process to six possible utilization stages, which we used as indicators of the usability of co-created knowledge. We gathered data from 22 research projects active in 36 countries using a survey and semi-structured interviews. Our results show that even during implementation of the projects, co-created knowledge is utilized by multiple actors at different stages, in all areas and at all scales simultaneously, suggesting multiple impact pathways. Project knowledge is predominantly utilized for national-level policymaking, and research partners named co-creation of knowledge with key stakeholders as the most frequently used mechanism for promoting knowledge utilization. Closer analysis revealed different understandings of and approaches to knowledge co-creation. These can be linked to weaker or stronger definitions of transdisciplinarity. The analysis shows that researchers using strong transdisciplinarity approaches typically face challenges in encompassing multiple epistemologies and facilitating dialogue. Some results suggest that inclusion and collaboration in co-creating knowledge can empower actors otherwise excluded. Our research shows that although transdisciplinary projects have nonlinear impact pathways, these can be partially assessed using the proposed analytical framework. Further, our results indicate a link between usability, inclusion, and collaboration in transdisciplinary research. We conclude with the observation that transdisciplinarity and its requirements still need to be better understood by actors within and beyond the research community.

中文翻译：

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在可持续发展途径中利用研究知识：来自跨学科研究促进发展计划的见解

摘要 本研究有助于正在进行的关于如何归因和评估跨学科研究对可持续发展的贡献的讨论。由于共同创造的知识是跨学科研究的一个关键产品，我们测试了这样一个假设，即这些知识在项目联盟之外的不同领域——从科学方法和洞察力到政策决策——以及跨地域的连续性的利用程度。量表可用于识别潜在的影响途径。为此，我们开发了一个分析框架，将跨学科过程与六个可能的利用阶段联系起来，我们将其用作共同创造知识可用性的指标。我们使用调查和半结构化访谈收集了活跃于 36 个国家的 22 个研究项目的数据。我们的研究结果表明，即使在项目实施过程中，共同创造的知识也被不同阶段、所有领域和所有规模的多个参与者同时利用，这表明存在多种影响途径。项目知识主要用于国家层面的决策，研究合作伙伴将与主要利益相关者共同创造知识称为促进知识利用的最常用机制。更仔细的分析揭示了对知识共创的不同理解和方法。这些可以与跨学科的更弱或更强的定义相关联。分析表明，使用强跨学科方法的研究人员通常在包含多种认识论和促进对话方面面临挑战。一些结果表明，在共同创造知识中的包容和协作可以赋予被排除在外的行为者权力。我们的研究表明，虽然跨学科项目具有非线性影响路径，但可以使用建议的分析框架对这些路径进行部分评估。此外，我们的结果表明跨学科研究中的可用性、包容性和协作之间存在联系。我们得出的结论是，研究界内外的参与者仍然需要更好地理解跨学科性及其要求。和跨学科研究的合作。我们得出的结论是，研究界内外的参与者仍然需要更好地理解跨学科性及其要求。和跨学科研究的合作。我们得出的结论是，研究界内外的参与者仍然需要更好地理解跨学科性及其要求。