Search Results (1,092)

North African oases constitute critical socio-ecosystems characterised by complex agro-biodiversity and millennia of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). Nevertheless, such fragile landscapes are confronted with mounting pressures from climate change and an-thropogenic activities driven by agri-industrial modernisation. This systematic review, executed in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines, appraises the contemporary state of scientific literature concerning agrobiodiversity and local knowledge in North African oases, with the objective of identifying evolutionary trends and crucial research gaps. A comprehensive search of the Web of Science database yielded a substantial corpus of 270 studies, which were subsequently subjected to a rigorous, standardised analysis to ascertain the reliability and validity of the results. The results obtained demonstrate a significant structural imbalance in the distribution of research efforts. Geographically, there is a notable concentration of studies in the Maghreb region (Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco), which collectively account for over 80% of the extant literature. In contrast, the Sahelo-Saharan arc remains significantly under-researched. The thematic orientation of re-search remains predominantly reductionist and species-centric, with a preponderance of studies focused on date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) and conventional agronomy. This narrow focus obscures the functional intricacies of the three-tiered stratified system and its agropastoral interconnections. Moreover, although the need to assess landscape degradation and knowledge erosion is urgent, the integration of geospatial technologies (GIS), accounting for a mere 1.5% of studies, with ethnobotanical approaches remains marginal. The necessity for a paradigm shift is emphasised by these findings. It is essential that future research adopts transdisciplinary frameworks, which should integrate advanced geospatial monitoring with the socio-economic revitalisation of TEK. This transition is required to occur from a utilitarian perspective to holistic, locally grounded conservation strategies. The latter should ensure the long-term resilience of such agroecosystems. Full article

Background/Objectives: Acquired brain injury (ABI) affects tens of thousands of British Columbians, yet research priorities specific to pediatric populations have received limited attention. This transdisciplinary engagement study aimed to identify and rank key research priorities for health and care services for children and youth with ABI in British Columbia, Canada, by bringing together researchers, clinicians, community organization representatives, and people with lived experience (PWLE). Methods: A hybrid Nominal Group Technique (hNGT) combining virtual and in-person participation was employed from January to May 2025. Thirty advisory panel members—10 researchers, 13 clinicians, five community organization representatives, and two community members, representing a range of disciplines and geographic locations—participated across three phases: silent idea generation using an online platform, a hybrid round-robin clarification meeting, and priority ranking via an online survey. The hybrid approach was designed to maximize engagement and accessibility while preserving equitable opportunities to contribute. Results: The advisory panel contributed 49 initial ideas through the online brainstorming platform. Following round-robin clarification, 28 ideas remained in scope and were consolidated into 19 potential research priorities. Twenty advisory members completed the anonymous final ranking, which identified the 11 highest-ranked research priorities. The highest-ranked priority called for greater diversity among research participants to better represent the varied needs of children and youth with ABI. Seven of the 11 priorities addressed intersecting identities and the inclusion of underrepresented populations. Conclusions: This hNGT study identified 11 research priorities that can guide future ABI research. The findings emphasize the need for research that reflects the heterogeneous nature of pediatric ABI across diverse communities and contexts. Full article

Family life education (FLE) is a social support and educational practice that encompasses all efforts to equip individuals, families, or community members with information, resources, skills, and examples of best practices to ensure the healthy functioning of families and prevent or minimize problems. It is grounded in social science, specifically family sciences, but evidence-based research exists in multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary studies across many other domains. Family life educators are professional helpers who focus on supporting, educating, and teaching the community to empower families and improve the quality of personal and family life. Studies state that FLE is a transdisciplinary or global field, it should sustain the quality of families’ lives: subjective well-being, optimism, health, and standard of living, while reducing aspects of family deprivation and maintaining a work–life balance. FLE should integrate educational knowledge and practices for a simple way of living in families and society. Full article

This conceptual article responds to the growing need for universities to embed sustainability education within programs to develop graduates capable of addressing complex global challenges. Drawing on the literature relating to education for sustainable development, transdisciplinary work-integrated learning (TWIL), programmatic assessment, and the ethical use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), it explores how assessment can support the development and evaluation of capabilities required for sustainable development. TWIL is presented as a curriculum-based pedagogy in which students and academics from multiple disciplines collaborate with external partners to address authentic environmental, social, and economic sustainability challenges. The article argues for a programmatic approach to assessment that supports authentic, collaborative, and longitudinal capability development while addressing contemporary higher education challenges, including academic integrity and the ethical integration of GenAI as a learning partner. Its principal contribution is the integration of these complementary fields into a conceptual framework that guides the design of longitudinal capability development and assessment within TWIL. It further presents an illustrative programmatic assessment framework demonstrating how scaffolded learning experiences, authentic assessment, learner ownership, and multiple sources of evidence can be integrated across a program. It calls for further empirical research to support the programmatic design, implementation, and scalability of TWIL. Full article

This study explores how One Health, which connects human, animal, and environmental health, can be integrated into Austrian secondary education through interdisciplinary lessons combining biology and English. Three lessons on microbes, infections, and antibiotic resistance were developed and implemented in five classes. Using action research, materials were adapted based on student feedback, with scaffolding and digital tools supporting comprehension and engagement. Results suggest that both younger and older students benefited, highlighting the potential of interdisciplinary teaching to foster scientific literacy and awareness of global issues. The study also emphasizes the importance of embedding One Health in teacher education to support sustainable, transdisciplinary learning. Full article

Social inclusion has become a widely shared normative commitment across research on education, health and development, yet its enactment often remains uneven and difficult to sustain. This concept paper develops the idea of “Lost in Inclusion” to examine how inclusion is translated, unsettled and partially lost as it moves across theory, method and territory. Drawing on practice vignettes from four years of a transdisciplinary community-based research project in rural Bolivia, the article explores three sites of tension: the encounter between epistemic openness and academic demands for certainty; the translation of participation into intervention-oriented action; and the recognition of children and young people as knowledge producers. Rather than treating barriers as pre-existing obstacles, the article argues that barriers may emerge through the very practices intended to enact inclusion. It distinguishes between where inclusion gets lost, as inclusive commitments become legible within institutional and methodological logics, and how researchers and partners may become lost in the pursuit of inclusion itself when its normative force makes tensions difficult to question. The article proposes a relational and ethically reflexive approach to inclusion-oriented research, in which success depends less on eliminating tension than on protecting the conditions that keep participation and recognition open to negotiation. Full article

Urban resilience is widely mobilised across built-environment research and practice, yet it remains conceptually contested, with definitions varying across disciplines and limiting translation into coherent planning and governance. This study examines how a multidisciplinary group of built-environment researchers conceptualise resilience and resilient futures, and how these understandings evolve through structured transdisciplinary engagement. Using an exploratory action research design, twelve academic staff and higher degree research candidates from a single built-environment school at the University of Technology Sydney in Australia participated in a two-day workshop combining individual reflection, facilitated group discussion, and engagement with the key resilience literature, followed by consolidation through collaborative writing. Thematic coding of participants’ definitions and discussions identified three primary framings: shocks and stresses, processes, and future outcomes. Participants shifted away from “bouncing back” narratives towards anticipatory preparedness, learning, adaptation, and, when needed, transformation. Cross-cutting themes highlighted the dual nature of disturbances, governance spanning formal and informal systems, multi-scalar interdependence, cultural identity and continuity through change. The study proposes a consolidated definition of urban resilience that makes these dimensions explicit and supports operationalising resilient futures. Given the single-institution sample, the definition is offered as a transferable starting point rather than a definitive interpretation. Full article

Sustainability Education (SE) is a complex pedagogical challenge that involves multiple disciplines and requires consensus on the content to be prioritized for citizenship education. Consensus-building on such complex issues can be effectively achieved through the Delphi technique, which relies on an anonymous panel of experts providing assessments through an iterative process. This study employed a modified Delphi method to develop a core curriculum for SE, tailored for non-specialist students at the pre-university or undergraduate level. The process involved two stages: first, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 experts to generate a list of key topics; subsequently, a questionnaire was administered using a ten-point Likert scale covering 59 key concepts, organized by conceptual area. The second panel, consisting of 40 professors from 10 departments at the University of Trento, evaluated and selected the topics for the curriculum. A consensus value was calculated for each item, and concepts were ranked according to their perceived importance and level of agreement. This research aims to arrive at a collective assessment that goes beyond individual disciplinary perspectives. The results demonstrate a strong multidisciplinary consensus on foundational and action-oriented dimensions, with the highest priority assigned to environmental sustainability and systemic interdependence (mean score of 9.3 on a 10-point scale), social equity (9.1), and operational energy efficiency (8.8). Conversely, highly specialized tools, such as carbon markets (7.2) and climate psychology (7.0), were deemed less central for general education. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that experts’ disciplinary backgrounds profoundly influenced their priorities, underscoring the necessity of a truly transdisciplinary approach. The results provide a systematic foundation for the development of interdisciplinary educational programs. Full article

Soil contamination represents a pervasive and multifaceted threat to environmental integrity, public health, and sustainable land use. In response to this challenge, this systematic review synthesizes recent advancements in sustainable soil remediation techniques, with an emphasis on bioremediation, nature-based solutions (NBSs), innovative physicochemical methods, and multidimensional assessment frameworks. Utilizing the adapted PRISMA methodology, 3222 peer-reviewed articles published between 2015 and 2025 were initially identified, with 53 studies selected for in-depth evaluation based on methodological rigor, innovation, and relevance to sustainability. The findings reveal a pronounced research trajectory toward biologically mediated remediation strategies, including microbial bioremediation, phytoremediation, and vermiremediation, as well as hybrid systems that incorporate biochar and nano-enabled materials to enhance efficacy. Concurrently, emerging physicochemical techniques, such as stepped steam heating and composite stabilization using fly ash demonstrate potential for high-efficiency contaminant immobilization with reduced environmental trade-offs. The integration of computational tools, particularly machine learning for remediation optimization, and the application of life cycle assessment (LCA) and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA), are redefining how sustainability is quantified and operationalized. In addition to technical innovation, the review underscores critical policy and socio-economic dimensions, including regulatory fragmentation, funding asymmetries, and stakeholder engagement. Comparative analyses of EU and US regulatory frameworks highlight the impact of governance structures on implementation scalability and public acceptance. The review concludes by advocating for a paradigm shift toward holistic, transdisciplinary remediation approaches that are ecologically resilient, economically viable, and socially just aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 15.3) and the Paris Agreement. This review provides a comprehensive and integrative perspective on the current state and future directions of sustainable soil remediation, offering a strategic foundation for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners engaged in the restoration of contaminated lands. Full article

The analysis investigates how governance, policymaking, and democracy connect within the framework of sustainable development (as a manifestation of sustainability). It argues that sustainable development should be treated as a core standard for evaluating quality of democracy, alongside freedom, equality, and control, by this expanding democracy into a four-dimensional (Quadruple) model. A key issue is balancing sustainability with existing democratic principles and managing trade-offs. Using data from 2002 to 2016, a relatively stable period in world development, the model shows how democracy and its quality can be assessed globally. Because it offers practical guidance for governance, policy, and strategy, the model is considered transdisciplinary, described as a form of “New IT” (Interdisciplinary Transdisciplinarity). Full article

In the contemporary landscape of educational and communication research, characterized by an increasingly visual, interconnected, and constantly evolving ecosystem, Visual Education emerges as an epistemological and operational field of transdisciplinary nature, able to integrate knowledge from pedagogy, digital technologies, visual arts, and cognitive sciences, with the aim of critically interpreting the cultural, cognitive, and social dynamics of contemporaneity [...] Full article

Blockchain technology (BCT) is often discussed as digital support for timber traceability in the context of the EU Deforestation-Free Products Regulation (EUDR), which requires operators and traders to demonstrate legality, deforestation-free production, geolocation at the forest parcel level, and verifiable supply chain documentation from 30 December 2026, with an extended timeline for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) until 30 June 2027. This study assesses where BCT can realistically add value in timber supply chains under operational forestry conditions and identifies the necessary technical, organizational, and legal prerequisites. A combination of a targeted literature review and empirical input from experts in the forestry and timber industry, including guided expert web-conferencing interviews (n = 41), an online survey (n = 69 completed responses), and a transdisciplinary workshop (n = 18) was utilized to obtain a comprehensive overview of industry perspectives. Qualitative data from interviews and workshop sessions were analyzed using structured qualitative content analysis, while survey data were evaluated using descriptive statistics. The expected benefits are associated with the introduction of tamper-proof timber harvesting practices and cross-organizational verification mechanisms. To address the discrepancy between biological uncertainty and digital rigidity, the study proposes a dynamic allocation model adapted from the energy sector that distinguishes between fixed and variable wood capacities to automate logistical planning via smart contracts. However, respondents emphasize that practical obstacles, such as limited digital maturity in forestry, fragmented data infrastructures across the supply chain, and unresolved issues of data sovereignty hinder the implementation of BCT. BCT alone is unable to resolve the problem of weak physical-digital identity continuity, a phenomenon widely known as the oracle problem; however, coupling the ledger with physical or biological anchors (e.g., photo-optical, automated inkjet marking identification) can re-establish this physical–digital continuity and thereby resolve the oracle problem. The results demonstrate that blockchain acts most plausibly as a supporting component within hybrid traceability architectures that prioritize event-based authentication, off-chain data processing where appropriate, and integration with existing certification systems. The study highlights the necessity of defining distinct organizational roles and responsibilities while integrating user-centric digital solutions tailored specifically to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Full article

Background: Individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) frequently experience chronic pain, trunk instability, and respiratory dysfunction. This pilot trial investigated the synergistic effects of a combined neuro-orthotic approach (thoracolumbosacral orthosis (TLSO) plus transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS)) versus TLSO alone on pain, trunk control, and respiratory function in chronic incomplete SCI. Methods: Twelve adults with chronic incomplete SCI (T6–T12) were randomized to a combined group (TLSO + TENS) or a control group (TLSO alone) for a four-week intervention. Outcomes included pain (Visual Analogue Scale), trunk control (Trunk Assessment Scale), and respiratory function (tidal volume [VT], respiratory rate [RR], oxygen uptake [VO₂], ventilatory equivalent for oxygen [VE/VO₂], and inspiratory duty cycle [Ti/Ttot]) assessed at three time points (before intervention, immediately after intervention, and after one month). Results: The combined group demonstrated a significant reduction in pain (47.8% vs. 10.4%, p = 0.01) and an improvement in Ti/Ttot (33.3% vs. 4.9%, p = 0.008) compared to the control group. Both groups showed significant improvements in VT and RR over time (p < 0.05), reflecting the biomechanical benefits of TLSO. Conclusions: Integrating TENS with TLSO offers a non-invasive strategy for managing chronic pain and improving respiratory pattern coordination in incomplete SCI. While TLSO optimizes basic ventilatory mechanics, adding TENS significantly enhances neural drive for efficient breathing and pain gating. Future large-scale trials incorporating active task-specific training are needed to restore functional trunk control. Full article

This article proposes a practice-informed institutional design framework for embedding transdisciplinarity (TD) as an operational orientation in higher education. Building on the Reflexive and Situated Model for Institutionalizing Transdisciplinarity, the study examines how TD can be progressively developed from an abstract principle into an institutional capability through a phased process of conceptual framing, normative interpretation, contextual adaptation, and strategic embedding. The framework is articulated through the analysis of institutional processes and governance arrangements associated with the activation of Transdisciplinary Strategic Areas, through which the institutional architecture is translated into operational practice. The study identifies a reflexive metastructure that connects strategic leadership, academic practice, and emerging TD initiatives through participatory mechanisms and communicative governance processes. Core elements of the model (phased meaning-making, a mediating governance layer, selective investment, permeable resource logics, and reflexive monitoring) highlight a set of organizational design principles for institutionalizing TD. The article contributes an analytically grounded framework for supporting institutional leaders in embedding TD while balancing strategic coherence with openness, reflexivity, and contextual responsiveness. Full article