apl. Prof. Dr. Ulli Vilsmaier

grew up in the Austrian Alps and studied Geography. She has been teaching and researching at Salzburg University (2001–2011) and Leuphana University (2011–2020) where she held a professorship position for Transdsiciplinary Methods and served as Presidential Committee Appointee for Inter- and Transdisciplinarity, supporting the university’s transformation of research and higher education.

Her research focuses on designing, accompanying, and implementing boundary-crossing research, methods development for interface design and boundary work as well as epistemological and methodological foundations of inter- and transdisciplinarity. She has been leading research projects in sustainability, higher education and university transformation and supervising PhD and Master thesis of social, cultural and environmental scientists, artists and designers in Sustainability Science, Geography, Education and the Humanities. As visiting professor and trainer she has been providing support, accompaniment and trainings for inter- and transdisciplinarity across Europe, in Latin America, Africa and the Caucasus region while learning from international collaborators and multiple research traditions. Strongly influenced by the work of Paulo Freire and Bernhard Waldenfels, her dialogue orientation aims at personal and professional growth of people and communities while constituting spaces for transformative research and learning between established domains.

→ vilsmaier@responsiveresearch.org

→ CV  

Prof. Dr. Bagele Chilisa

was  born in Botswana and is a renowned post-colonial scholar, researcher, author, educator, and an important African thought leader. Her interest in community-based research has driven her to write extensively on indigenous knowledge as well as publish a book titled “Indigenous Research Methodologies”. A book that has sparked international discourse on importance of indigenous methodologies, especially in Africa. As a full Professor at the University of Botswana she has supervised more than 50 masters and PhD dissertations with diverse academic discourse and has served as external examiner for PhD thesis in the Southern African Development Community region. She has shared her intellectual knowledge about indigenous research methodologies on several platforms and at several conferences in Universities in South Africa, USA, Norway, UK, and Italy. Bagele has been recognized as the Researcher of the Year and awarded University of Botswana Research Team Leadership in 2019. She has also been awarded the Prestigious USA National Institute of Health Research Award on capacity building on HIV/AIDS.

→ Webpage

was born in Pakistan and grew up in a supportive family in a country that is still characterized by a lack of opportunity for girls, poverty, crime, and sustainability challenges. Seeing these challenges in society has been responsible for her work and interest in sustainable development.

As a Sustainability Scientist, Sadaf specializes in individual and organizational transformations to achieve sustainable outcomes and in transformative learning approaches to reform pedagogies in higher sustainability education. She worked as a Senior ESG Specialist at Mondetta, Canada, and as a postdoctoral researcher at McGill University in Canada and the University of Tokyo in Japan under the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science project. Today, Sadaf is the Director of Sustainability & Circularity at Goodwill Industries, Canada. In her role, Sadaf is responsible for developing and implementing strategies, policies, and programs that promote sustainability and circularity to address the social & environmental impacts of operations. Sadaf is a Salzburg Global Fellow at Salzburg Global Seminar. Additionally, Sadaf has started and chaired the Youth General Assembly working towards SDGs, contributed as a consulting member to the PAL network's communication and advocacy working group. As a G20 Global Changer, she actively participated in formulating recommendations on education for sustainable development, which were subsequently presented at the G20 Summit in 2017 held in Germany.

→ CV

Dr. Esther Meyer

Esther was born in Fürth/Germany, and has a background in Philosophy, Economics, and Sustainability Sciences, with a doctorate from the Faculty of Sustainability at Leuphana University, Lüneburg, Germany. Esther has significant experience in project management and lecturers across the fields of sustainability, inter- and intragenerational justice, social-ecological transformation and modes of living, with a particular interest in transformative learning and transdisciplinary research. Esther is trained in organizational development and consultancy, based on Gestalt and systems theory.

Her current role in a non-profit company has provided her with experience in leading transformative research and methods in a diverse range of projects or workshops. This has added to her significant experience in working in cooperation with associations, NGOs and volunteers. In addition she has worked as a reviewer, supervisor, and lecturer at universities and summer academies with the aim of professionalizing inter- and transdisciplinary inquiry-based learning.

Esther’s belief that transformation of research and (higher) education is driven by numerous bottom-up initiatives, has led her to work closely with participatory action research groups and students in service-learning seminars, social enterprises, and citizen science projects. Esther is committed to supporting transdisciplinary change agents and those who move at the institutional boundaries of education by teaching, knowledge systematization and methodological accompaniment.

→ web-page

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Thenjiwe Emily Major

I grew up in the north-eastern part of Botswana, studied in Botswana and the United States of America. As a teacher educator/philosopher, I teach  philosophy at undergraduate and graduate levels and have been involved in both profession consultancy projects and academic research. All these projects have strongly integrated both Western and African methodologies to ensure culturally appropriate approaches and outcomes. I have been an expert contributor to the Transdisciplinary Summer and Winter schools – contributing an Indigenous research perspective with an emphasis on African Philosophy at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. I have used cultural and context relevant research/evaluation methods in conducting transformative research projects driven by African worldviews i.e. African knowledge systems, adoption of relational ontologies, epistemologies, axiology and methodologies.

I co-teach a qualitative research course along with Prof. B. Chilisa focused on decolonisation and Indigenous research methodologies and have also been instrumental in facilitating the Transdisciplinary Research Pilot Workshop: National Research Foundation of South Africa, training policy makers, research managers, members of the South African Global Change Science Committee, and heads of research and science service centres in transdisciplinary approaches to research. Over the last decade I have contributed to designing a Theory-Based, Cultural-Specific HIV/STI Risk Reduction Intervention for Adolescents in Botswana.

→ majorte@ub.ac.bw

→ CV

Dr. Isabel Bueno García-Reyes

Isabel was born in Mexico City and has since lived in different regions of Mexico, learning from different contexts and being passionate about culture and diverse perspectives of life. She has a background in environmental sciences and holds a Ph.D. in Sustainability Sciences from National Autonomous University of Mexico. Her research and teaching practice is oriented toward biocultural and relational paradigms, critical educational tools, and complex environmental systems. Interested in participating in learning and action communities from a perspective of participatory action research and co-construction towards the commons, she collaborates in projects towards joint sustainability objectives fostering alternative pathways from the South. She is also part of the collective Socioecological Action-Research Group (GIASE) in Mexico and has learned from other contexts and perspectives in institutions such as the University of Brasília, Universidad Veracruzana, Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla (BUAP), La Molina Agrarian University (Peru), and UNAM.

→ CV

team

The Responsive Research Collective is a group of scholars, educators, evaluators and organizational developers from different institutions around the world. We belief that more integrative approaches and institutional arrangements are needed to respond to an increasingly fragmented, rapidly changing and inequitable world. Since more than 10 years we have shared our experiences in inter- and transdisciplinarity with researchers, educators and practitioners, and have accompanied institutional transformation. 

Prof. Dr. Bagele Chilisa

was  born in Botswana and is a renowned post-colonial scholar, researcher, author, educator, and an important African thought leader. Her interest in community-based research has driven her to write extensively on indigenous knowledge as well as publish a book titled “Indigenous Research Methodologies”. A book that has sparked international discourse on importance of indigenous methodologies, especially in Africa. As a full Professor at the University of Botswana she has supervised more than 50 masters and PhD dissertations with diverse academic discourse and has served as external examiner for PhD thesis in the Southern African Development Community region. She has shared her intellectual knowledge about indigenous research methodologies on several platforms and at several conferences in Universities in South Africa, USA, Norway, UK, and Italy. Bagele has been recognized as the Researcher of the Year and awarded University of Botswana Research Team Leadership in 2019. She has also been awarded the Prestigious USA National Institute of Health Research Award on capacity building on HIV/AIDS.

→ Webpage

Dr. Esther Meyer

Esther was born in Fürth/Germany, and has a background in Philosophy, Economics, and Sustainability Sciences, with a doctorate from the Faculty of Sustainability at Leuphana University, Lüneburg, Germany. Esther has significant experience in project management and lecturers across the fields of sustainability, inter- and intragenerational justice, social-ecological transformation and modes of living, with a particular interest in transformative learning and transdisciplinary research. Esther is trained in organizational development and consultancy, based on Gestalt and systems theory.

Her current role in a non-profit company has provided her with experience in leading transformative research and methods in a diverse range of projects or workshops. This has added to her significant experience in working in cooperation with associations, NGOs and volunteers. In addition she has worked as a reviewer, supervisor, and lecturer at universities and summer academies with the aim of professionalizing inter- and transdisciplinary inquiry-based learning.

Esther’s belief that transformation of research and (higher) education is driven by numerous bottom-up initiatives, has led her to work closely with participatory action research groups and students in service-learning seminars, social enterprises, and citizen science projects. Esther is committed to supporting transdisciplinary change agents and those who move at the institutional boundaries of education by teaching, knowledge systematization and methodological accompaniment.

→ web-page

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Thenjiwe Emily Major

I grew up in the north-eastern part of Botswana, studied in Botswana and the United States of America. As a teacher educator/philosopher, I teach  philosophy at undergraduate and graduate levels and have been involved in both profession consultancy projects and academic research. All these projects have strongly integrated both Western and African methodologies to ensure culturally appropriate approaches and outcomes. I have been an expert contributor to the Transdisciplinary Summer and Winter schools – contributing an Indigenous research perspective with an emphasis on African Philosophy at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. I have used cultural and context relevant research/evaluation methods in conducting transformative research projects driven by African worldviews i.e. African knowledge systems, adoption of relational ontologies, epistemologies, axiology and methodologies.

I co-teach a qualitative research course along with Prof. B. Chilisa focused on decolonisation and Indigenous research methodologies and have also been instrumental in facilitating the Transdisciplinary Research Pilot Workshop: National Research Foundation of South Africa, training policy makers, research managers, members of the South African Global Change Science Committee, and heads of research and science service centres in transdisciplinary approaches to research. Over the last decade I have contributed to designing a Theory-Based, Cultural-Specific HIV/STI Risk Reduction Intervention for Adolescents in Botswana.

→ majorte@ub.ac.bw

→ CV

Dr. Isabel Bueno García-Reyes

Isabel was born in Mexico City and has since lived in different regions of Mexico, learning from different contexts and being passionate about culture and diverse perspectives of life. She has a background in environmental sciences and holds a Ph.D. in Sustainability Sciences from National Autonomous University of Mexico. Her research and teaching practice is oriented toward biocultural and relational paradigms, critical educational tools, and complex environmental systems. Interested in participating in learning and action communities from a perspective of participatory action research and co-construction towards the commons, she collaborates in projects towards joint sustainability objectives fostering alternative pathways from the South. She is also part of the collective Socioecological Action-Research Group (GIASE) in Mexico and has learned from other contexts and perspectives in institutions such as the University of Brasília, Universidad Veracruzana, Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla (BUAP), La Molina Agrarian University (Peru), and UNAM.

→ CV