Transdisciplinary Group

DMU Transdisciplinary Group Inaugural Meeting

Time 1:00pm – 4.30pm, Thursday 9^th December 2010

Venue: Campus centre

Registration:  http://dmutransdiscip1.eventbrite.com/

Statement

We live in a world of complex systems, of which we only have partial comprehension. From the biosphere to the global economy we lack fundamental tools to understand the complexity of system behaviours. The future of Research must embrace transdisciplinarity if it has any chance of both understanding and ameliorating the Grand Challenges  of the 21st Century.

Impacts on research and subsequently teaching:

·       Strategically DMU has relied heavily on regional recruitment. The new funding regime implies that there will be a sharp fall off in demand from local recruitment and that to distinguish its offerings DMU will need to find a niche, which is attractive both nationally and internationally.

·       Uncertainty is the challenge of the future. Versatility and a broad knowledge base will equip students for the 21^st century. This does not mean the end of specialisms, but a new pedagogy to relate several disciplines in the synchronised solving of complex problems

·       Many of us are already working on transdisciplinarity research, teaching and knowledge transfer. This group aims to develop existing strengths and support new initiatives.

Timetable for December 9^th

1.0                   Welcome : Professor Sue Thomas, IOCT/Humanities

1.05                    Professor Andrew Hugill, Director, IOCT

1.45                   Professor Phil Moore

2.00                    Action Plan Breakout Session: led by Professor Martin Rieser IOCT/Art & Design into 4

                  Teaching and Transdisciplinarity UG

                  Teaching and Transdisciplinarity PG

                 

                  Transdisciplinary Research

                  Technology Transfer

                 

3.00       Coffee break

3.20                    Plenary chaired by Professor Mohammad Ibrahim, Technology

4.30                   End

For more information please contact:

Prof Mohammad Ibrahim Ibrahim@dmu.ac.uk

Prof Martin Rieser mrieser@dmu.ac.uk

Prof Sue Thomas sue.thomas@dmu.ac.uk

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Here are some background document links:

Transdisciplinary Graduate Education

Towards Transdisciplinary Education and Learning 


Enhancing Transdisciplinary Research  
by Wiesmann et al. td-net for transdisciplinary research

Mobile Trends 2020

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Mobile Trends 2020

View more presentations from Rudy De Waele.

Vision 2020

VISION2020 Leicester - Ideas for the future

 

 

Vision2020 was the BIG discussion in Leicester organised by De Montfort University, Amplified Leicester and the City Council. It discussed how innovations could influence business, social and family life in the future . More than 200 creative thinkers shared ideas on how technology, networks and communities will shape the societies and businesses of tomorrow.

A vision for 2020 was created from the predictions, aims and aspirations of participants for the coming decade. These ideas were taken from the wish-lists written by attendees on the day of how Leicester could improve, without relying on major Government funding. This vision for 2020 is available to view here, and we plan to update you with those ideas already in action in the city and the new actions as they start to emerge.

Keynote

John Thackara - How to make less, more

A green, restorative and steady-state economy is not a future vision - it already exists, at least in embryo. Social innovation is all around us in a million grassroots projects. Connected citizens, and new kinds of business, are taking practical steps to re-make our cities places, and tools. By innovating services for daily life that use far fewer resources, they help to rebuild natural and social assets. Many of these projects use new technologies in creative ways - but their positive energy derives most from the skills and imagination of the people involved. What is the opportunity here for Leicester?
John Thackara is a writer, speaker, and event producer. Described by Business Week as "one of the great voices on sustainability", he is the author of In The Bubble: Designing In A Complex World (MIT Press) among thirteen books, and of a widely-read blog about design for resilience, doorsofperception.com. As director of Doors of Perception, John organizes festivals and encounters around the world in which communities imagine sustainable futures – and take practical steps to realize them. John Thackara lives in France.
Useful Links:

• doorsofperception.com
• sustainable-everyday.net
• energybulletin.net/node/16859
• transitionnetwork.org/about
• openfarmtech.org/weblog/
• steadystate.org/discover/organizations-that-support-steady-state-principles/
• artsandecology.rsablogs.org.uk

Vision2020 The Wishlist
All the wishlists collected from the Unconference session at Vision2020 were gathered together. People were working very hard and there are dozens of items! The first cut for discussion and refining.

It’s up to Leicester to decide which to choose and how to implement them.

Growing Knowledge: The evolution of research

An exhibition at the British Library showcasing new and innovative research tools and techniques

12 October 2010 - 16 July 2011

The British Library have filmed a series of thought provoking discussions about the evolution of research, see our very own Professors Andrew Hugill and Sue Thomas share their thoughts.

Andrew Hugill: Digital Research, The Modern Library
Sue Thomas: Scholarly Communications, Search for and Analyse Data

Link: www.growingknowledge.bl.uk

Inside Out Opens in Manchester

Inside Out  was hosted by Miriad Research Centre at the Pavement Gallery Righton Building  at Manchester Metropolitan University. It will be on through November and move to Falmouth in the Spring.

‘Inside Out – Sculpture in the Digital Age’ is a compelling international touring exhibition featuring 46 miniature sculptures produced in resin using 3D printing technologies, the title is also the theme for the exhibition which focuses on emerging digital design techniques - and features an exchange of objects with Australian artists via the internet. Co-curated by Professor Martin Rieser and Claire Smith (Melbourne University and Art Technology Coalition)

The exhibition is the result of collaboration between the Art Technology Coalition, the University of Technology Sydney and RMIT University in Australia along with De Montfort University, Manchester Metropolitan University and University College Falmouth,(incorporating Dartington College of Arts) in the United Kingdom.

ICIDS 2010 Edinburgh

Martin Rieser was invited to participate on an expert panel in lively day workshop at Edinburgh University as part of ICIDS 2010: The third International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling. Janet Murray author of Hamlet on the Holodeck joined the workshop: Towards a Shared Vocabulary for Interactive Digital Storytelling via Skype link from Atlanta. 

The workshop addressed the diversity of theoretical concepts and associated critical terminology used to describe digitally mediated forms of interactive narrative. Scholars and practitioners in the interdisciplinary area of Interactive Digital Storytelling, who originally trained in a specific field often continue to use the terminology they are familiar with, which often causes misunderstandings - both in the internal discussion in the field of Interactive Storytelling Design and the external one with researchers from more traditional fields within the humanities and computer sciences. 

Specifically the workshop addressed this topic by:

• reviewing some particularly ambiguous terms – such as story and plot – and their specialized meaning according to the disciplinary context
• applying them to a mini-corpus of works,
• discussing possible avenues for establishing a shared vocabulary.

The results of the workshop was presented to the panel of experts who reacted to the results and contributed their take on the problem..

Organisers:

Hartmut Koenitz, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA

Mads Haahr, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

Gabriele Ferri, University of Bologna, Italy

Tonguc Ibrahim Sezen, Istanbul University, Turkey