Reviewing and evaluating transdisciplinary and engaged research projects: Perspectives from funding programs

Webinar registration.

Presented by USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the National Agricultural Library, the seminar series will examine strategies for implementing transdisciplinary approaches, team-building and overcoming challenges to encourage the adoption of and training in transdisciplinary systems.

As more research funding agencies begin to support the use of transdisciplinary and engaged research practices in their programs, to help generate tangible, positive societal impacts, we can take advantage of opportunities to learn from programs that have been early adopters of these modes of research. The increased emphasis on engagement throughout the research process is helping to shine a light on the importance of partnerships, relationships, and trust in moving research into practice and policy. Yet identifying these intangible characteristics in proposals and project reports is not always a straightforward process.

In this webinar, we will hear from program leaders who have been soliciting, reviewing, funding, and evaluating transdisciplinary and engaged research for several years. They will share what they have learned about crafting requests for proposals to encourage the inclusion of transdisciplinary research practices, how their programs review and rate proposals, and the criteria and tools they use to evaluate the outcomes of individual projects and the impacts of their programs.