Roland W Scholz
Biographic Data
| ID | 3589015 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Roland W Scholz |
| GIVEN NAMES | Roland W |
| FAMILY NAME | Scholz |
| SIGNATURE | SCHOLZ R W |
| AFFILIATIONS | ETH Zurich |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2506-3254 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 60 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 386 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 59 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1983 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 11 |
Transdisciplinary knowledge integration Part II: Experiences of five transdisciplinary processes on digital data use in Germany
Transdisciplinary problems are complex, ill-defined, societal real-world problems with high ambiguity that are contested and require multiple trade-offs. Part I of this paper showed that transdisciplinary processes include seven types of knowledge integration: system (ontological), epistemological, cultural, cognitive, social conflict, evolutionary (levels of representation), and complexity-theory-based types of knowledge integration. The epistem…
Transdisciplinary knowledge integration – Part I: Theoretical foundations and an organizational structure
Transdisciplinary processes deal with transdisciplinary problems that are (i) complex, (ii) societally relevant, (iii) ill-defined, and (iv) real-world problems which often show a high degree of ambiguity resulting in contested perceptions and evaluations among and between scientists and practitioners. Therefore, they are susceptible to multiple trade-offs. Transdisciplinary processes construct socially robust orientations (SoROs) particularly fo…
The revenue model of mainstream online social networks and potential alternatives: A scenario-based evaluation by German adolescents and adults
Mainstream Online Social Networks (OSNs) face extensive criticism for their revenue model and its negative consequences for users and societies. While experts often discuss alternative OSN models, little is known about potential users’ evaluations of different OSN models. To close this research gap, the present study investigates how non-expert individuals, i.e., potential users, evaluate mainstream OSNs and expert-proposed alternative models. Ne…
Process ownership in science–practice collaborations: The special role of transdisciplinary processes in sustainable transitioning
The complexity and importance of environmental, societal, and other challenges require new forms of science and practice collaboration. We first describe the complementarity of method-driven, theory-based, and (to the extent possible) validated scientific knowledge in contrast to real-world, action-based, and contextualized experimental knowledge. We argue that a thorough integration of these two modes of knowing is necessary for developing groun…
The interpretation of scarcity and the importance of resilience: An overlooked aspect of phosphorus supply security: A comment on Stamm et al. (2021)
Endangering the integrity of science by misusing unvalidated models and untested assumptions as facts: General considerations and the mineral and phosphorus scarcity fallacy
There is increasing demand for science to contribute to solving societal problems (solutionism). Thereby, scientists may become normative activists for solving certain problems (advocacy). When doing this, they may insufficiently differentiate between scientific and political modes of reasoning and validation (de-differentiationism), which is sometimes linked to questionable forms of utilizing the force of facts (German: Faktengewalt ). Scientifi…
Transdisciplinarity: Science for and with society in light of the university’s roles and functions
The idea that universities should become entrepreneurial, commercialized, private commodities or should serve politicians and governmental agencies has been promoted by the university–industry–government relationship-based Triple Helix approach and is reality in many places. In contrast, a reemphasis on universities serving the public good has been demanded by proponents of transdisciplinary sustainability research. To better understand the tensi…
Although there is no Physical Short‐Term Scarcity of Phosphorus, its Resource Efficiency Should be Improved
The German government has adopted a law that requires sewage plants to go beyond the recovery of phosphorus from wastewater and to promote recycling. We argue that there is no physical global short‐ or mid‐term phosphorus scarcity. However, we also argue that there are legitimate reasons for policies such as those of Germany, including: precaution as a way to ensure future generations’ long‐term supply security, promotion of technologies for clos…
Global leadership for social design: Theoretical and educational perspectives
The Right to Know the Geopotential of Minerals for Ensuring Food Supply Security: The Case of Phosphorus
Transdisciplinarity at the crossroads
Case-based Mutual Learning Sessions: Knowledge integration and transfer in transdisciplinary processes
The real type and ideal type of transdisciplinary processes: Part II—what constraints and obstacles do we meet in practice
Transdisciplinary processes of developing, applying, and evaluating a method for improving smallholder farmers’ access to (phosphorus) fertilizers: The SMAP method
The real type and ideal type of transdisciplinary processes: Part I—theoretical foundations
From risk to vulnerability: The role of perceived adaptive capacity for the acceptance of contested infrastructure
Infrastructure projects such as repositories for nuclear waste or hazardous waste sites impose risks (in the form of potential burdens or losses) over extensive timescales. These risks change dynamically over time and so, potentially, does their management. Societies and key actors go through learning processes and subsequently may be better able to deal with related challenges. However, social scientific research on the acceptance of such projec…
Governance structures for ecosystem-based adaptation: Using policy-network analysis to identify key organizations for bridging information across scales and policy areas
Science with Society in the Anthropocene
Sustainable Land Use in Mountain Regions Under Global Change: Synthesis Across Scales and Disciplines
Huber, R., A. Rigling, P. Bebi, F. S. Brand, S. Briner, A. Buttler, C. Elkin, F. Gillet, A. Grêt-Regamey, C. Hirschi, H. Lischke, R. W. Scholz, R. Seidl, T. Spiegelberger, A. Walz, W. Zimmermann, and H. Bugmann. 2013. Sustainable land use in mountain regions under global change: synthesis across scales and disciplines. Ecology and Society 18(3): 36. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-05499-180336
Constructing Consistent Multiscale Scenarios by Transdisciplinary Processes: The Case of Mountain Regions Facing Global Change
Brand, F. S., R. Seidl, Q. B. Le, J. M. Brändle, and R. W. Scholz. 2013. Constructing consistent multiscale scenarios by transdisciplinary processes: the case of mountain regions facing global change. Ecology and Society 18(2): 43. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-04972-180243
Negotiation analysis for mechanisms to deliver ecosystem services: The case of soil conservation in Costa Rica
Governance for sustainability: Knowledge integration and multi-actor dimensions in risk management
Establishing sustainability science in higher education institutions: Towards an integration of academic development, institutionalization, and stakeholder collaborations
Collaboration between the natural, social and human sciences in Global Change Research
The influence of linear and cyclical temporal representations on risk perception of nuclear waste: An experimental study
Time is an important aspect of the issue of nuclear waste, both from a technical and from a perceptional perspective. Previous studies have investigated the relationship between time and risk perception of nuclear waste, applying the discounting paradigm and therefore limiting time to one very narrow aspect: its duration. However, time is a multifaceted concept and encompasses more than a linear property. The aim of our study is to test the influ…
The real type and ideal type of transdisciplinary processes: Part I—theoretical foundations
Functional‐dynamic public participation in technological decision‐making: Site selection processes of nuclear waste repositories
Projects for the long‐term disposal of radioactive waste have often been hampered by strong local and regional opposition. Public participation has been recognized as a means to cope with this problem. Advocates promoting extensive public participation suggest various, mostly distinct, involvement techniques that are claimed to cover all needs. However, public participation is still a controversial issue. Several key questions need to be answered…
Functions of scenarios in transition processes
Establishing sustainability science in higher education institutions: Towards an integration of academic development, institutionalization, and stakeholder collaborations
Classifying railway stations for sustainable transitions – balancing node and place functions
Collaboration between the natural, social and human sciences in Global Change Research
The real type and ideal type of transdisciplinary processes: Part II—what constraints and obstacles do we meet in practice
Governance structures for ecosystem-based adaptation: Using policy-network analysis to identify key organizations for bridging information across scales and policy areas
Science with Society in the Anthropocene
Transdisciplinarity at the crossroads
Case-based Mutual Learning Sessions: Knowledge integration and transfer in transdisciplinary processes
Risk, vulnerability, robustness, and resilience from a decision-theoretic perspective
Risk, vulnerability, robustness, and resilience are terms that are being used increasingly frequently in a large range of sciences. This paper shows how these terms can be consistently defined based on a decision-theoretic, verbal, and formal definition. Risk is conceived as an evaluation of an uncertain loss potential. The paper starts from a formal decision-theoretic definition of risk, which distinguishes between the risk situation (i.e. the r…
Problem structuring for transitions: The case of Swiss waste management
Transition towards improved regional wood flows by integrating material flux analysis and agent analysis: The case of Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Switzerland
Approaching a dynamic view on the availability of mineral resources: What we may learn from the case of phosphorus
Decision-making by farmers regarding ecosystem services: Factors affecting soil conservation efforts in Costa Rica
Transdisciplinary processes of developing, applying, and evaluating a method for improving smallholder farmers’ access to (phosphorus) fertilizers: The SMAP method
Governance for sustainability: Knowledge integration and multi-actor dimensions in risk management
From risk to vulnerability: The role of perceived adaptive capacity for the acceptance of contested infrastructure
Infrastructure projects such as repositories for nuclear waste or hazardous waste sites impose risks (in the form of potential burdens or losses) over extensive timescales. These risks change dynamically over time and so, potentially, does their management. Societies and key actors go through learning processes and subsequently may be better able to deal with related challenges. However, social scientific research on the acceptance of such projec…
The influence of linear and cyclical temporal representations on risk perception of nuclear waste: An experimental study
Time is an important aspect of the issue of nuclear waste, both from a technical and from a perceptional perspective. Previous studies have investigated the relationship between time and risk perception of nuclear waste, applying the discounting paradigm and therefore limiting time to one very narrow aspect: its duration. However, time is a multifaceted concept and encompasses more than a linear property. The aim of our study is to test the influ…
The Positioning of Sustainability within Residential Property Marketing
This article investigates the evolution of sustainability positioning in residential property marketing to shed light on the specific role and responsibility of housebuilders and housing investors in urban development. To this end, an analysis is made of housing advertisements published in Basel, Switzerland, over a period of more than 100 years. The paper demonstrates how to draw successfully on advertisements to discern sustainability patterns …
Ecosystem services from tropical forestry projects – The choice of international market actors
Transdisciplinarity: Science for and with society in light of the university’s roles and functions
The idea that universities should become entrepreneurial, commercialized, private commodities or should serve politicians and governmental agencies has been promoted by the university–industry–government relationship-based Triple Helix approach and is reality in many places. In contrast, a reemphasis on universities serving the public good has been demanded by proponents of transdisciplinary sustainability research. To better understand the tensi…
The Process Matters: Fairness in Repository Siting For Nuclear Waste
Lifestyle Ideas of House Builders and Housing Investors
Builders and investors are major contributors to the framing and construction of lifestyles. Here, we explore the emergence and communication of the lifestyle ideas of house builders and housing investors, and characterize builders and investors with respect to societal and cultural changes. In doing so we draw on a content analysis of housing advertisements published in Basel, Switzerland, from 1870 to 2007. In these documents we found a transit…
Decision making under uncertainty: Cognitive Decision Research, Social Interaction, Development and Epistemology
ix, 445 pages : 24 cm
Ökologische Problemlösefähigkeit Eine Herausforderung für die Ausbildung von UmweltnaturwissenschaftlerInnen
A special challenge when educating environmental scientists lies in transmitting a system-orientated way of thinking and working to the students, which means, that environmental spheres like anthroposphere, atmosphere, biosphere, geosphere and hydrosphere are considered. This should enable students to analyze complex environmental problems, to produce possible solutions and to communicate with experts from different fields. With case studies as a…
Transdisciplinarity: Joint Problem Solving among Science, Technology, and Society
What kind of science do we need today and tomorrow? In a game that knows no boundaries, a game that contaminates science, democracy and the market economy, how can we distinguish true needs from simple of fashion? How can we distinguish between necessity and fancy? whims How can we differentiate conviction from opinion? What is the meaning of this all? Where is the civilizing project? Where is the universal outlook of the minds that might be capa…
Embedded Case Study Methods
Internet-basierte Umweltbildung: Eine experimentelle Studie zur Anwendung des Online-Simulationsspiels SimUlme im Schulunterricht
Ein internetbasierendes Simulationsspiel zu ökologisch-ökonomischen Konsequenzen des Konsumverhaltens im Ernährungsbereich wurde entwickelt, um ökologische Lern-inhalte spielerisch und anschaulich zu vermitteln. In einem Experiment erhielten 12 Schulklassen Unterricht zu Umweltfolgen des Nahrungsmittelkonsums, 6 Klassen mit Anwendung des SimUlme Spiels (experimentelle Bedingung), 6 Klassen ohne (Vergleichsbedingung). Verständlichkeit, aktive Selb…
Expert views on sustainability and technology implementation
Twenty-one senior researchers were interviewed about their conception of sustainability and implementation in projects linked to the Alliance of Global Sustainability, a joint project of MIT (Boston), ETH (Zurich and Lausanne), UT (Tokyo), and Chalmers (Gothenburg). We identified five complementary views on sustainability: i) science is sustainable per se, ii) sustainability is an ethical relationship with the past and future, iii) sustainability…
Influence of consumers' socioecological and economic orientations on preferences for wood products with sustainability labels
Transition towards improved regional wood flows by integrating material flux analysis and agent analysis: The case of Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Switzerland
Sustainable Future Urban Mobility: Using 'Area Development Negotiations' for Scenario Assessment and Participatory Strategic Planning
An examination of how land-use planning can proceed while emphasising sustainability in transport objectives is presented in the authors' view. It is vital that citizen preferences are assessed, and the 'area development negotiation' method for obtaining such preferences is detailed within a case study framework. The method permits evaluations by various stakeholder groups of future urban mobility scenarios by means of multiattribute utility anal…
Operational Eco‐efficiency: Comparing Firms' Environmental Investments in Different Domains of Operation
Eco‐efficiency has been established as a crucial concept for corporate environmental management. Most approaches deal with eco‐efficiency on the level of the company or the product. However, given that companies have special budgets earmarked for environmental operations or investments, the question arises as to which operation within which domain is the most eco‐efficient. This article presents an approach to supporting these decisions by calcul…
Transdisciplinary case studies as a means of sustainability learning: Historical framework and theory
Purpose This paper aims at presenting the theoretical concepts of the transdisciplinary case study approach (TCS), which is a research and teaching approach developed and elaborated at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), as a means of transition support. Design/methodology/approach The paper reveals the historical roots of case studies, transdisciplinarity and sustainable development as teaching and research paradigms. The TCS approa…
Decision criteria of European and Latin American market actors for tropical forestry projects providing environmental services
Life cycle management on Swiss fruit farms: Relating environmental and income indicators for apple-growing
Ecosystem services from tropical forestry projects – The choice of international market actors
Functions of scenarios in transition processes
Measuring societal effects of transdisciplinary research projects: Design and application of an evaluation method
Environmental Impacts of Conventional and Sustainable Investment Funds Compared Using Input‐Output Life‐Cycle Assessment
This study compares equity funds that are managed according to sustainability goals with conventionally managed funds with respect to their environmental impacts. Overlap in the portfolios of sustainable equity funds and conventional equity funds can be very large. Further, the sector allocation of both types of funds is generally very similar, because portfolio managers follow a chosen benchmark to minimize risk. These two effects may result in …
Critical success conditions of collaborative methods: A comparative evaluation of transport planning projects
Classifying railway stations for sustainable transitions – balancing node and place functions
Managing Transition in Clusters: Area Development Negotiations as a Tool for Sustaining Traditional Industries in a Swiss Prealpine Region
We document a two-year transdisciplinary project on the transition management processes of regional clusters in textile, timber, and dairy industries in the Swiss canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden. This canton is a rural prealpine area, which has been historically shaped by traditional industries and which lies in the vicinity of St Gallen in the Greater Zürich Area. Scientists and regional stakeholders collaboratively planned, assessed, and discu…
Analytic and Dynamic Approach to Collaboration: A Transdisciplinary Case Study on Sustainable Landscape Development in a Swiss Prealpine Region
Higher education as a change agent for sustainability in different cultures and contexts
Purpose The goal of this paper is to enhance consideration for the potential for institutions of higher education throughout the world, in different cultures and contexts, to be change agents for sustainability. As society faces unprecedented and increasingly urgent challenges associated with accelerating environmental change, resource scarcity, increasing inequality and injustice, as well as rapid technological change, new opportunities for high…
Assessment of the management of organizations supplying ecosystem services from tropical forests
Problem structuring for transitions: The case of Swiss waste management
Future Food Production as Interplay of Natural Resources, Technology, and Human Society: A Problem Yet to Solve
Computer Science (36 works) · Business (30 works) · Political science (29 works) · Economics (26 works) · Ecology (25 works) · Engineering (23 works) · Sustainability (23 works) · Sociology (22 works) · Geography (17 works) · Sustainability and Climate Change Governance (15 works)