Transformative Research. The IASS Approach

The Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) explores the characteristics, barriers and drivers of promising sustainability transformations, seeks ethically justified concepts of sustainable development and designs and facilitates transformation processes. As such, it performs transfor-mation research and transformative research. It addresses both societal actors and the scientific community (Chapter 1). Subsequently, the conditions and challenges of the IASS's transformative research approach will be discussed. To begin with, the approach will be located in the broader epis-temological horizon of transformative research. This is accompanied by the critique of traditional forms of research and the demand for other, inter- and transdisciplinary as well as transformative forms of research (Chapter 2). Transformative research in particular faces a series of epistemologi-cal, socio-theoretical and ethical challenges. The IASS must be aware of these and productively turn them in its work, but also understand them as a specific research task (Chapter 3). Subsequently, it is explained how transformative research is carried out at IASS (Chapter 4) and which orientation points guide its work and advice (Chapter 5).