IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/ocesoc/v2y2025a8886.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact Through Transdisciplinary Centres: Reflecting on Ocean‐Related Centres at Two Universities in Northern Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Linus Brunnström

    (Department of Economy and Society, University of Gothenburg, Sweden)

  • Lena Gipperth

    (Department of Law, University of Gothenburg, Sweden)

  • Maureen McKelvey

    (Department of Economy and Society, University of Gothenburg, Sweden)

Abstract

A healthy ocean is crucial for a sustainable future. Universities play a key role in supporting societies to understand marine ecosystems, humanity’s impact on them, and how to uncover sustainable solutions. This practice‐based article examines how universities can enhance their societal impact by developing new organizational models that integrate research, education, and collaboration with societal stakeholders. It poses critical questions: What incentives drive researchers to make an impact or make their results usable? How can universities promote pathways to societal impact? And how do new organizational forms, such as transdisciplinary centres, influence traditional university structures? The article compares two transdisciplinary centres, the Centre for Sea and Society at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and the Center for Ocean and Society at Kiel University, Germany. Both centres aim to address urgent ocean‐related challenges by fostering collaboration across disciplines and engaging external stakeholders. Gothenburg’s centre works across seven faculties, promoting a broad range of activities, while Kiel’s centre has a more focused agenda on marine resource management, geohazards, and food security, supported partly by government funding through the university. Key findings reveal that while these centres play a vital role in building networks and addressing global sustainability challenges, they face challenges in securing funding, integrating into traditional university structures, and measuring societal impact. Kiel’s core funding allows a long‐term strategy, but most work still depends on project funding whereas Gothenburg’s reliance on university resources requires regular justification of its relevance. Balancing academic missions with societal impact remains a central trade‐off, but these centres demonstrate how universities can advance transdisciplinary research and contribute to a sustainable future.

Suggested Citation

  • Linus Brunnström & Lena Gipperth & Maureen McKelvey, 2025. "Impact Through Transdisciplinary Centres: Reflecting on Ocean‐Related Centres at Two Universities in Northern Europe," Ocean and Society, Cogitatio Press, vol. 2.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:ocesoc:v2:y:2025:a:8886
    DOI: 10.17645/oas.8886
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/oceanandsociety/article/view/8886
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/oas.8886?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:hal:journl:hal-02312272 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Perkmann, Markus & Tartari, Valentina & McKelvey, Maureen & Autio, Erkko & Broström, Anders & D’Este, Pablo & Fini, Riccardo & Geuna, Aldo & Grimaldi, Rosa & Hughes, Alan & Krabel, Stefan & Kitson, Mi, 2013. "Academic engagement and commercialisation: A review of the literature on university–industry relations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 423-442.
    3. Klofsten, Magnus & Fayolle, Alain & Guerrero, Maribel & Mian, Sarfraz & Urbano, David & Wright, Mike, 2019. "The entrepreneurial university as driver for economic growth and social change - Key strategic challenges," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 149-158.
    4. O'Shea, Rory P. & Allen, Thomas J. & Chevalier, Arnaud & Roche, Frank, 2005. "Entrepreneurial orientation, technology transfer and spinoff performance of U.S. universities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(7), pages 994-1009, September.
    5. Van Looy, Bart & Landoni, Paolo & Callaert, Julie & van Pottelsberghe, Bruno & Sapsalis, Eleftherios & Debackere, Koenraad, 2011. "Entrepreneurial effectiveness of European universities: An empirical assessment of antecedents and trade-offs," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 553-564, May.
    6. Primiano Nauta & Biagio Merola & Francesco Caputo & Federica Evangelista, 2018. "Reflections on the Role of University to Face the Challenges of Knowledge Society for the Local Economic Development," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 9(1), pages 180-198, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robert Huggins & Daniel Prokop & Piers Thompson, 2020. "Universities and open innovation: the determinants of network centrality," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 718-757, June.
    2. Lee, Kyootai & Jung, Hyun Ju, 2024. "What makes universities build academic spin-offs more successfully? A theory-based triangulation of quantitative studies based on meta-analyses," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).
    3. Giuliano Sansone & Daniele Battaglia & Paolo Landoni & Emilio Paolucci, 2021. "Academic spinoffs: the role of entrepreneurship education," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 369-399, March.
    4. Bijedić, Teita & Schröder, Christian & Werner, Arndt & Chen, Xiangyu, 2023. "How do working conditions, network relationships, and institutional support offers effect entrepreneurial intentions of German university scientists?," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    5. Bruno Brandão Fischer & Paola Rücker Schaeffer & Nicholas S. Vonortas & Sérgio Queiroz, 2018. "Quality comes first: university-industry collaboration as a source of academic entrepreneurship in a developing country," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 263-284, April.
    6. Alessandro Muscio & Fumi Kitagawa, 2025. "Heterogeneity in PhD entrepreneurship: strategic alignment of institutional, organisational, and individual factors," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 64(2), pages 489-510, February.
    7. Christopher S. Hayter & Andrew J. Nelson & Stephanie Zayed & Alan C. O’Connor, 2018. "Conceptualizing academic entrepreneurship ecosystems: a review, analysis and extension of the literature," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 1039-1082, August.
    8. Meissner, Dirk & Zhou, Yuan & Fischer, Bruno & Vonortas, Nicholas, 2022. "A multilayered perspective on entrepreneurial universities: looking into the dynamics of joint university-industry labs," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    9. Igors Skute & Kasia Zalewska-Kurek & Isabella Hatak & Petra Weerd-Nederhof, 2019. "Mapping the field: a bibliometric analysis of the literature on university–industry collaborations," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 916-947, June.
    10. Berna Beyhan & Derya Findik, 2018. "Student and graduate entrepreneurship: ambidextrous universities create more nascent entrepreneurs," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 43(5), pages 1346-1374, October.
    11. Christopher S. Hayter & Einar Rasmussen & Jacob H. Rooksby, 2020. "Beyond formal university technology transfer: innovative pathways for knowledge exchange," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 1-8, February.
    12. Tolin, Giovanni & Piccaluga, Andrea, 2025. "Commercializing technology from university-industry collaborations: A configurational perspective on organizational factors," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    13. Maximilian Goethner & Michael Wyrwich, 2020. "Cross-faculty proximity and academic entrepreneurship: the role of business schools," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(4), pages 1016-1062, August.
    14. Good, Matthew & Knockaert, Mirjam & Soppe, Birthe & Wright, Mike, 2019. "The technology transfer ecosystem in academia. An organizational design perspective," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 82, pages 35-50.
    15. Gümüsay, Ali Aslan & Bohné, Thomas Marc, 2018. "Individual and organizational inhibitors to the development of entrepreneurial competencies in universities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 363-378.
    16. Maria Abreu & Pelin Demirel & Vadim Grinevich & Mine Karataş-Özkan, 2016. "Entrepreneurial practices in research-intensive and teaching-led universities," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 695-717, October.
    17. Ani Gerbin & Mateja Drnovsek, 2016. "Determinants and public policy implications of academic-industry knowledge transfer in life sciences: a review and a conceptual framework," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 41(5), pages 979-1076, October.
    18. Forliano, Canio & De Bernardi, Paola & Yahiaoui, Dorra, 2021. "Entrepreneurial universities: A bibliometric analysis within the business and management domains," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    19. Muscio, Alessandro & Quaglione, Davide & Ramaciotti, Laura, 2016. "The effects of university rules on spinoff creation: The case of academia in Italy," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(7), pages 1386-1396.
    20. Loredana Lucci, 2022. "Meso e macro determinants of the entrepreneurial success in university spin-offs," Advances in Management and Applied Economics, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 12(1), pages 1-4.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:ocesoc:v2:y:2025:a:8886. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.