Integration and Implementation Sciences (i2S) improves research impact on complex societal and environmental problems.

i2S provides:

• a resources repository at i2Insights blog and repository

• a common identity and the focus for connecting and empowering a global community

• the framework for a new discipline.
   

i2S as a New Discipline

i2S is a new discipline providing concepts, methods and other tools for conducting research on complexproblems. It supports researchers (i2S specialists) who contribute to cross-disciplinary teams tackling challenging social and environmental problems, by providing expertise in: 

• developing a more comprehensive understanding of the problem and the situation in which it is embedded in order to generate fresh insights and ideas for action, 

• supporting improved policy and practice responses to the problem by government, business and civil society,

• being able to interact effectively in teams and with stakeholders, as well as being able to communicate effectively across all aspects of the research.
   

i2S is an intellectual hub which provides:

• a home for compiling and further developing relevant concepts and methods, as well as case examples which illustrate their use,

• a conduit for transmitting these between teams working on different problems,

• a forum for evaluating quality and raising standards, and

• education at a range of levels.
   

i2S projects:

• refine the conceptualisation of Integration and Implementation Sciences (i2S)

• gather and organise concepts and methods for application by i2S specialists

• bring together different disciplinary and practitioner perspectives on unknowns and on change

• build bridges between related approaches, such as interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity, systemic intervention, action research, complex systems science, implementation science, participatory system dynamics etc

• foster networks and alliances to increase the influence of i2S and its component approaches on research funding, as well as research and education policy.
   

The ideas underpinning i2S are described in:

• Bammer,  G., O’Rourke, M., O’Connell, D., Neuhauser, L., Midgley, G., Klein, J.T., Grigg, N.J., Gadlin, H., Elsum, I.R., Bursztyn, M., Fulton, E.A., Pohl, C., Smithson, M., Vilsmaier, U., Bergmann, M., Jaeger, J., Merkx, F., Vienni Baptista, B., Burgman, M.A., Walker, D.H., Young, J., Bradbury, H., Crawford, L., Haryanto, B., Pachanee, C., Polk, M., Richardson^, G.P. 2020 ‘Expertise in research integration and implementation for tackling complex problems: when is it needed, where can it be found and how can it be strengthened?’ Palgrave Communications 6, 5. doi:10.1057/s41599-019-0380-0 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-019-0380-0

• Bammer, G. 2017 ‘Should we discipline interdisciplinarity?’ Palgrave Communications 3 (article 30) DOI: 10.1057/s41599-017-0039-7

• Bammer, G. 2013 Disciplining Interdisciplinarity: Integration and Implementation Sciences for Researching Complex Real-World Problems, ANU Press. This book includes 24 commentaries and is available free online.