Transdisciplinary collaborations require distinct and increased efforts compared to traditional forms of research, including particular skills, sensitivity and attitudes (e.g., humility, tolerance to difference, empathy, adaptability, power awareness). As the group of session organizers we understand transdisciplinary collaborations as ‘processes of mutual learning between science and society, (...) which embodies a mission of science with society rather than for society’ (Seidl et al. 2013). More specifically we understand transdisciplinary collaborations as processes that integrate knowledge across academic disciplines and societal sectors, to address societal challenges. It is guided by the principle that ‘scientific rigor meets societal relevance’ (free to the Transdisciplinary Field Guide, Utrecht University and van Paassen, et al, 2023).

Enriching the training options offered for transdisciplinary collaborations is key for elevating the quality of the research processes involved. Ample experience and literature demonstrates that bringing together a group of people around a topic or a joint aim is not sufficient for achieving the intended purposes of knowledge integration that should lead to the desired transformations. Attention is needed not just for ‘topic’, but also for ‘team’ and ‘process’, which requires competences, attitudes ad approaches that are distinct from more disciplinary research.

The skills required for transdisciplinary collaborations apply to defining the focal question or problem, determining who, how and why people are involved, and how the collaborative process should develop to account for the distinct backgrounds and needs of the people involved. Excluding relevant voices, or not including them in meaningful ways, could lead to epistemic (in)justice. It could also lead to the failure of the research achieving its potential in terms of transformation, which could for example be achieved through changes in policy frameworks or institutional practices.

In this session we build on four principles for transdisciplinarity that is fair, inclusive and equitable (van Paassen et al., 2023) , which we broaden so as to include ‘transformative’.

1. Address (context-specific) societally relevant issues while maintaining scientific relevance.

2. Embrace complexity, ambiguity, and uncertainty.

3. Value and harness plural ways of knowing via co-creating and co-learning.

4. Involve relevant actors in inclusive, fair, and equitable ways.

To do transdisciplinarity that aligns with these principles the collaborators will need to learn and unlearn attitudes and skills that are not commonly trained for in academia and other sectors. The session organisers distinguish different roles in research teams, requiring different (levels of) skills. Teams typically require specific attention for the collaborative process, so that it can indeed contribute to transformation. In the literature it is suggested that a dedicated person should fulfil these roles, a ‘transacademic interface manager (TIM)’ that fulfils the role of a facilitator, mediator, translator, and process innovator (Brundiers, et al, 2013) . A team may also expect all its members to require some level of training.

The Centre for Unusual Collaborations (part of an alliance between Technical University Eindhoven, Wageningen University and Research, Utrecht University and University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands) and Pathways to Sustainability (one of the Strategic Themes of Utrecht University, The Netherlands) and other funding schemes supporting transdisciplinary collaborations can offer training to help initiate engagements and deepen collaborative processes. We propose training modules to strengthen competences for transdisciplinary collaborations. Key competences are:

- listening

- reflecting

- understanding of one's own perspective and biases, which includes exercise on positionality, power balance reflection and stakeholder mapping

- perspective-taking

- integration of different types of knowledge

- systems approaches/holistic thinking

- collaboration (including barriers to participate)

- communication across sectors

- ‘managing’ conflicts

In addition, some more ‘general’ skills are key, such as team work and management, project management, adaptivity, managing expectations and interests, risk assessment, openness and curiosity. We understand learning to be strongly facilitated by embodied and creative approaches.

The session will take the form of a training, in which we will test some of the modules with the participants, followed by a round of reflections.

References

- Seidl, R., Brand, F.S., Stauffacher, M. et al. Science with Society in the Anthropocene. AMBIO 42, 5–12 (2013). https://doi-org.eur.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s13280-012-0363-5

- Barbara van Paassen, Nina de Roo, Jillian Student, Jonas Torrens, Annisa Triyanti (2023) Scoping transdisciplinary collaborations: A principled approach to meaningfully fund and support unusual transdisciplinary encounters, engagements, and collaborations, Centre for Unusual Collaborations. https://drive.google.com/file/d/14AFtnnOznj1aTNhu_egqB-1CU6zkQNAB/view

- Brundiers, K.; Wiek, A.; Kay, B. The Role of Transacademic Interface Managers in Transformational Sustainability Research and Education. Sustainability 2013, 5, 4614-4636. https://doi.org/10.3390/su5114614