With the ‘polycrisis’ looming, humanity is facing unprecedented social-ecological challenges at planetary scale, which demands transformation of unsustainable societies. But who gets to define what a “good transformation” is? In line with power and justice scholars (Bennett et al. 2019; Cousins 2021; Massarella et. Al 2021; Newell et al. 2021; Sovacool et al. 2023), we argue that a “good transformation” cannot be pursued without considering issues of power, agency, and justice. For example, the way in which the problem is defined, by whom, and with what interests already shapes the thinking about the problem’s causes and how to tackle them. Thus, power relations shape the problem framing with fundamental consequences for the process and outcome of the transformation. In so doing, power relations influence from the start which actors and interests will be considered, which reinforces unjust structures and conditions instead of transforming them. Such insights from research on power in sustainability transformations offer important learnings also for the design of transdisciplinary research (e.g., Avelino et al. 2019; Avelino, 2021; Newell et al., 2021; Turnhout & Lahsen 2022).

In order for academic research to be part of a larger societal transformation, it is widely understood that the scientific community needs to go beyond traditional research approaches (Fougères et al. 2022). In this context, transdisciplinary approaches have been identified as a particularly promising research mode. Many methods, approaches and tools exist to support transdisciplinary research processes. For instance, methods for problem framing, mutual learning, scenario development, and actor analysis have greatly improved transdisciplinary research practices in the last decades. Transdisciplinary research methods and tools are meant to help shape collaboration between experts and stakeholders from science, policy, and practice in knowledge co-production processes in heterogeneous groups. They help bridge different thought styles and allow jointly producing knowledge and research outcomes.

Considering the fundamental importance of power and agency in all stages of the transdisciplinary research process, we—the contributors to this workshop—see a need to reflect on, and potentially improve, the ability of existing transdisciplinary research tools to address power imbalances explicitly (Chambers et al. 2022; Deutsch et al. 2023; Fritz & Meinherz 2020). Transdisciplinary research builds on the assumption that it is possible to shift and share power. A central idea is the empowerment of marginalized actors through capacity-building and involvement in knowledge coproduction processes, which, however, may lead to unintended disempowerment effects (e.g., by creating new dependence relationships) (Avelino 2017; Avelino et al. 2019).

With the exploration of particular transdisciplinary research tools in a workshop format, we want to enhance reflexivity and identify how power and agency can be better considered in transdisciplinary research practice.

Additionally, for sessions, workshops and trainings: description of the session/workshop design

The objectives of the workshop are:

• To enhance reflexivity on power and agency in transdisciplinary research practice

• To improve critical social science skills of transdisciplinary researchers

• To foster exchange on transdisciplinary research tools that address power and agency

To achieve these objectives, the workshop consists of three elements: (1) introduction to power and agency concepts relevant for transdisciplinary research, (2) exploration and discussion of transdisciplinary research tools in breakout groups, and (3) plenary synthesis.

(1) Introduction to power and agency concepts in transdisciplinary research: We briefly introduce different conceptions of power over, power to, and power with and illustrate how these can be applied to transdisciplinary processes. We argue that unveiling the often tacit ways in which power affects TD processes and outcomes provides a first step towards dealing with them in a constructive manner.

(2) Exploration and discussion of transdisciplinary research tools in breakout groups: In the workshop, and depending on the number of participants, we want to explore three to four transdisciplinary research tools in depth with respect to their ability to address issues of power and agency:

• actor constellation (https://naturwissenschaften.ch/co-producing-knowledge-explained/methods/td-net_toolbox/actor_constellation_final_),

• emancipatory boundary critique (https://naturwissenschaften.ch/co-producing-knowledge-explained/methods/td-net_toolbox/emancipatory_boundary_critique_final_),

• multi-stakeholder discussion group (https://naturalsciences.ch/co-producing-knowledge-explained/methods/td-net_toolbox/multi_stakeholder_discussion_group), and

• principled negotiation to deal with differences in interests (https://i2insights.org/2022/11/15/principled-negotiation/)

For this, participants split into breakout groups facilitated by the contributors. In the beginning, each breakout group is asked to take 15 minutes to familiarize themselves with the tool (one for each group) and briefly discuss it based on material and guidance provided by the contributors. Next, participants are given 30 minutes to discuss the following questions with respect to their tool:

- To what extent does the tool encourage reflection in transdisciplinary research, e.g., regarding the origins of the transformation concept, embeddedness in a system that might be problematic, and different problem framings?

- To what extent does the tool help decolonize established knowledge production systems and empower actors with different voices who previously might not have been heard?

- What are you struggling with when linking the tool to a context of transdisciplinary research, and how can the tool be enhanced to better engage with agency and power?

The contributors facilitate the group discussion around these questions and encourage participants to think about how to adapt the tool to a specific situation and context, particularly concerning power relations. Supported by the contributors, each group will prepare a very short embodied intervention on how to improve the chosen tool (e.g., a short scene from their discussion or on an applied example) to be presented in the plenary synthesis.

(3) Plenary synthesis on tool exploration: In the final phase, we want to bring together the group discussions and synthesize their reflections in the plenum. The breakout groups will present their short embodied intervention on how to enhance their chosen tool to better consider agency and power. Afterwards, the other participants can share their thoughts in view of their personal experiences with the tool or generally with power and agency in transdisciplinary research.

Indicative schedule:

• Introduction (0:00 – 0:05)

• Presentation on power and agency in sustainability transformations (0:05 – 0:20)

• Explanation of the tasks for the break-out groups (0:20 – 0:25)

• Break-out groups: familiarization with one transdisciplinary research tool (0:25 – 0:40)

• Break-out groups: reflection on power and agency issues regarding this tool (0:40 – 1:10)

• Synthesis (1:10 – 1:30)