Investigative journalism interrogates the use and misuse of power. It is the most expensive and time-consuming genre of journalism, resembling academic rigor in its methods and complex data. Journalism has generally been characterized by competition, rather than cooperation, between newsrooms. In the 21st century, media outlets finally discovered that by sharing resources, they can lower expenses and enhance the ambition and societal impact of their investigations (Birnbauer, 2019).

Collaborative investigative journalism remains under-researched (Carson 2021). Existing research has discovered that the most important elements by which journalistic collaborations are organized are the duration of time and degree of integration among partner organizations. Using these two variables, Stonbely (2017) identified six models of collaborative journalism: 1) Temporary and separate, 2) Separate and co-creating, 3) Temporary and integrated, 4) On-going and separate, 5) On-going and co-creating, and 6) On-going and integrated, mentioning that the models require more attention as to managing unequal power dynamics. Issues of inequality in North-South journalistic collaborations have since persisted (Center for Cooperative Media 2022).

My work takes on the challenge of extending pre-existing models and creating new models of collaborative investigative journalism, mindful of inequality and power relations between the Global South and the North and between journalists and their investigative partners. The development of these models is, first, rooted in empirical analysis of collaborative investigative coverage across the U.S.-Mexico (Global North-South) border, co-produced between Guatemalan, Salvadoran, Honduran, Mexican, and US investigative journalists and academic researchers exposing abuses against Central American asylum-seekers.

Second, my work draws from typologies of collaboration and integration in multi-, inter- and transdisciplinarity (Klein 2017, 2021). Based on these models and empirical analysis, my presentation argues that some journalistic collaborations resemble multidisciplinarity in that the different specializations remain separate throughout the investigative and publication process. Contra Stonbely’s (2017) models, longer duration of collaboration does not guarantee integration in the multidisciplinary model.

Other journalistic collaborations resemble interdisciplinarity in that the boundaries between disciplines and investigative methods blur, while hierarchies between academic and journalistic professions and regions persist. The finest journalistic collaborations resemble the transdisciplinary model, radically permeating professional and regional boundaries and empowering investigators from the South to lead the way in the integration of voices of relevant stakeholders (in this case, Central American asylum-seekers), showcasing potential for decolonizing investigative practice.

Overall, my paper argues that typologies of multi- inter- and transdisciplinarity provide an important and novel path for the development of models of collaborative investigative journalism, preventing a reinvention of the wheel. Multi- inter- and transdisciplinary research and investigative journalism share many goals: they investigate complex challenges that cannot be understood let alone solved by any individual discipline or media outlet. Both investigative journalists and academics are struggling to maintain their roles as fact-checkers and truth-tellers in the world filled with misinformation. Both journalism and academia have also struggled with lack of diversity and inclusion of voices from the Global South. Yet dialogue between communities specialized in investigative journalism and inter- and transdisciplinarity has been almost non-existent. This paper pushes for further connections.

The sustainability crisis is one of the greatest challenges of our times. At Utrecht University, the strategic theme 'Pathways to Sustainability' aims to foster the radical innovation needed to address this societal challenge in the university's practices, of research, education, public engagement, and operational affairs. For this, a transdisciplinary approach is fundamental. To facilitate academics, staff, and graduate students in navigating this transdisciplinary journey and to cultivate capacity, the Transdisciplinary Field Guide has been developed. Serving as a compendium of valuable resources, training opportunities, funding avenues, and toolkits, it also endeavours to foster a sense of community; a place where experiences, both good and bad, are shared through field stories and where peers can act as guides.

During this presentation, we aim to elucidate our process in establishing the guide, focusing on two primary challenges pertinent to the conference stream 'Growing the Capacity for Inter- and Transdisciplinarity'.

First, we will address the question on how to reach all those who might wish to use (or those that should be using) the field guide. Although many academics are involved in transdisciplinary research, not all recognise the requisite competences required to do so successfully. Often the wheel is reinvented, one is unaware of the available support and the project objectives overshadow the importance of the process itself. Merely existing as a website, the field guide has proven insufficient in addressing this challenge. It needs to be taken one step further; by thoroughly embedding and connecting the community behind the guide with the community of practice within the university though the existing communication channels, support structures, such as the research support office, and educators.

Second, we address the challenge on how to grow this community of practice and on how to strengthen the connectivity between theorists and practitioners. We will share examples from the field stories we have created that highlight important lessons learned during transdisciplinary research projects taking place at our university.

This presentation also serves as a call for feedback on our field guide, aiming to refine its content, invite innovative ideas, and enrich available resources with initiatives from the inter- and transdisciplinarity community.

The socio-ecological challenges the world is currently facing demand to innovate our ways to approach, deal and build reality for a more sustainable future. In academic cooperation, development initiatives, and research reflections, transdisciplinarity has been encouraged as an innovative perspective to co-create answers for complex problems through a dialogue between a diversity of academic and non-academic actors. Thus, transdisciplinarity challenges former ways of conducting research and producing knowledge.

In this presentation, I would like to disclose my experience as a first-person action researcher in making sense along with the other actors involved in the process towards transdisciplinarity, within an academic cooperation program for development in Bolivia.

My relation as a researcher with academic actors of other disciplines, and with non-academic actors, with different cultural backgrounds and ways of knowledge production, was decisive for my personal journey to become more engaged, through transdisciplinarity, with the local development of the world of which I’m part.

The data considered for this self-reflective analysis come from 10 personal research notebooks and 30 pictures, taken during the 5-year research period (2017-2022). The analysis revealed how symmetrical interactions and shared experiences among the actors contribute to gradually learning to make sense of transdisciplinarity.

Grounded on this analysis, I would like to present how these two key elements (symmetrical interactions/shared experiences) contributed to building a new sense of being a researcher: "a relational academic" that aims to enhance inter and transdisciplinarity initiatives.