Challenges of transdisciplinary research collaboration for sustainable development

Abstract

This chapter illustrates the various stages in the academic career of researchers applying transdisciplinary (TD) research, with the authors reflecting from the perspectives of their different roles. The TD research principles also include flexibility and adaptivity as crucial elements. In the TD context, the rhizome can illustrate research that allows for various, scientific and non-scientific entry and exit points regarding interpretation, planning, development and evaluation. The ambition of TD researchers is often to create impact in the real world through their projects. Acknowledging that dialogues between stakeholders in different positions and with different values and interests are exposed to the dialectics of power relations requires an awareness that transdisciplinary collaboration syntheses and solutions presuppose an environment of hierarchy-free discourses. The essence of TD is to team up with stakeholders and commonly become agents of transformative change for sustainability.