Creating Inspiring Workshops and Courses in Transdisciplinarity: A Guide - Manual / Resource - Page 74
Fundamental concepts in transdisciplinary research theory
Co-production
What happens during knowledge co-production?
What kinds of knowledge are co-produced?
TDR is a collaborative process that involves various actions, such
as framing, goal setting, inquiring, integrating, experimenting,
implementing, assessing, and disseminating. The term
“knowledge co-production” refers to intense interactions
between diverse academics and societal actors. Researchers and
practitioners work together in a venture where their different
ways of being, knowing, and doing are respectfully and iteratively
intertwined to produce new insights and understandings
that would not be possible without all the parties involved.
All participants actively engage; share responsibilities; design
the project; create knowledge, products and interventions;
and assess and adjust project activities. In this approach, it
is essential to build respect for other disciplines and ways of
knowing, and consider and navigate power imbalances and
conflicting perspectives at all stages of the process.
Addressing complex societal challenges, TDR aims at jointly
producing three types of knowledge. First, understanding the key
issues and how they are interconnected (systems knowledge).
Second, envisioning a desirable future that can result from the
collaboration (target knowledge). Finally, determining how to
move from the current situation to the desired future through
a fundamental change in the system, including pathways of
actionable change (transformative knowledge).3
During the TDR process, the intensity and type of interaction
between participants can change. Moments of intense coproduction in large or small constellations can be interspersed
with individual or subgroup tasks. Disagreements and conflicting
perspectives are likely to occur.
What is the bene昀椀t for knowledge co-production?
Extensive research has shown that much scientific knowledge
is not directly useful or useable for societal problem solving
because it often misses the practical nuances of the context in
which it might be applied. To remedy this disconnect, knowledge
is increasingly created collaboratively to broaden social learning
and to identify and implement interventions that better fit the
specific needs of decision-makers and can have a desirable
impact on the system being studied. This includes anticipating
what could happen beyond the short term and the focus scale.
However, social-ecological systems are complex, which means
that interventions may have unintended consequences, and
situations can change dramatically. Continuous joint monitoring,
assessing. and adapting is necessary.
3 Note that some researchers find a fourth type of knowledge essential and characteristic of TD research:
“process knowledge,” which refers to the expertise in not only leading TDR projects but bringing the
other three types of knowledge together into a coherent body of understanding (see, e.g., Lawrence et
al. 2022).
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Concepts Co-production
