Climate change, landscape changes from human activities, widespread species extinctions, and increasing levels of environmental contamination are among the litany of challenges threatening the social and ecological systems that humans rely upon (IPBES
2019; IPCC
2018). The real-world impacts of these threats put environmental researchers in an interesting position: our research is theoretically highly relevant and potentially useful for addressing these challenges, yet much of the work we do is divorced from the societal contexts in which it may be useful. This well-understood challenge has led to a significant amount of scholarship and practical work to reduce the disconnect. A central tenet of this socially relevant, problem-oriented environmental research movement is that engagement between researchers and those who have a stake in their work is critical if the research is to have impact on real-world challenges. Direct and iterative engagement is commonly described as the primary means for producing knowledge that is usable or actionable for addressing complex environmental issues (Dilling and Lemos
2011; Fazey et al.
2014; Pohl
2008).
As described in the extensive interdisciplinary literature on the topic, societal engagement is focused on building collaborative relationships between scientists and their partners in the broader society to co-develop knowledge meant to address a shared problem or issue (Lemos and Morehouse
2005; Reed et al.
2014). A variety of collaborative approaches and terms are utilized in contemporary environmental research including: co-production of knowledge (Lemos and Morehouse
2005; Meadow et al.
2015); development of actionable science (Bamzai-Dodson et al.
2021; Beier et al.
2017); Mode 2 science (Gibbons et al.
1994; Nowotny et al.
2003); post-normal science (Funtowicz and Ravetz
1993); and many others
1. In moving beyond disciplinary research, scholars have distinguished between various approaches meant to bring different ways of knowing together. Tress et al. (
2005), for example, delineate three broad categories of integrated research:
multidisciplinary (different disciplinary actors working on a shared goal with differing disciplinary objectives),
interdisciplinary (different disciplines integrate their knowledge to generate new knowledge and theory focused on a common research goal), and
transdisciplinary (different disciplines working with non-academic partners to create new knowledge and theory aimed at a shared question). In a recent review Knapp et al. (
2019) situated what they call “transdisciplinary approaches” or TDA in pre-existing socially-engaged research approaches. They define transdisciplinarity as a research mode that “connects diverse knowledge holders with one another and the realm of practice, shares power within the process, and arrives at different outcomes including action and problem management” (Knapp et al.
2019, 2). Despite their promise, TDA have proven to be extremely challenging to implement (Brandt et al.
2013; Cvitanovic et al.
2015; Lang et al.
2012).
Large scale efforts to move institutions and researchers toward TDA for global change knowledge development like Future Earth (Leemans
2016; van der Hel
2016) represent promising opportunities for bringing about the kinds of social transformations frequently called for by scholars who study transdisciplinarity. However, the pace of environmental change and impacts from those changes is outpacing the rate of institutional change required to bring widespread use of TDA to scale globally. We strive to help bring about faster practical change by examining the early stages of socially engaged research. Our intention is to empower environmental scientists who wish to have as much societal impact as they can, but may be daunted by the length and difficulty of TDA as too often experienced by both researchers and societal partners (Cvitanovic et al.
2019). In addition to helping researchers achieve practical impacts in their work and begin the journey toward using TDA, we hope that our ideas will also help funders and research institutions recognize what can be achieved in the early stages of TDA and value the impacts that can be made early on. To that end, we have compiled a set of concepts from the literature and our own work that inform a process for conceptualizing and carrying out transdisciplinary environmental research within existing institutional structures. Consistent with the literature on TDA, our process rests on a foundation of shared power and dialog to develop a set of shared aims. Building on those foundational concepts, we propose that TDA can be productively utilized despite current barriers if researchers give more deliberate attention to three process factors we found important in our review: (1) the contextual knowledge of the collaborative team, (2) the strength of interpersonal relationships within the team, and (3) the intensity of engagement necessary for genuine collaboration to occur.
Because there are numerous transdisciplinary environmental frameworks in the literature (e.g., Daniels et al.
2020; Hoffmann et al.
2019; Jahn et al.
2012; Pohl et al.
2017), our goal is not to offer another framework, but rather to build on that robust theoretical and empirical foundation to present a practical process that offers researchers and funders a realistic way to engage in socially-impactful environmental research. Our motivation is threefold. First, we aim to make salient insights from the specialized TDA literature accessible to researchers and funders with a broad range of expertise and interest. Next, by doing so we hope to help more environmental researchers and funders be prepared to utilize and support TDA so that critical environmental problems can be addressed more quickly. Finally, by engaging a broader research community in this kind of work, we aspire to contribute to the ongoing movement to get TDA more widely accepted and supported by research institutions and funders.
Impediments to Transdisciplinary Knowledge Development
A range of barriers limits the utility of TDA for combating the relatively rapid environmental changes communities around the world are confronting. A critical root of these barriers is institutional inertia within academia and many public funding agencies that have persistently limited more widespread adoption of interdisciplinary research (Arnott et al.
2020; Bromham et al.
2016), a necessary precondition for institutional support of transdisciplinarity. Specifically, we note four barriers that are currently preventing more widespread adoption of TDA.
First, universities (and other research-focused organizations) tend to prioritize the production of novel, generalizable knowledge (i.e., basic science published in peer-reviewed literature) over practical, place-based, or “usable” knowledge and associated products and outcomes (Cvitanovic et al.
2015; Cvitanovic et al.
2019; Foster
2010; Gaziulusoy et al.
2016; Kopp
2021). Second, this institutional legacy limits opportunities for researchers to be trained in TDA methods and approaches (Rozance et al.
2020). Third, the academic evaluation system is still largely focused on publication in peer-reviewed journals, a metric that is easier to quantify than societal impacts (Penfield et al.
2014; Alvesson et al.
2017; Spaapen and van Drooge
2011; Meadow and Owen
2021) and that does not place much value on other outputs such as reports, workshops, or services that may be more relevant to societal partners (Kopp
2021). Finally, the prioritization of basic research is often reflected in funding mechanisms that do not adequately support activities such as travel and additional time for meetings and engagement, including support for societal partners’ participation, that are critical to the success of transdisciplinary research efforts (Arnott et al.
2020; Gaziulusoy et al.
2016; Rowe and Lee
2012; Shanley and López
2009).
These (and numerous other) barriers to widespread adoption of TDA are well known, yet remain embedded in the culture of academic research institutions (Houser et al.
2021). We recognize, therefore, that in addition to developing an environmental research workforce that is capable of and comfortable with using TDA, we must simultaneously and consciously utilize the success of that workforce to shift obstructive aspects of the institutional landscape away from academic insularity and toward more socially-engaged environmental research. What we describe below, therefore, is a distillation of concepts central to success in TDA that can be adopted by nearly any researcher who is committed to seeking greater social impact from their work, even if they are still working within the confines of existing institutional structures. The path we outline is neither easy nor an excuse to avoid addressing institutional barriers, but we hope it is an accessible entry point into TDA for those interested in pursuing, funding, and otherwise supporting this type of work.
Fundamental Principles for Engaged Research
We start with two pillars of TDA that involve genuine engagement between researchers and societal partners: open dialog and shared power.
Although in contemporary environmental research there are now a plethora of more integrative approaches to generating new knowledge, many institutional structures are rooted in less expansive ways of thinking. For example, the concept of a linear model of science (i.e., basic science creates a wellspring of knowledge that can be dipped into for human advancement) presented in Vannevar Bush’s 1945 report
Science, The Endless Frontier has persisted as a way of conceptualizing how science stands in relation to—and somewhat apart from—the rest of society (Stokes
1997). This model has led to a multitude of challenges for addressing complex problems (Sarewitz
2016) and has helped perpetuate the notion that science can best “speak truth to power” when it is kept above the fray of real-world problems (Jasanoff and Wynne
1998). The linear model, therefore, implicitly endorses a one-way flow of information from science to society, or what Rowe and Frewer (
2005) call “public communication.” Rowe and Frewer also describe one-way information flow in the other direction, or what they call “public consultation.” Regardless of direction, one-way information flow prevents opportunities for dialog and therefore has limited utility for finding the common ground necessary for collaborative work to address complex, socially-relevant problems. It is only when information flows in both directions that “public participation” can occur (Rowe and Frewer
2005).
Talwar and colleagues add nuance to this basic premise in their framework that divides what they call “unidirectional social research” from “interactive social research,” where the latter begins when non-academic partners become engaged in designing the research strategy (2011, 381–382). Dilling and Lemos refer to the two-way interaction between researchers and information users as iterativity or “purposeful and strategic interaction between…knowledge producers and users” and argue that it is necessary “to increase knowledge usability” (2011, 681). Kassam (
2015) notes that this intentional dialog adds both cultural and cognitive diversity, which he argues is necessary for addressing highly complex, socially relevant problems like those associated with environmental degradation. This line of scholarship responds to traditional notions of scientific engagement that has been focused on
talking to society and argues that that for complex decision contexts to truly benefit from research, scientists must consciously
collaborate with partners in the broader society, a concept Steger et al. call “science with society” (2021). Research that utilizes TDA requires dialog in part because successful transdisciplinary projects require the establishment and continued revisiting of the shared goals of the participants (Huntington et al.
2011; Owen et al.
2019; Steger et al.
2021). Without productive two-way communication the aims of the various actors involved may diverge significantly and the project may reflect only those who are most vocal or who hold the most power. Importantly, for researchers working within existing institutional structures, traditional outputs (e.g., peer-reviewed publications) may be necessary so it is critical that researchers—as well as nonacademic partners—acknowledge their specific needs and objectives as shared goals are being established.
We also draw from scholarship that argues that engaged research requires that relevant stakeholders be included as partners in these collaborations and share power and decision making with researchers. Citizen engagement in decision making has been categorized by Arnstein (
1969) as a ladder, with only the top three of eight rungs (partnership, delegated power, and citizen control) reaching citizen power. Biggs (
1989) identified four modes of research based on the amount of local knowledge and participation involved in each mode. The modes ranged from contractual, which has limited engagement, through collegial, in which local knowledge and knowledge holders are full and equal participants, with active attention to the strengthening of local knowledges. David-Chavez and Gavin (
2018) build on Biggs to add a highly engaged mode of interaction they call
Indigenous, which centers research in Indigenous community values and research methods.
Recently within academia many scholars from historically excluded communities have made critical contributions to the participatory research literature, in part by challenging the status quo power imbalances between western-trained environmental researchers and marginalized communities (see, e.g., David-Chavez and Gavin
2018; Jäger et al.
2019; McGregor
2014; Tuhiwai Smith
2012; Whyte
2017). Much of this scholarship is specific to Indigenous communities, but the broader points that emerge—centering of local needs and values, ethical participatory research practice, respectful collaboration, humility—are all highly relevant to any environmental research using TDA (Wilmer et al.
2021). This point is reinforced by Steger et al. (
2021) who surveyed 168 people involved in environmental transdisciplinary work worldwide and found that unequal power dynamics between researchers and community partners was the top barrier to successful transdisciplinary research reported by non-researchers (2021).
Finally, keying in on the power imbalances that can subvert the intention of participatory research practice, the primary distinction public health researchers Goodman and Thompson (
2017) make between approaches that are effectively one-way (from science to society) and those that are bi-directional is the extent to which non-academic partners have a measure of power and control over the direction of the work. In their framing, the three primary criteria for a project to fall into their “engaged participation” category are: both researchers and community members are actively involved in the design and implementation of the project as well as interpreting the findings, everyone involved benefits somehow from collaborating, and responsibility for decision-making and resource allocation is collaborative with a focus on equitable distribution of power and valuing of community input (Goodman and Thompson
2017, 487).
We focus on Goodman and Thompson’s “engaged participation” for the remainder of this paper because it allows us to consider collaborations between researchers and non-academic partners that entail shared power and responsibility, but still may not achieve the level of integrated and co-produced knowledge commonly seen as the most challenging aspect of transdisciplinarity (Jahn et al.
2012). As with the framework presented by Bamzai-Dodson et al. (
2021), we seek to offer practical insights that allow researchers and their partners flexibility to design impactful research that can achieve the specific goals relevant to the collaboration.
More Nuanced Measures of Impact in Transdisciplinary Approaches
Demonstrating that a project has had a beneficial societal impact is one of the challenges of engaged participation research. Older models of information use often focused on or privileged instrumental uses (i.e. information is used to directly inform a new decision or action) based on assumptions that input of information into an organization would lead to the output of use of that information (for a review of information use theory, see VanderMolen et al.
2020). Eventually greater nuance was added to information use models, such as when Pelz (
1978) proposed three categories of use: instrumental; conceptual, where an agency or individual is better informed of an issue; and symbolic (also termed legitimative or justification), where information is used to substantiate a decision already made. Notably, empirical studies have found that conceptual uses are far more common than instrumental (Amara et al.
2004; Nutley et al.
2007) and can be critical stepping stones required to reach more tangible impacts (Nutley et al.
2003; Oh
1996). Failure to recognize conceptual impacts can leave gaps in our knowledge about the efficacy of our research and engagement practices.
As the field of research evaluation has wrestled with the question of how academic research has impacts in the world, there has been greater recognition of the need to understand the process by which knowledge is produced—alongside evaluation of its use by and impact on societal actors (Spaapen and van Drooge
2011; Muhonen et al.
2020). For example, Meagher and Martin (
2017) and Edwards and Meagher (
2020) added new categories to the existing use and impact models particularly focused on conceptual impacts such as: capacity building impacts (training and/or developing collaborative abilities, roughly equivalent to the National Science Foundation’s broader impacts definition); enduring connectivity (establishment of long-lived external relationships); and attitude or cultural change (increased willingness to engage in knowledge exchange activities, on the part of individuals, institutions, or organizations). Edwards and Meagher (
2020) describe capacity-building, attitude change, and enduring connectivity as specific types of conceptual impacts.
Beyond questions of definition of what is, or is not, an impact, we face challenges in documenting and articulating those research impacts, particularly the less tangible conceptual impacts. Despite the challenges, significant work is occurring within the field of research evaluation, particularly as more government funding bodies seek to understand the societal return on their investments (Bayley and Phipps
2019; Meadow and Owen
2021). One challenge is the significant time lag between the emergence of research results and when practitioners adopt new practices (Bell et al.,
2011; Penfield et al.,
2014; Spaapen & van Drooge,
2011). In medical research, this lag can be up to 17 years (Bolas and Boran in Moore et al.
2016). The lag can be attributed to whether an organization is prepared and able to integrate new knowledge, the level of uncertainty surrounding the new knowledge, and the pertinence of the new knowledge to the specific needs of the practitioners (Ford et al.
2013; Green et al.
2009; Oh and Rich
1996; Oliver et al.
2014). This time lag makes tracing conceptual uses all the more important because it allows researchers to learn what resonates with their societal partners relatively early in the research process. Another prominent challenge is attribution of any one impact to a specific piece of research or research process (Bell et al.,
2011; Boaz et al.,
2009; Penfield et al.,
2014; Spaapen & van Drooge,
2011; Wiek et al.
2014). Contribution analysis (Morton
2015) can shed light on the role played by a particular research effort, while also elucidating the other factors that supported or hindered uptake of new knowledge.
Both of these challenges can be reduced by the inclusion of ongoing and embedded evaluation in research projects, which allows researchers to collect feedback from societal partners as a process progresses, reducing memory lapses, recall bias, or the impact of participant turnover (Wall et al.
2017).