Co-production and Collaboration: Building Transdisciplinary Science

Research in sustainability aims at reshaping the way our society functions and has the power to transform existing approaches, tools and models. When engaged in university courses, students are exposed to established concepts. However, the interaction with professors, researchers and fellow colleagues produces novel ideas and contribute to advancements in the knowledge production chain. Rather than integrating accepted disciplinary processes, this interaction leads to transdisciplinary science, meant as the creation of novel conceptual and theoretical framework. Learning from a selected number of students developing their MSc theses as a quasi-natural experiment, this work defines, documents and discusses the path towards transdisciplinarity in sustainability and energy research. First, this work frames transdisciplinary research surveying existing literature on co-production and collaboration. Second, it discusses the complementarities and tensions between different conceptual and empirical models by documenting a 2-h workshop with a selected cohort of students in their final stage of the MSc. Finally, it discusses the implications of co-production and the advantages of interaction and discussion when diverse backgrounds are included in the conversation. This work suggests that both students and members of the academic community benefits from this collaborative process and call the community to include these approaches in the teaching practices.