Fostering transdisciplinary research in the Global South: Lessons for funders

By Flurina Schneider, Zarina Patel, Katsia Paulavets, Tobias Buser, Jacqueline Kado and Stefanie Burkhart.

How can research funding programmes address existing inequalities in global science systems? How can they foster science-society-policy interactions and transdisciplinary research in the Global South?

Inequalities in science disadvantage the Global South in terms of classical science metrics such as the number of researchers and publications, but also in terms of access to research, funding and infrastructure. Early career researchers are particularly affected.

To address these inequalities, financial investment in research capacity is needed from both national governments and international donors. However, dependence on international funding reinforces the influence of the Global North in setting research agendas in the Global South. We argue that international research funders can mitigate this challenge by supporting transdisciplinary research, because transdisciplinary research integrates different perspectives to resonate with local realities and problems.

What can funders do?

Through our involvement and learning with Leading Integrated Research for Agenda 2030 in Africa (LIRA 2030 Africa), we identified three interrelated pathways to impact through which research funders can support transdisciplinary research. These are relevant in the Global South more generally.

1) Enabling early career researchers to lead high-quality transdisciplinary research projects

This requires funders to not only provide substantial and dedicated funding, but also capacity building so that early career researchers acquire the additional knowledge and skills to develop, implement and lead such projects successfully.

In terms of funding, it is crucial to match the timing, scope and level of funding with the expected outcomes of the project. In particular, it is important to allow sufficient time for team-building and co-signing of proposals, as well as funding for meaningful interaction with societal actors during research. In addition, programmes need to define appropriate review criteria and involve reviewers with transdisciplinary research skills.

Given that many applicants have limited experience in transdisciplinary research, the combination of research funding and capacity building is crucial. This starts as early as possible in the proposal preparation phase. Here, a two-stage application process with training and tailored feedback between pre-proposal and full proposal can be fruitful, also to build competences needed for later stages. Once the research is underway, training, coaching or reflective monitoring questions can enhance learning about working with societal actors and promising pathways to impact.

For any capacity building it is important to start with, and build on, the collaborative concepts, knowledge and methods that participants bring with them.

2) Empowering early career researchers to pursue careers as transdisciplinary researchers

This pathway assumes that transdisciplinary research in the Global South can only flourish if transdisciplinary researchers are able to establish themselves in existing scientific institutions on a long-term basis. To support the career development of researchers in the Global South, funders should invest in leadership skills, network building, and the promotion of scientific and institutional visibility and recognition.

For example, funders might provide information on career opportunities, such as relevant calls for proposals, offer leadership training on project management or publishing, invite renowned experts to meetings with grantees, promote peer-to-peer learning between grantees from different countries, invite grantees to international scientific conferences and/or appoint grantees to working groups and intergovernmental policy events.

3) Improving the context in which transdisciplinary researchers operate

Since contextual conditions are often unfavourable for transdisciplinary research (eg., lack of recognition, career incentives and funding opportunities), universities and funding agencies need to better recognise the characteristics of transdisciplinarity in order to enable early career researchers in pursuing careers as transdisciplinary researchers.

With the aim of creating an enabling environment for transdisciplinary researchers, funders can support transdisciplinary capacity building in various research institutions, such as universities, academies and funding agencies in the Global South. They can also engage with global research funders to mobilise further resources for consolidated efforts to support transdisciplinary research in the Global South. There is a need for learning and collaboration between all these institutions.

Lessons across the three pathways

In designing a funding programme to support transdisciplinary research in the Global South, two further lessons are important across the three pathways to impact:

1.  It is essential to involve both academic and societal actors from the Global South to reflect together on the relevance and combination of the different pathways to impact.
2. Adequate human and financial resources need to be allocated at programme level (eg., for programme coordinators and collaborative activities) to design, support and reflectively monitor the different activities. Continuous learning processes throughout the life of the programme are particularly important, allowing for early adaptation and improvement.

Conclusions

The experience of the Leading Integrated Research for Agenda 2030 in Africa (LIRA 2030 Africa) programme has shown how activities associated with each pathway have brought multiple benefits, such as learning about transdisciplinary research, scientific recognition, visibility of African researchers in international debates, and increased collaboration between funders. The challenges were also considerable and, unsurprisingly, increased from the first to the third pathway as the impact goals became more ambitious and systemic. Nevertheless, we suggest it is precisely the combination of the three pathways that is needed to foster Global South leadership in transdisciplinary research.

What has your experience been? Do you have lessons or examples to share?

To find out more:

LIRA 2030 Africa (no date). Leading Integrated Research for Agenda 2030 in Africa (2017–2021). International Science Council and the Network of African Science Academies (NASAC) with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). International Science Council website. (Online): https://council.science/our-work/lira2030/

Schneider, F., Patel, Z., Paulavets, K., Buser, T., Kado, K. and Burkhart, S. (2023). Fostering transdisciplinary research for sustainability in the Global South: Pathways to impact for funding programmes. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 10, 1: 620 (article number). (Online – open access): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-023-02138-3

Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) Statement: Generative artificial intelligence was not used in the development of this i2Insights contribution. (For i2Insights policy on generative artificial intelligence please see https://i2insights.org/contributing-to-i2insights/guidelines-for-authors/#artificial-intelligence.)

Biographies:

Flurina Schneider PhD is scientific director of the Institute for Social-Ecological Research (ISOE) and professor in social ecology and transdisciplinarity at Goethe University, both in Frankfurt, Germany. Her research focuses on sustainability transformations, land and water governance, and the role of knowledge, science policy, and transdisciplinary co-production of knowledge.

Zarina Patel PhD is an Associate Professor of Human Geography in the Department of Environmental and Geographical Science at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Her research addresses the politics and practices of achieving just and sustainable urban transitions, focusing on transdisciplinary approaches to navigate alternate insights and responses to complex urban issues in southern contexts.

Katsia Paulavets MSc is strategic advisor for the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Transformation Center in Paris, France. At the time of the Leading Integrated Research for Agenda 2030 in Africa (LIRA 2030 Africa) programme, she was senior science officer at the International Science Council. She has over fifteen years of professional experience in advancing science for sustainable development, working in international organizations, a UN agency, and research institutions.

Tobias Buser MA is director of koforges gmbh and co-founder of the Global Alliance for Inter- and Transdisciplinarity. He is based in Blumenstein, Switzerland and Frankfurt, Germany, and engaged in training, coaching, consulting and research for transdisciplinary research.

Jacqueline Kado PhD is Executive Director of the Network of African Science Academies (NASAC) and is based in Nairobi, Kenya. NASAC is a consortium of thirty science academies, with membership drawn from all spheres of science. She has over two decades of experience in managing initiatives that promote the science-policy interface in Africa.

Stefanie Burkhart MA works as a research scientist at the Institute for Social-Ecological Research (ISOE) in Frankfurt, Germany, within the research units Biodiversity and People, and Transdisciplinarity. Her research focuses on transdisciplinary biodiversity research and justice.