Sustainable aquatic resource management and inland fisheries in tropical Asia: Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches.

The intensive utilization of tropical inland water bodies for multiple and sometimes competing activities underlines the necessity for their integrated and holistic co-management. This paper presents our synthesis on lake and reservoir fisheries in South and Southeast Asia as social-ecological systems, based on a synopsis of our research findings from a previous EU-funded research programme in Sri Lanka, Thailand and the Philippines (FISHSTRAT project). The paper attempts to merge our results with recent developments in research, policy and practice. We explore the effects of the main external and internal control mechanisms of the trophic state and pinpoint to the high production potential of traditionally unexploited small indigenous fish species. The limitations of conventional centralized management systems highlight the importance of introducing transdisciplinary approaches which integrate limnology, fish ecology and fisheries with the interests of other resource using stakeholders and decision makers in order to develop locally appropriate co-management strategies for sustainable aquatic resource use.

Wilding cities for biodiversity and people: a transdisciplinary framework.

Accelerating urbanisation and associated lifestyle changes result in loss of biodiversity and diminished wellbeing of people through fewer direct interactions and experiences with nature. In this review, we propose the notion of urban wilding (the promotion of autonomous ecological processes that are independent of historical land-use conditions, with minimal direct human maintenance and planting interventions) and investigate its propensity to improve biodiversity and people-nature connections in cities. Through a large interdisciplinary synthesis, we explore the ecological mechanisms through which urban wilding can promote biodiversity in cities, investigate the attitudes and relations of city dwellers towards urban wild spaces, and discuss the integration of urban wilding into the fabric of cities and its governance. We show that favouring assembly spontaneity by reducing planting interventions, and functional spontaneity by limiting maintenance practices, can promote plant diversity and provide ecological resources for numerous organisms at habitat and city scales. These processes could reverse biotic homogenisation, but further studies are needed to understand the effects of wilding on invasive species and their consequences. From a socio-ecological perspective, the attitudes of city dwellers towards spontaneous vegetation are modulated by successional stages, with grassland and woodland stages preferred, but dense shrubby vegetation stages disliked. Wild spaces can diversify physical interactions with nature, and enrich multi-sensory, affective and cognitive experiences of nature in cities. However, some aspects of wild spaces can cause anxiety, feeling unsafe, and the perception of abandonment. These negative attitudes could be mitigated by subtle design and maintenance interventions. While nature has long been thought of as ornamental and instrumental in cities, urban wilding could help to develop relational and intrinsic values of nature in the fabric of cities. Wildness and its singular aesthetics should be combined with cultural norms, resident uses and urban functions to plan and design urban spatial configurations promoting human-non-human cohabitation. For urban wilding to be socially just and adapted to the needs of residents, its implementation should be backed by inclusive governance opening up discussion forums to residents and urban workers. Scientists can support these changes by collaborating with urban actors to design and experiment with new wild spaces promoting biodiversity and wellbeing of people in cities.

Integrating One Health into Systems Science.

One Health Systems Science. The three subsystems of One Health (ecosystem, human and animal health) are integrated in the Systems Science concept, where objects or adaptive agents (circles) interact with a dynamic environment, and Systems Thinking can lead it intervations (Systems Design) generating a change in One Health outcomes. Real-time genomic data retrieved from the three subsystems porvide information fo Systems Thinking and Systems Design.Unlabelled Image.

Operationalizing ambiguity in sustainability science: embracing the elephant in the room.

Ambiguity is often recognized as an intrinsic aspect of addressing complex sustainability challenges. Nevertheless, in the practice of transdisciplinary sustainability research, ambiguity is often an 'elephant in the room' to be either side-stepped or reduced rather than explicitly mobilized in pursuit of solutions. These responses threaten the salience and legitimacy of sustainability science by masking the pluralism of real-world sustainability challenges and how research renders certain frames visible and invisible. Critical systems thinking (CST) emerged from the efforts of operational researchers to address theoretical and practical aspects of ambiguity. By adapting key concepts, frameworks, and lessons from CST literature and case studies, this paper aims to establish (1) an expansive conceptualization of ambiguity and (2) recommendations for operationalizing ambiguity as a valuable means of addressing sustainability challenges. We conceptualize ambiguity as an emergent feature of the simultaneous and interacting boundary processes associated with being, knowing, and intervening in complex systems, and propose Reflexive Boundary Critique (RBC) as a novel framework to help navigate these boundary processes. Our characterization of ambiguity acknowledges the boundary of a researcher's subjective orientation and its influence on how ambiguity is exposed and mediated in research (being), characterizes knowledge as produced through the process of making boundary judgments, generating a partial, contextual, and provisional frame (knowing), and situates a researcher as part of the complexity they seek to understand, rendering any boundary process as a form of intervention that reinforces or marginalizes certain frames and, in turn, influences action (intervening). Our recommendations for sustainability scientists to operationalize ambiguity include (1) nurturing the reflexive capacities of transdisciplinary researchers to navigate persistent ambiguity (e.g., using our proposed framework of RBC), and (2) grappling with the potential for and consequences of theoretical incommensurability and discordant pluralism. Our findings can help sustainability scientists give shape to and embrace ambiguity as a fundamental part of rigorous sustainability science.

Conditioning factors in the spreading of Covid-19 - Does geography matter?

There is evidence in literature that the spread of COVID-19 can be influenced by various geographic factors, including territorial features, climate, population density, socioeconomic conditions, and mobility. The objective of the paper is to provide an updated literature review on geographical studies analysing the factors which influenced COVID-19 spreading. This literature review took into account not only the geographical aspects but also the COVID-19-related outcomes (infections and deaths) allowing to discern the potential influencing role of the geographic factors per type of outcome. A total of 112 scientific articles were selected, reviewed and categorized according to subject area, aim, country/region of study, considered geographic and COVID-19 variables, spatial and temporal units of analysis, methodologies, and main findings. Our literature review showed that territorial features may have played a role in determining the uneven geography of COVID-19; for instance, a certain agreement was found regarding the direct relationship between urbanization degree and COVID-19 infections. For what concerns climatic factors, temperature was the variable that correlated the best with COVID-19 infections. Together with climatic factors, socio-demographic ones were extensively taken into account. Most of the analysed studies agreed that population density and human mobility had a significant and direct relationship with COVID-19 infections and deaths. The analysis of the different approaches used to investigate the role of geographic factors in the spreading of the COVID-19 pandemic revealed that the significance/representativeness of the outputs is influenced by the scale considered due to the great spatial variability of geographic aspects. In fact, a more robust and significant association between geographic factors and COVID-19 was found by studies conducted at subnational or local scale rather than at country scale.

Walking the talk for dementia: A unique immersive, embodied, and multi-experiential initiative.

Coping with dementia requires an integrated approach encompassing personal, health, research, and community domains. Here we describe "Walking the Talk for Dementia," an immersive initiative aimed at empowering people with dementia, enhancing dementia understanding, and inspiring collaborations. This initiative involved 300 participants from 25 nationalities, including people with dementia, care partners, clinicians, policymakers, researchers, and advocates for a 4-day, 40 km walk through the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, Spain. A 2-day symposium after the journey provided novel transdisciplinary and horizontal structures, deconstructing traditional hierarchies. The innovation of this initiative lies in its ability to merge a physical experience with knowledge exchange for diversifying individuals' understanding of dementia. It showcases the transformative potential of an immersive, embodied, and multi-experiential approach to address the complexities of dementia collaboratively. The initiative offers a scalable model to enhance understanding, decrease stigma, and promote more comprehensive and empathetic dementia care and research.

Academic data science: Transdisciplinary and extradisciplinary visions.

As a nascent field within the academy, the contours, attributes, and bounties of data science are still indeterminate and contested. We studied how participants in an initiative to establish data science at a large American research university defined data science and articulated their relationships to the field. We discuss two contrasting visions for data science among our research participants. One vision is a transdisciplinary view portraying data science as a phenomenon with transcendent, appropriative, and impositional qualities that sits apart from academic domains. Another view of data science-one that was far more prevalent among our research subjects-casts data science as grounded, relational, and adaptive, emerging from crosspollination of numerous academic domains. We argue that this latter formulation represents a more quotidian reality of data science and positions the field as an extradiscipline, defined as a field that exists to facilitate the exchange of knowledge, skills, tools, and methods from an indeterminate and fluctuating set of disciplinary perspectives while conserving the boundaries of those disciplines. We argue that the dueling transdisciplinary and extradisciplinary visions for data science have important implications for how the field will mature, and that the extradiscipline concept opens novel directions for studying academic knowledge production in STS, contributing additional precision to the literature on disciplinarity and its permutations.

Use of the term "landscape" in sustainable agriculture research: A literature review.

Finding consensus in definitions of commonly-used terms and concepts is a key requirement to enable cooperations between interdisciplinary scientists and practitioners in inter- or transdisciplinary projects. In research on sustainable agriculture, the term 'landscape' is emphasised in particular, being used in studies that range from biogeochemical to socio-economic topics. However, it is normally used in a rather unspecific manner. Moreover, different disciplines assign deviating meanings to this term, which impedes interdisciplinary understanding and synthesis. To close this gap, a systematic literature review from relevant disciplines was conducted to identify a common understanding of the term "landscape". Three general categories of landscape conceptualizations were identified. In a small subset of studies, "landscape" is defined by area size or by natural or anthropogenic borders. The majority of reviewed papers, though, define landscapes as sets of relationships between various elements. Selection of respective elements differed widely depending on research objects. Based on these findings, a new definition of landscape is proposed, which can be operationalized by interdisciplinary researchers to define a common study object and which allows for sufficient flexibility depending on specific research questions. It also avoids over-emphasis on specific spatio-temporal relations at the "landscape scale", which may be context-dependent. Agricultural landscape research demands for study-specific definitions which should be meticulously provided in the future.

Letter to the Editor - Update from Ukraine: Development of the Cloud-based Platform for Patient-centered Telerehabilitation of Oncology Patients with Mathematical-related Modeling.

This Letter to the Editor provides an update on the research from the Glushkov Institute of Cybernetics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The Institute's research team in collaboration with Ternopil National Medical University began a new project called "Development of the cloud-based platform for patient-centered telerehabilitation of oncology patients with mathematical-related modeling." The project is dedicated to the development of a hybrid cloud-based platform, and the creation on its basis of information technology for the telemedicine rehabilitation of cancer patients, and adapted for patients with combat stress disorder. The distinctive features of the proposed technology are a combination of artificial intelligence methods with accurate mathematical methods for optimization: developing mathematical models of problems of discrete, and non-smooth optimization, subgradient space transformation algorithms (to minimize non-smooth functions with tens of thousands of variables), and a method of global equilibrium search, etc.

A social-ecological systems approach to tick bite and tick-borne disease risk management: Exploring collective action in the Occitanie region in southern France.

Ticks are amongst the most important zoonotic disease vectors affecting human and animal health worldwide. Tick-borne diseases (TBDs) are rapidly expanding geographically and in incidence, most notably in temperate regions of Europe where ticks are considered the principal zoonotic vector of Public Health relevance, as well as a major health and economic preoccupation in agriculture and equine industries. Tick-borne pathogen (TBP) transmission is contingent on complex, interlinked vector-pathogen-host dynamics, environmental and ecological conditions and human behavior. Tackling TBD therefore requires a better understanding of the interconnected social and ecological variables (i.e., the social-ecological system) that favor disease (re)-emergence. The One Health paradigm recognizes the interdependence of human, animal and environmental health and proposes an integrated approach to manage TBD. However, One Health interventions are limited by significant gaps in our understanding of the complex, systemic nature of TBD risk, in addition to a lack of effective, universally accepted and environmentally conscious tick control measures. Today individual prevention gestures are the most effective strategy to manage TBDs in humans and animals, making local communities important actors in TBD detection, prevention and management. Yet, how they engage and collaborate within a multi-actor TBD network has not yet been explored. Here, we argue that transdisciplinary collaborations that go beyond research, political and medical stakeholders, and extend to local community actors can aid in identifying relevant social-ecological risk indicators key for informing multi-level TBD detection, prevention and management measures. This article proposes a transdisciplinary social-ecological systems framework, based on participatory research approaches, to better understand the necessary conditions for local actor engagement to improve TBD risk. We conclude with perspectives for implementing this methodological framework in a case study in the south of France (Occitanie region), where multi-actor collaborations are mobilized to stimulate multi-actor collective action and identify relevant social-ecological indicators of TBD risk.

Assembling the climate story: use of storyline approaches in climate-related science.

Storylines are introduced in climate science to provide unity of discourse, integrate the physical and socioeconomic components of phenomena, and make climate evolution more tangible. The use of this concept by multiple scholar communities and the novelty of some of its applications renders the concept ambiguous nonetheless, because the term hides behind a wide range of purposes, understandings, and methodologies. This semi-systematic literature review identifies three approaches that use storylines as a keystone concept: scenarios-familiar for their use in IPCC reports-discourse-analytical approaches, and physical climate storylines. After screening peer-reviewed articles that mention climate and storylines, 270 articles are selected, with 158, 55, and 57 in each category. The results indicate that each scholarly community works with a finite and different set of methods and diverging understandings. Moreover, these approaches have received criticism in their assembly of storylines: either for lacking explicitness or for the homogeneity of expertise involved. This article proposes that cross-pollination among the approaches can improve the usefulness and usability of climate-related storylines. Among good practices are the involvement of a broader range of scientific disciplines and expertise, use of mixed-methods, assessment of storylines against a wider set of quality criteria, and targeted stakeholder participation in key stages of the process.

Repensar la formación y la práctica especializada de enfermería desde la óptica unitaria del ser humano / Rethinking specialized nursing training and practice from the unitary perspective of the human being

El propósito del presente texto es repensar la formación y la práctica especializada de enfermería desde la óptica de las ciencias humanas que estudian la subjetividad y que encuentran su sentido científico más allá del saber disciplinar. Se trata de distinguir con claridad entre las ciencias de la naturaleza y las ciencias del espíritu a partir de la óptica unitaria del ser humano. Esto debido a la creciente percepción de deshumanización y tecnificación de la práctica del cuidado de enfermería vinculada a la formación especializada para el manejo de determinados procedimientos y aparatos que parcelan el conocimiento y desvían la perspectiva y el enfoque disciplinar. Por lo tanto, pensar en cómo se puede comprender mejor el fenómeno de la salud y la enfermedad humanas desde la formación y la práctica de enfermería tiene la posibilidad de reconsiderar el perfil académico de formación básica y especializada de enfermería, congruentemente articulados los saberes de una enfermería contemporánea con los sentires y los saberes de las personas que cuidan con las otras personas a las que se cuida.

The purpose of this text is to rethink specialized nursing training and practice from the perspective of the human sciences that study subjectivity and find its scientific meaning beyond disciplinary knowledge. It is about clearly distinguishing between the sciences of nature and the sciences of the spirit from the unitary perspective of the human being. This is due to the growing perception of dehumanization and technification of nursing care practice linked to specialized training for the management of certain procedures and devices that fragment knowledge and divert the disciplinary perspective and approach. Thus, thinking about how the phenomenon of human health and disease can be better understood from nursing training and practice has the possibility of reconsidering the academic profile of basic and specialized nursing training, coherently articulated the knowledge of contemporary nursing with the feelings and knowledge of the people who care for with the other people who are cared for.

Model templates: transdisciplinary application and entanglement.

The omnipresence of the same basic equations, function forms, algorithms, and quantitative methods is one of the most spectacular characteristics of contemporary modeling practice. Recently, the emergence of the discussion of templates and template transfer has addressed this striking cross-disciplinary reach of certain mathematical forms and computational algorithms. In this paper, we develop a notion of a model template, consisting of its mathematical structure, ontology, prototypical properties and behaviors, focal conceptualizations, and the paradigmatic questions it addresses. We apply this notion to three widely disseminated and powerful model templates: the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model of spin glasses, scale-free networks, and the Kuramoto model of synchronization. We argue that what appears to be an interdisciplinary model transfer between different domains turns out, from a broader perspective, to be the application of transdisciplinary model templates across a multitude of domains. We also point out a further feature of template-based modeling that so far has not been discussed: template entanglement. Such entanglement enhances and makes manifest the conceptual side of model templates.

Exploring "big picture" scenarios for resilience in social-ecological systems: transdisciplinary cross-impact balances modeling in the Red River Basin.

Climate change is increasing the frequency and the severity of extreme events in river basins around the world. Efforts to build resilience to these impacts are complicated by the social-ecological interactions, cross-scale feedbacks, and diverse actor interests that influence the dynamics of change in social-ecological systems (SESs). In this study, we aimed to explore big-picture scenarios of a river basin under climate change by characterizing future change as emergent from interactions between diverse efforts to build resilience and a complex, cross-scale SES. To do so, we facilitated a transdisciplinary scenario modeling process structured by the cross-impact balances (CIB) method, a semi-quantitative method that applies systems theory to generate internally consistent narrative scenarios from a network of interacting drivers of change. Thus, we also aimed to explore the potential for the CIB method to surface diverse perspectives and drivers of change in SESs. We situated this process in the Red River Basin, a transboundary basin shared by the United States and Canada where significant natural climatic variability is worsened by climate change. The process generated 15 interacting drivers ranging from agricultural markets to ecological integrity, generating eight consistent scenarios that are robust to model uncertainty. The scenario analysis and the debrief workshop reveal important insights, including the transformative changes required to achieve desirable outcomes and the cornerstone role of Indigenous water rights. In sum, our analysis surfaced significant complexities surrounding efforts to build resilience and affirmed the potential for the CIB method to generate unique insights about the trajectory of SESs. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11625-023-01308-1.

Improving school children's understanding of water scarcity with a co-produced book on groundwater in Central Chile.

Water scarcity is a critical issue worldwide, and Chile is no exception. Since 2010, Central Chile has been enduring an ongoing water crisis due to the coupled effects of a severe drought and the overuse of water resources, especially groundwater. Rural communities have been strongly impacted, mainly because wells from which drinking water is supplied show a dramatic drop in water levels, and some have even dried up. The water scarcity scenario requires the integration of actors and disciplines to increase awareness of groundwater; however, how to make this valuable element visible in society is an issue that remains open to debate. This paper describes and reflects on the process of making educational material about groundwater and water scarcity for children to promote public awareness. Based on transdisciplinary and co-designing processes, this work describes the social perceptions of groundwater among children and community leaders, as well as how scientific information and local knowledge of water scarcity could be integrated into a book for the young population. This research finds that educational projects on groundwater resources increase people's awareness of the role of this hidden resource in the water cycle. Such projects encourage the creation of grounded and contextualised materials that incorporate the knowledge and experience already present in the communities, increasing public awareness of the role of groundwater and associated water scarcity issues, thereby integrating academia and society. This approach could be a tool to lay the foundations for successfully addressing the water crisis in Chile over generations. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10040-023-02641-6.

La rareté de l'eau est un problème crucial dans le monde entier, et le Chili ne fait pas exception à la règle. Depuis 2010, le centre du Chili est confronté à une crise de l'eau permanente en raison des effets conjugués d'une grave sécheresse et de la surexploitation des ressources en eau, en particulier des eaux souterraines. Les communautés rurales ont été fortement impactées, principalement parce que les puits d'approvisionnement en eau potable ont connu une baisse spectaculaire des niveaux d'eau, et certains se sont même asséchés. Le scénario de la pénurie d'eau nécessite l'intégration d'acteurs et de disciplines pour accroître la sensibilisation aux eaux souterraines. Cependant, la question de savoir comment rendre cet élément précieux visible au sein de la société reste ouverte au débat. Cet article décrit et réfléchit au processus de création de matériel éducatif sur les eaux souterraines et la pénurie d'eau pour les enfants afin de promouvoir la sensibilisation du public. Basé sur des processus transdisciplinaires et de co-conception, ce travail décrit les perceptions sociales des eaux souterraines chez les enfants et les dirigeants communautaires, ainsi que la manière dont les informations scientifiques et les connaissances locales sur la pénurie d'eau pourraient être intégrées dans un livre destiné à la population jeune. Cette recherche montre que les projets éducatifs sur les ressources en eaux souterraines sensibilisent les gens au rôle de cette ressource cachée dans le cycle de l'eau. De tels projets encouragent la création de matériaux fondés et contextualisés qui intègrent les connaissances et l'expérience déjà présentes dans les communautés, en sensibilisant le public au rôle des eaux souterraines et aux problèmes de pénurie d'eau associés, intégrant ainsi le milieu universitaire et la société. Cette approche pourrait constituer un outil permettant de mettre en place les bases d'une résolution réussie de la crise de l'eau au Chili sur plusieurs générations.

La escasez de agua es un tema crítico en todo el mundo, y Chile no es una excepción. Desde 2010, Chile Central atraviesa una crisis hídrica debido a factores como una grave sequía y un uso excesivo de los recursos hídricos, especialmente de las aguas subterráneas. Las comunidades rurales se han visto fuertemente afectadas, principalmente porque los pozos de los que se abastecen de agua potable muestran una drástica caída en los niveles de agua y muchos de ellos incluso se han secado. Este escenario de escasez hídrica demanda una integración de actores y disciplinas para aumentar el nivel información y cuidado sobre el agua subterránea. Sin embargo, cómo hacer visible este valioso elemento entre la sociedad es una cuestión que sigue abierta al debate. En ese marco, este artículo describe y reflexiona sobre el proceso de elaboración de material educativo sobre agua subterránea y escasez hídrica para un público infantil, con el fin de promover la concientización pública sobre este vital elemento. Basado en procesos transdisciplinares y de co-diseño, este trabajo describe las percepciones sociales sobre el agua subterránea entre niñas (os) y líderes comunitarios, así como la forma en que la información científica y el conocimiento local sobre la escasez de agua podrían integrarse en un libro. Esta investigación confirma que los proyectos educativos transdiciplinarios aumentan el nivel de consciencia entre la población sobre el rol del agua subterránea en el ciclo del hidrogeológico y expande la mirada de equipos especialistas. Este tipo de proyectos fomenta la creación de materiales educativos situados y con pertinencia local, incorporando el conocimiento y la experiencia ya presente en las comunidades e integrando así el mundo académico y la sociedad. Este enfoque podría ser una herramienta para sentar las bases que permitan abordar la crisis del agua en Chile a lo largo de generaciones.

A escassez de água é um problema crítico em todo o mundo, e o Chile não é exceção. Desde 2010, o centro do Chile enfrenta uma crise hídrica contínua devido aos efeitos combinados de uma forte seca e do uso excessivo dos recursos hídricos, especialmente das águas subterrâneas. As comunidades rurais têm sido fortemente impactadas, principalmente porque os poços de abastecimento de água potável apresentam uma queda dramática no nível de água, e alguns até secaram. O cenário de escassez de água requer a integração de atores e disciplinas para aumentar a conscientização sobre as águas subterrâneas. No entanto, como tornar este valioso elemento visível para a sociedade é uma questão que permanece aberta ao debate. Este artigo descreve e reflete sobre o processo de produção de material educativo sobre águas subterrâneas e escassez de água para crianças para promover a conscientização pública. Com base em processos transdisciplinares e coprojetados, este trabalho descreve as percepções sociais das águas subterrâneas entre crianças e líderes comunitários, bem como a forma como a informação científica e o conhecimento local sobre a escassez de água podem ser integrados num livro para a população jovem. Esta pesquisa conclui que projetos educacionais sobre recursos hídricos subterrâneos aumentam a conscientização das pessoas sobre o papel desse recurso oculto no ciclo da água. Esses projetos incentivam a criação de materiais fundamentados e contextualizados que incorporam o conhecimento e a experiência já presentes nas comunidades, aumentando a conscientização pública sobre o papel das águas subterrâneas e os problemas associados à escassez de água, integrando assim a academia e a sociedade. Essa abordagem pode ser uma ferramenta para estabelecer as bases para enfrentar com sucesso a crise hídrica no Chile ao longo de gerações.

Co-producing uncomfortable, transdisciplinary, actionable knowledges against the corporate food regime through critical science approaches.

The current corporate food regime generates some of the most challenging ecological, social, and ethical problems for humanity in its quest for sustainability and ecological justice. Different scientific disciplines have analyzed these problems in-depth, but usually from their comfort zone, i.e., without engagement with other disciplines and epistemologies. The predominance of disciplinary visions seriously limits, however, understanding the complexities of the corporate food regime, including the impacts it generates. Further, most research concerned with this food regime confronts epistemological, methodological, and political limitations to engage with the type of solutions that could lead to transitions to just sustainabilities. Here we review and integrate the findings from scientific literature focused on the ecological, social, or ethical impacts of the corporate food regime, with an emphasis on impacts that operate on a global scale. In addition, we analyze the need for critical science approaches to trigger generative processes for the co-production of uncomfortable, transdisciplinary, actionable knowledges that are fit for designing just and sustainable food regimes. Much of the evidence presented in our analysis is in tension with the interests of the corporate food regime, which fosters decision-making processes based on selective ignorance of the impacts caused by this regime. Our work provides arguments that justify the need to promote transitions to just sustainabilities in agricultural systems from multiple domains (e.g., research and development, public policies, grassroots innovations). We posit that strategies to co-design and build such transitions can emerge from the co-production of uncomfortable, transdisciplinary, actionable knowledges through critical science approaches.

From reflection diaries to practical guidance for transdisciplinary research: learnings from a Kenyan air pollution project.

Transdisciplinary research (TDR) approaches have been cited as essential for overcoming the intractable sustainability challenges that the world is currently facing, including air pollution, water management and climate change. However, such approaches can be difficult to undertake in practice and can consequently fail to add value. Therefore, examples of what works in practice (and what does not) are helpful to guide future research. In this study, we used a conceptual TDR framework as the basis to examine and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of our approach in a project exploring air pollution in an informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya. Reflection diaries exploring experiences of participation in the project were undertaken by the project team (comprising academic and community partners) at multiple time points throughout the project. These reflection diaries played an important role in evaluation and for providing space for team learning. Diaries were thematically coded according to the TDR framework to explore aspects of the project that worked well, and areas which presented challenges. We draw upon our reflections, and the extant literature, to make practical recommendations for researchers undertaking TDR projects in future. Recommendations focus on three key project stages (pre-funding, funded period, post-funding) and include; building the team in a way that includes all key stakeholders in relevant and appropriate roles, giving everyone sufficient time to work on the project, and ensuring regular and open communication. Building these recommendations into the design and delivery of transdisciplinary sustainability science projects will support progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11625-023-01317-0.

Enriching Athlete-Environment Interactions in Youth Sport: The Role of a Department of Methodology.

The aim of this insights paper is to propose how the theory of ecological dynamics may invite re-consideration of how sport scientists could support performance, learning and development of children and youth in sports programmes. We seek to outline why learning should be individualised and contextualised, based on the specific needs of learners, such as children and youth, women and disabled athletes in sport. Case examples from individual and team sports are presented to illustrate how constraints can be designed to enrich interactions of children and youth with different performance environments, based on integrating principles of specificity and generality in learning and development. These case examples suggest how a collaborative effort by sport scientists and coaches in children and youth sport may be undertaken in a department of methodology to enrich learning and performance.

Emerging infectious diseases and new pandemics: dancing with a ghost! Lessons in inter- and transdisciplinary research in French Guiana, South America.

In light of current international public health challenges, calls for inter- and transdisciplinary research are increasing, particularly in response to complex and intersecting issues. Although widely used under the One Health flag, it is still unclear how inter- and transdisciplinary science should be applied to infectious disease research, public health, and the different stakeholders. Here, we present and discuss our common scientific and biomedical experience in French Guiana, South America to conduct and enrich research in vector-borne and zoonotic infectious diseases, with the aim to translate findings to public health and political stakeholders. We highlight the successful progressive dissolution of disciplinary boundaries that go beyond One Health positive-driven assumptions and argue that specific local conditions, as well as strong support from research and medical institutions, have facilitated an emulsion toward inter- and transdisciplinary science. This argument is intended to improve responses to public health concerns in French Guiana and other countries and regions of the world.