Making Research Collaborations: Learning from Processes of Transdisciplinary Engagement in Agricultural Research

Abstract

This article is an attempt to capture the process and outcomes of disciplinary collaborations in two multi-partner transdisciplinary research projects on agriculture. The focus of the projects was building smallholder resilience in semi-arid tropics. The collaborating disciplines fall broadly into natural sciences and social sciences. The farming community and other actors across the agricultural value chain, being the end users of research, were active stakeholders. This paper details the drivers and barriers in transdisciplinary collaboration and articulates the extent of disciplinary integration achieved between the natural sciences, social sciences and the end users of research. The key elements contributing to effectiveness of transdisciplinary research are the conceptual clarity of disciplinary contributions and interfaces, shared knowledge of the expected research outcomes, positioning of the different disciplines within the research framework, openness of the researchers to disciplinary cross fertilisation, the transdisciplinary research experience of the partnering institutions and accommodation of the cultural differences between the collaborating partners.