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Short abstract:

This paper explores what kinds of power relations operate in transdisciplinary oceans projects, and in what ways they enable and constrain transformative research practices.

Long abstract:

The principle of knowledge co-production has been introduced in international research programmes to make global environmental change research useful and impactful. However, it has been shown that knowledge co-production often fails to grapple with the differentials of knowledge and power. In response to a gap we identify in the understanding of transformative research in marine settings, this paper aims to find out what kinds of power relations operate in transdisciplinary oceans projects, and in what ways they enable and constrain transformative research practices. The paper analyses six projects within the Belmont Collaborative Research Actions Oceans Program, representing experiences of marine transdisciplinary sustainability research practices. We examine how power dynamics influence the ways in which researchers work with various societal actors to envision and bring about social change in the complex relationship between linear and co-production models of knowledge-action. We conclude that the predominant form of power operating within the co-production model of research was the centred (power with) form, geared towards social change seen as empowerment of marginalised communities. The linear model was mostly affected by diffused forms of power, reflecting linear assumptions about knowledge and governance. In both cases the projects were enabled and constrained by structural forms of power within which research is embedded. This points to the need for greater reflexivity among researchers engaging in transdisciplinary work in marine and coastal governance, remaining critical to the interaction between models of knowledge-action connections, power relationships at knowledge-governance interfaces and their potential for envisioning and enacting social change.