Evaluating Epistemic Commitments and Science Communication Practice in Transdisciplinary Research

Abstract

Transdisciplinary research is a central commitment in efforts to advance sustainability. Transdisciplinarity requires integrating knowledge from a variety of groups, including scientists, policymakers, and regulators. Success in integrating multiple ways of knowing is influenced by the relative authority that science, as an epistemology, holds within a collaborative effort. This study draws from the literature on epistemic authority and science communication to explore epistemic authority and engagement within a sustainability science collaboration. Our results highlight persistent contradictions in commitments to epistemic diversity and the privileging of science, demonstrating tensions between conceptual commitments to participatory approaches within sustainability science and practices of engagement.