Transdisciplinarity: Towards an epistemology of what matters

Abstract

This chapter explores the adoption of a transdisciplinary approach to knowledge by a doctor of professional studies research programme at Middlesex University in London. This programme is designed for senior professionals in a range of sectors who wish to bring about change, of varying degrees of magnitude, in practices and attitudes in their contexts. Its research pedagogy combines professional and academic knowledge to meet challenges posed by the temporal limitations of rapidly shifting local and global contexts. It proposes that conceptualizing practice, through a transdisciplinary lens, opens up significant possibilities for both articulating and navigating the complexities inherent in any cultural ecology, and the positioning of the researcher in that context. This enhances the research process’s potency to influence attitudes, focus and impact, including the concept of agential knowing in identifying and attending to what matters.