New Publication: New tools for researchers navigating co-production in sustainability science

In a world grappling with complex, interconnected challenges – what many people call the polycrisis.

This urgency has led to a growing emphasis on co-production: an engaged research approach that can bring researchers from diverse disciplines, together with non-researchers, to create solutions that are both scientifically sound and practically relevant.

Recognising the challenges that come with co-production, researchers from CSIRO’s Valuing Sustainability Future Science Platform (VS FSP) have developed an approach to assist research teams to think through and develop well-targeted approaches to engagement.

Their research, recently published in the Nature journal: Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, provides a structured approach to help scientists navigate engagement and knowledge integration. The approach supports teams to understand the value and timing of different forms of engagement that range from keeping participants informed, to developing reciprocal collaborations empowering partners to lead.

“We know that tackling complex sustainability problems requires scientists to work with a range of external partners and finding ways to do that effectively, is not straightforward, especially where there are diverse stakeholders with different goals and interests” explains Dr Emma Ligtermoet, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with CSIRO and lead author of the paper.

“The first step in understanding and working with diversity is understanding it within a team. This then supports the development ofan effective engagement process that can be appropriately tailored to each research context is really important.”  

Why co-production is both challenging and necessary

Traditional academic research has often taken place within disciplinary silos, where researchers share common language, methodologies, and foundational philosophies.

However, addressing sustainability challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and supporting sustainability transitions across whole systems, sectors or regions, requires a broader and more holistic approach. Scientists must work in interdisciplinary teams to integrate their knowledge and engage with external partners, including policymakers, industry leaders, and community groups, to ensure their research has real-world impact.

Working across these boundaries can be difficult. It requires researchers to bridge differences in language, methodologies, and institutional perspectives, all while ensuring that diverse voices are heard and valued.

The Sustainability Science Scaffolding team in the VS FSP recognised the need for tools to support teams navigate these complexities, leading to the development of their new framework and approach.

The context-centred 4Ps: a framework for navigating co-production

At the heart of this approach is the recognition that context matters. Before diving into collaboration, research teams must first understand the social, cultural, historical, economic, institutional, and environmental factors shaping their research setting. From there, the framework guides teams through four key elements, known as the 4Ps:

• Positionality – This includes researchers reflecting together on their own disciplinary perspectives, backgrounds, and potential biases, as well as how their organisation may be perceived by likely collaborators. This self-awareness is crucial for building trust within the researcher team and with external collaborators.

• Purpose – Defining shared goals is essential. What are the primary objectives of the research? What are the reasons for engagement? What do all parties hope to achieve through co-producing the research?

• Power – Understanding power dynamics within the research team and among external partners is critical. Who is interested? Who holds influence? Who may be affected? Are there voices that need to be amplified? What barriers might prevent engagement?

• Process – Establishing clear, equitable processes for working together helps ensure collaboration is productive and inclusive. This includes clarifying roles and expectations, defining non-negotiables, and embedding mechanisms for reflection and handling disagreements, to maintain trust throughout.

“Being open about the purpose of co-production is really important, and it’s absolutely fine for different groups to come to the table with a different purpose in mind, but there needs to be transparency about that,” says Dr Ligtermoet. “Similarly, with questions of power – these aren’t always recognised and so what we’ve tried to do is create a space for discussion that renders some of the invisible things more visible, and therefore able to be navigated explicitly. This can seem hard but it can really deepen and strengthen partnerships when done well.”

“Taking the time to reflect on the first three considerations – positionality, purpose and power – is what helps to inform and support the fourth consideration: what your process is actually going to look like,” she explains.

Testing the framework in practice

To evaluate the effectiveness of their ideas, the CSIRO team used an approach combining workshops, surveys and explainer documents to test their framework with four interdisciplinary sustainability research teams.

Researchers found the structured approach valuable, particularly in making explicit the often-overlooked aspects of collaboration, such as power dynamics and representation.

However, timing proved to be a key factor in the effectiveness of the approach. Teams that were too far along in their projects found it difficult to retrofit their engagement strategies, while those still in the very early stages struggled with unknowns about their context and partners. These findings suggest that applying the framework at the right stage of preparations – early enough to shape research plans but with enough information to make it meaningful – is crucial.

Another key finding was that researchers benefitted from learning opportunities that not only covered co-production content, but that provided opportunities to collectively discuss disciplinary assumptions and values, diverse understandings of the research setting and purpose, and their own potential roles and influence in the research setting. This is valuable for building the critical reflexive capabilities researchers require when working in interdisciplinary teams, tackling sustainability challenges. 

The CSIRO team highlights the need for institutions to better support co-production by recognising the time investments, in providing resources, training, and structural incentives that encourage researchers to invest in deeper engagement.

“We recognise that there’s a tension between the demands of completing a research project and having the space for critically reflecting within a team and with collaborators as you go along, and the depth of knowledge and commitment that produces” says Dr Ligtermoet.

Looking ahead: future application of the context centred 4Ps research

Moving forward, the researchers suggest testing of their framework throughout the life of a project, revisited at critical junctures, could be useful to ensure ongoing reflexivity and alignment among the broader research collective. The content and approach are also being packaged to support wider access and adoption within CSIRO.

By embedding principles of equity, inclusion, reflexivity, and respect in ways of working together, research teams can foster stronger, trusted partnerships and produce science that truly meets societal needs.

With the challenges of the polycrisis growing ever more urgent, the ability to work across disciplines and with diverse collaborators and contexts will be an increasingly vital skill for researchers. This framework and approach provides a valuable tool to help scientists navigate the complexities of co-production and build research that is both impactful and inclusive.

Author – Ruth Dawkins