Competencies for Graduate Student Training in Transdisciplinary FEWS Research

Transdisciplinarity is gaining traction as a research approach for developing impactful solutions by bringing together diverse sources of technical and local expertise. Many of the skills and knowledge for conducting transdisciplinary research are not currently emphasized in conventional graduate education. The objective of this paper is to present a literature-supported organization of competencies that contribute to transdisciplinary graduate education. An extensive literature review of more than 160 papers was undertaken to identify competencies needed for transdisciplinary research teams. The competencies are focused on students and early career academic professionals and especially those entering careers in FEWS fields and those teaching or mentoring these groups. The review identified competencies related to six domain areas, oriented around the individual, relationships and connections, team, process, outputs and outcomes, and growth. As academic institutions continue to recognize the role of transdisciplinary research in addressing complex societal issues, graduate education programs will have to incorporate transdisciplinary competencies into the curriculum. We offer the competencies identified by the INFEWS-ER project as a contribution to this ongoing conversation about the development of transdisciplinary professionals.