At a time of increasing pressure to respond to ecological breakdown, structural disruption and deep uncertainty, many of us working for transformations face ethical dilemmas that institutional review processes were never designed to address.
What counts as relational responsibility? What constitutes an equitable partnership in practice? Who carries the risks? Who benefits? Which trade offs are acceptable and who decides?
Our work sits at the heart of these uncertainties in transdisciplinary settings. That means navigating competing expectations within collaborations, while making difficult choices about priorities, partnerships, power and responsibility in real time.
Most institutional ethics protocols were designed for controlled research settings. They remain essential, but they offer limited guidance for navigating the realities of transdisciplinary and transformative work. As a result, many ethical decisions are made without a widened awareness of how different power, risks and urgencies may shape action.
Ethics cannot be an afterthought or a compliance measure. It must be embedded in practice through dialogue and within the relationships that sustain the work. Holding moral clarity and relational awareness together allows ethical practices to emerge without suspending responsibility or rushing to premature conclusions.
The Transdisciplinary Ethics in Research and Practice initiative was created to meet this challenge. It is the early formation of a community of practice within the Transformations Community and SocSES, bringing together researchers and practitioners to surface and work through ethical dilemmas in real work contexts shaped by complexity and trade offs.
We are building a collaborative alliance across institutions and regions, developing tools and learning spaces, and strengthening reflexive capacity.
At its core, this effort is about equipping those working in sustainability transformations with the clarity, community and practical wisdom needed to act within moments of rupture when established guidance no longer fits the realities of the work.
In the months ahead, we will explore real world dilemmas, surface hard questions and develop practical guidance for navigating the ethical complexity of transformative change.
