LPTransition: reflections on creating a transdisciplinary research platform for ecological and social transition in the agri-food system

Fernandez-Wulff, Paula [UCL] Vivero Pol, Jose Luis [UCL] Coolsaet, Brendan [UCL] Dedeurwaerdere, Tom [UCL]

LPTransition (lptransition.uclouvain.be) is a pluri-disciplinary, trans-sectorial and community-driven scientific research platform, created in 2015. Its specific purpose is to support existing research projects at the Université catholique de Louvain on ecological and social transition with a transdisciplinary perspective (that is, in close cooperation with social partners and stemming from the social innovations that these actors initiate). Our vision is that production, translation and dissemination of knowledge for social and ecological transition requires close partnerships between researchers and practitioners during the entire research process. The end goal of such partnerships is to produce both better science and more socially robust knowledge. This paper will look back at and reflect on the platform’s first year of work with transition movements in the agri-food system. More in particular, we will evaluate and discuss three types of projects currently supported by the platform: (1) the framing of phd dissertations completed in partnership with social movements, (2) the collective programming and evaluation of transdisciplinary research, (3) the organization of transdisciplinary workshops aiming at facilitating co-production of knowledge, in particular on community-supported agriculture.