Title: Self-reflexive practice through the human scale development approach - competencies needed for transformative science research

Authors: Salina Spiering

Addresses: Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research GmbH – UFZ, Permoserstraße 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany

Abstract: Solution-oriented transformative science (TSc) is increasingly being discussed as a means to produce participatory and actionable knowledge for sustainability transitions. This requires that researchers adopt different roles, competencies and a degree of reflexivity, which thus far, are often not fully applied. This article proposes the human scale development approach (HSDA) of the Chilean economist, Max-Neef and his colleagues, as a valuable framework to engage in self-reflexive research practices. Inspired by autoethnography, I draw on my own sustainability research as a PhD-student, paying close attention to deprivations, potentials that I encountered, exploring how self-reflexive practices enhance the understanding of competencies and elucidating how to adopt and fulfil required research roles and procedures. I show how such a self-reflexive process can be a useful (training) tool not only for early PhD researchers and for supervision, but may add value for TSc scholars in general.

Keywords: autoethnography; transformative science; TSc; self-reflexive practice; human scale development approach; HSDA; roles of researcher; competencies; values; reflexivity; sustainability science.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSD.2022.126477

International Journal of Sustainable Development, 2022 Vol.25 No.1/2, pp.132 - 159

Received: 05 Jun 2021
Received in revised form: 05 Nov 2021
Accepted: 21 Apr 2022
Published online: 26 Oct 2022 *

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