Vol. 22 (2023): Transformative Partnerships: Proceedings of Transformations Conference '23

Dear Reader,

This edition, titled "Transformative Partnerships: Proceedings of the Transformations Conference ‘23," serves as both a roadmap for action and an invitation to join a collective transformation journey. Curated by the Transformations Community—a worldwide consortium of action researchers and reflective practitioners dedicated to promoting sustainable and regenerative futures—this issue brings together insights from members across various sectors and disciplines. Since its establishment in 2013, the Transformations Community has been at the forefront of fostering transformative thought and action globally. The 2023 conferences, held in Sydney, Prague, Maine, and online, centered on transformative partnerships and featured over 250 sessions. These events attracted over 700 attendees from over 40 countries and included presentations from over 400 distinguished speakers. This special issue, organized around five key themes, captures a rich tapestry of people, ideas, and initiatives from a global community committed to driving transformation towards sustainable and regenerative futures.

Theme 1: Sensemaking and States of the Field: The first article, “Sensemaking the Transformations Community’s Future,” captures ideas and insights from a day-long post-conference gathering in Prague to explore the emerging potential of the Transformations Community. It begins by presenting four principles that unite the Community: Temperance, Transdisciplinarity, Translocalism, and Transformative Learning. These principles are tied to a way forward for the Transformations Community, integrating decentralized conferences, digital resource-sharing platforms, collaborative workspaces, and strategic partnerships to amplify our collective impact. This article is followed by a review of the “State of the Transformations Community,” conducted by former conference organizers as an international hybrid session. The section continues with four "State of the Field" articles, which share ideas about the following domains of professional practice within the transformations field:

1. "Network Leadership Development" traces the intricate dance between individual agency and collective impact, reframing leadership as a networked and collaborative process;
2. "Systems Education" casts education as a crucible for nurturing empowered, reflective changemakers;
3. “Financing Systemic Transformation,” reimagines traditional financial models to align with the complexities of global challenges; and
4. "Evaluation and Assessment of Transformation" sheds light on adaptive evaluation methods crucial for deepening our understanding of transformative impacts.

Theme 2: Transformative Partnerships: Six online sessions at the Transformations 2023 Conference are analyzed by participants from each session, each focusing on one of five topics related to the conference’s main theme of “Transformative Partnerships for a Better World”:

1. Inner transformation and wellbeing
2. Transformative policy and paradigms
3. Engaging new narratives for a transformed future
4. Transformative leadership
5. Transformative policy, institutions, and organizations

The lead article in this section, "Partnerships in Transformations: A Synthesis," interlaces key aspects of the session syntheses that follow, highlighting the fluidity of transformative leadership, the continual journey of transformation, and the vital role of inclusive communities.

Theme 3: Transformative Policies and Practices: Robin Krabbe begins by considering how community basic income in Tasmania addresses social pathology and precarity. Louis Klein and Karima Kadaoui explore metamorphic transformations in social ecosystems, emphasizing the role of humanizing societies through co-reflection. Sarah Velten and her team highlight the importance of multi-level partnerships for biodiversity conservation in agricultural landscapes. Sunny Goddard and colleagues’ research on 'Research Pods' within complementary medicine illustrates a paradigm shift towards more holistic and resilient healthcare methodologies. Bryan Jenkins focuses on the adaptive cycle for ecosystem recovery, and Tani Khara's study on 'Voluntary Simplicity' in urban India offers insights into sustainable dietary practices, emphasizing the transformative role of individual choice. Collectively, these articles underscore how integrated strategies can promote transformations.

Theme 4: Co-producing Transformative Knowledge: Samuel Wearne begins this section by challenging the academic status quo and advocating for knowledge systems that are more plural, contextual, and inclusive. This theme of challenging existing paradigms is echoed in Soli Middleby's work, which critically examines power imbalances in development practices, advocating for a shift towards more equitable and transformative approaches. The concept of relational transdisciplinarity, proposed by Farina L. Tolksdorf and colleagues, further underscores the necessity of collaborative, reciprocal learning processes in sustainability research. Similarly, Lily van Eeden and colleagues utilize a participatory future visioning approach and the Appreciative Inquiry methodology, emphasizing the development of reciprocal relationships with nature to co-produce transformative knowledge for enhancing nature conservation policies and practices. Additionally, Luea Ritter and the team's insights from the World Ethic Forum highlight the importance of inclusive and transformative learning processes rooted in an ecocentric worldview. These papers provide a mosaic of transformative ideas and strategies centered on learning and knowledge practices.

Theme 5: Transdisciplinary Collaborative Design: Justus Wachs and Luea Ritter begin this section by delving into immersive practices for understanding and embodying systemic dynamics, highlighting the creation of spaces for deep relational engagement. Felix Beyers and colleagues discuss the intricacies of shaping transdisciplinary spaces, focusing on the reflective processes essential for navigating complex stakeholder relationships. Roxanne Henwood and colleagues examine the creation of equitable and collaborative spaces in the context of indigenous and colonizing histories. Sydney Hay and colleagues offer insights into the design of participatory labs for bioregional stewardship. Lastly, Rita Golstein-Galperin and colleagues assess the evolving landscape of academic institutions as spaces for transformative innovation. Together, these sessions underscore the significance of carefully designed collaborative spaces and processes in driving systems change.

We hope you enjoy this special issue, which highlights the creativity and vigor of the Transformations Community. We invite you to check out our previous special issues (here and here), subscribe to our newsletter, and join us as we develop new leadership practices, institutional arrangements, and participatory techniques to bring desirable transformations to life.

Thanks to Community Weavers Nick Graham, Thomas Haselbock, Monta Martinsone, and Chukwuma Paul, who made the conferences possible, our Associate Editors, and Shane Casey, a graduate student in the Masters of the Environment Program at the University of Colorado Boulder, who coordinated production of this special issue.

Sincerely,

Bruce Evan Goldstein, Guest Editor and Curator, University of Colorado Boulder

Nicholas Torres, Co-Founder and Publisher, Social Innovations Journal

Acknowledgments: A special thanks to the Associate Editors of this edition who managed the process of providing each submission to the special issue with two peer reviews:

Felix Beyers - Research Institute for Sustainability

Anja Bless - University of Technology Sydney

Andrew Gaines - Inspiring Transition

Rita Golstein - Israel Democracy Institute

Flavia Guerra - United Nations University

Adam Hejnowicz - Newcastle University

Johan Holmén - Chalmers

Anne Leitch - Griffith University

Gilles Marciniak - Future Earth

Robson Mukwambo - Rhodes University

Claudia Munera - Environmental Futures at CSIRO

Constance Perrin-Joly - IFSRA, Institute for Social Research in Africa

Glory Dee Romo - University of the Philippines