Anchoring in Strong Currents: Strategies for Reflexivity to Enhance Inter- and Transdisciplinary Marine Research

Annette Breckwoldt, Christopher Cvitanovic, Asha de Vos, Amy Diedrich, Leonie Dziomba, Marie Fujitani, Denis Karcher, Priscilla F. M. Lopes, Sangeeta Mangubhai, Shannon McLaughlin, Vitor Renck and Ma Suza
Additional contact information
Annette Breckwoldt: Programme Area “Societal Impact,” Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Germany
Christopher Cvitanovic: Biological, Earth, and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales – Sydney, Australia / Centre for Marine Science and Innovation, University of New South Wales, Australia
Asha de Vos: Oceanswell, Sri Lanka
Amy Diedrich: College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Australia / Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture, James Cook University, Australia
Leonie Dziomba: rogramme Area “Societal Impact,” Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Germany
Marie Fujitani: Programme Area “Coastal Transformation,” Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Germany / Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Bremen, Germany
Denis Karcher: Anthropocene Laboratory, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Sweden
Priscilla F. M. Lopes: Department of Ecology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil / Research Institute of the University of Bucharest, University of Bucharest, Romania
Sangeeta Mangubhai: Talanoa Consulting, Fiji / Centre for Sustainable Futures, University of the South Pacific, Fiji
Shannon McLaughlin: Environmental Policy Group, Wageningen University, The Netherlands
Vitor Renck: Biological, Earth, and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales – Sydney, Australia / Centre for Marine Science and Innovation, University of New South Wales, Australia / Institute of Marine Sciences, Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil
Ma Suza: Programme Area “Societal Impact,” Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Germany

Ocean and Society, 2026, vol. 3

Abstract: Marine research increasingly demands that early career researchers collaborate across disciplines, work with diverse communities including Indigenous peoples, and navigate social-ecological challenges characterised by ambiguity, uncertainty, and contested values. Yet the conceptual tools needed to do this well—chief among them reflexivity—are rarely taught in science training. This commentary argues that reflexivity (i.e., the practice of actively and continuously examining how one’s position, assumptions, and subjectivity shape the research process and its outcomes) is not an optional methodological add-on, but a foundational practice for rigorous, ethical, and inclusive inter- and transdisciplinary marine research. It is addressed primarily to early career researchers and their supervisors: people who can act on the strategies offered here within their own research practice. We acknowledge that sustaining reflexive practice also requires institutional and structural change—but that change is beyond the remit of any individual researcher. Rather, our focus is on what individual researchers can integrate, practise, and lead by example: from writing a positionality statement and asking reflexive planning questions, to active listening, peer dialogue, and keeping a reflexive personal journal—as entry points into larger accountability.

Keywords: early career researchers; interdisciplinarity; marine science; positionality; reflexivity; transdisciplinarity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:ocesoc:v3:y:2026:a:12995

DOI: 10.17645/oas.12995

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