This paper interrogates the concept of transdisciplinarity, both theoretically and practically, from a perspective of early career researchers (ECRs) in transformative ocean governance research. Aiming to advance research methodologies for future complex sustainability challenges, the paper seeks to illuminate some common uncertainties and challenges surrounding transdisciplinarity from a marine science perspective. Following a literature review on transdisciplinary research, workshops, and a series of surveys, we determine that transdisciplinarity appears to be a concept in search of definition, and that there is a need to explore transdisciplinarity specifically from an ocean research perspective. The paper discusses a number of challenges experienced by ECRs in conducting transdisciplinary research and provides recommendations for both ECRs wishing to undertake more equitable transdisciplinary research and for the UN Decade for Ocean Science to support ECRs in this endeavour (Figure 1). Based on our findings, we interrogate the role of non-academic collaborators in transdisciplinary research and argue that future transdisciplinarity will need to address power imbalances in existing research methods to achieve knowledge co-production, as opposed to knowledge integration.

This paper presents a 2-year collaboration that explored how we as design researchers may support an isolated and marginalised indigenous San community to innovate technology products for affluent consumer markets on the other side of the world. The goal was to design a product that brings income to the community, builds skills while facilitating a creative design of self-expression. Community-based co-design was integrated into an inclusive innovation approach. The resulting product was a series of fridge magnet souvenirs using augmented reality technology. As the community was designing not only for a technology but also for an audience unknown to them, we conceptualised the unknown within the process. Our role extended to facilitating negotiations between commercial goals and communities' creative self-expression. We present the appropriated community-based co-design process and reflect on how our facilitation of the unknown affected the process, the creativity and the self-expression by the San participants.

Decolonizing discourses teach us that we need to move away from the universalizing 'grand narratives' of knowledge production and focus on contextualizing diverse and situated experiences, epistemologies and narratives. Yet, few contributions actively demonstrate what a shift to decolonizing design means in practice. Participatory Design (PD) approaches are particularly well-suited to contributing to contemporary debates of decolonization in design due to PD's long-standing political traditions and values of equality and empowerment, but even here empirical methods and techniques to fully realize pluriversality in design are lacking. In line with the CHI 2021 theme of Making Waves. Combining Strengths, this interactive workshop will invigorate the debates and practices in HCI of decolonization by bringing together and demonstrating how designers and researchers in diverse global contexts are working with and adapting modes, concepts, methodologies and sensibilities into decolonizing design practices. Not only will this workshop provide new ways of thinking in HCI but also fuse theories and practices to develop truly transcultural approaches to HCI. CCS CONCEPTS• Human-centered computing → HCI theory, concepts and models.

Participatory Design (PD) approaches are particularly well-suited to contribute to contemporary debates of decolonisation in design due to PD's long-standing political traditions and values of democracy and empowerment. Decolonising discourses teach us that we need to move away from the universalising 'grand narratives' of knowledge production and focus on contextualising diverse and situated experiences, epistemologies and narratives. Yet, few contributions actively demonstrate what a shift to decolonising PD means in practice. This interactive workshop will invigorate the gap in PD debates of decolonisation by bringing together and demonstrating how participatory designers in diverse global contexts are working with and adapting modes, concepts, methodologies and sensibilities of PD into decolonising practices. These practices not only create new shifts and worldviews, but have potential for developing truly transcultural and transdisciplinary PD approaches CCS CONCEPTS• Human-centered computing → Interaction design; Human computer interaction (HCI).

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