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

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.