Our Work

Publishing collectively is not a workaround — it is a practice. The work that appears here emerged through shared thinking, shared writing, and shared responsibility. That is what makes it ours.

On authorship

Publications

2025

Reaping what we sow: Centering values in food systems transformations research

O. Care, Julie G. Zaehringer, Michael J. Bernstein, Mollie Chapman, Cecilie Friis, Sonia Graham, L. Jamila Haider, Mónica Hernández-Morcillo, Harry Hoffmann, Maria Lee Kernecker, Hannah Pitt & Verena Seufert. Ambio (2025).

In many transdisciplinary research settings, insufficient attention to the values underpinning a project's aims can slow or undermine both stakeholder engagement and eventual outcomes. We argue that researchers working on sustainability transformations need to be better prepared to reflect on their own values — not just the values of the stakeholders they study. Drawing on our experience as a collective, we present two illustrative cases and a practical framework for centering values in research practice, grounded in our four core values: care, reflexivity, inclusivity, and collectivity.

doi.org/10.1007/s13280-024-02086-5

Illustration: Veronica Remmele / The Careoperative
(figure from Care et al. 2025, to appear here)

2021

Creating leadership collectives for sustainability transformations

O. Care, M. J. Bernstein, M. Chapman, I. Diaz Reviriego, G. Dressler, M. R. Felipe-Lucia, C. Friis, S. Graham, H. Hänke, L. J. Haider, M. Hernández-Morcillo, H. Hofmann, M. Kernecker, P. Nicol, C. Piñeiro, H. Pitt, C. Schill, V. Seufert, K. Shu, V. Valencia & J. G. Zaehringer. Sustainability Science, 16: 703–708 (2021).

We make the case that enduring sustainability challenges require a fundamentally different model of academic leadership — one built on critical reflection, inclusivity, and care, rather than individual prestige and disciplinary competition. We present the Careoperative as a lived experiment in this alternative: a collective that emerged from a leadership development program and deliberately reoriented its practices around distributed responsibility, mutual support, and structural honesty about the conditions that shape who gets to lead.

doi.org/10.1007/s11625-021-00909-y

2020

Outbreaks, break-outs and break-times: Creating caring online workshops

The Care Operative. Integration and Implementation Insights (i2insights), 16 June 2020.

Written in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, this piece draws on our experience of rapidly shifting a planned in-person workshop to a virtual format within 48 hours. Rather than simply listing technical tips, we reflect on what it means to hold caring, generative space online — how to recreate breathing room, informal corridor conversations, and the emotional conditions for creative collaboration when you can only see half of each other at a time.

i2insights.org/2020/06/16/caring-online-workshops

2020

Code of Collaboration

The Careoperative. Internal governance document, August 2020.

Our Code of Collaboration is the foundational governance document of our collective — a living text that sets out the guiding principles, decision-making processes, publication and authorship norms, and conflict resolution protocols by which we operate. Structured around five core articles (respect, responsibility, communication, support, and equity), it makes explicit the values that might otherwise remain tacit, and gives us a shared reference point when navigating difficult questions.

Conference presentations

conference presentation · 2021

Transforming academia: visions and pathways for a radical redesign

2021 International Transdisciplinarity Conference

O. Care (Bernstein, M.; Chapman, M.; Diaz Reviriego, I.; Dressler, G.; Felipe-Lucia, M.; Friis, C.; Graham, S.; Haider, J.; Hernández-Morcillo, M.; Kernecker, M.; Nicol, P.; Pitt, H.; Schill, C.; Seufert, V.; Valencia, V.; Zaehringer, J.)

conference presentation · 2021

Leadership collectives for sustainability transformations

2021 Transformations Conference — virtual presentation, recorded 28 May; presented 17–18 June 2021

O. Care (Bernstein, M.; Chapman, M.; Diaz Reviriego, I.; Dressler, G.; Felipe-Lucia, M.; Friis, C.; Graham, S.; Haider, J.; Hernández-Morcillo, M.; Kernecker, M.; Nicol, P.; Pitt, H.; Schill, C.; Seufert, V.; Valencia, V.; Zaehringer, J.)