%0 Journal Article %J Technology Innovation Management Review %D 2018 %T Exploring the Transdisciplinary Learning Experiences of Innovation Professionals %A Mariana Zafeirakopoulos %A Mieke van der Bijl-Brouwer %K emotion %K experience %K learning %K professional %K transdisciplinary %X Transdisciplinary innovation inherently involves learning how to integrate disciplines towards exploring a problem or towards developing a solution or technology. Thus, transdisciplinary innovation and transdisciplinary learning are practically interchangeable. Although transdisciplinary learning has been studied and experimented with in educational research, the understanding of it in a professional context is limited. We therefore aim our research at addressing this question of how people shift their practice towards other disciplines to address complex issues. We chose to focus on a particularly challenging context – the shift from positivist to non-positivist learning across the career of transdisciplinary innovators when addressing complex problems. What makes this context challenging is that the siloed and heavily specialized nature of working within a disciplinary construct discourages collaboration on real-world complex problems. This context is also challenging because the analytic focus from positivist disciplines results in a reductionist approach, which limits an innovator’s ability to explore problems holistically and abductively. An understanding of the learning experiences of practitioners in these contexts will inform the identification of relevant variables and attributes that encourage innovative learning for ultimately innovative practice. This identification might help us develop better support and education for innovation professionals who want to adopt transdisciplinary practices for the purposes of addressing complex problems. In this article, we discuss the results of a series of in-depth interviews to understand the learning experiences of design innovation practitioners who experienced a shift away from positivist approaches towards transdisciplinary innovation practice. We explore the research approach undertaken to study the motivations and drivers, the emotions experienced during the shift, and the implementation and dissemination of the new learning into professional practice. %B Technology Innovation Management Review %I Talent First Network %C Ottawa %V 8 %P 50-59 %8 08/2018 %G eng %U https://timreview.ca/article/1178 %N 8 %1 University of Technology Sydney Mariana Zafeirakopoulos is a Senior Strategic Design Practitioner at the University of Technology Sydney’s Design Innovation Research Centre/Designing Out Crime Research Centre and freelance Intelligence Capability Advisor in Sydney, Australia. Mariana is currently pursuing her PhD exploring how intelligence analysis approaches can be enhanced by design innovation and transdisciplinary approaches to address complex social problems such as radicalization. Mariana holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Social Sciences (War Studies) from King’s College London, a Bachelors in Law from the University of New South Wales, and a Bachelor in Arts (Government and International Relations, and Asian Studies) from the University of Sydney. %2 University of Technology Sydney Mieke van der Bijl-Brouwer is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Transdisciplinary Innovation at the University of Technology Sydney in Australia. Her research interests span the fields of human-centred design, systemic design, and public and social sector innovation. As a lecturer, she is responsible for coordinating part of the transdisciplinary degree Bachelor of Creative Intelligence and Innovation. Mieke holds a Master of Science degree in Industrial Design Engineering from Delft University of Technology and a PhD on the topic of user-centred design from the University of Twente, both in the Netherlands. %R http://doi.org/10.22215/timreview/1178