Trained as an interdisciplinary social scientist, Marina Knickel researches the epistemological, relational and ethical dimensions of transdisciplinary knowledge co-production, with a particular interest in how to foster more inclusive, reflexive and equitable collaboration that can contribute to more sustainable and transformative outcomes. Her work explores these dimensions in the context of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary sustainability research. Marina holds a PhD in Agriculture, Food and Environment from the University of Pisa, Italy (2022), where her research examined collaboration and co-learning in transdisciplinary research. At KLI, she held a postdoctoral fellowship on knowledge integration and the epistemological and ethical-political dimensions of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaboration. She subsequently joined the Horizon Europe project PLUS Change as a Postdoctoral Researcher and Work Package Co-Lead, researching knowledge co-production and the integration of ethics, equity and justice in transformative transdisciplinary research.

Marina's current research examines how epistemic diversity, power relations and ethical commitments shape transdisciplinary knowledge co-production. She is particularly interested in how ethical theories and concepts, such as virtue ethics, ethics of care and living ethics, can inform research methodologies and practical approaches to more equitable collaboration and transformative change. Her recent work contributes to developing an integrated and action-oriented approach to building capacities for justice in environmental governance. Her ongoing research explores how ethical commitments are translated into research practice, negotiated and enacted in everyday collaboration, and how experiences in practice can prompt the reconsideration of these commitments, including through the concept of ethically important moments.