Abstract
Despite growing interest in transdisciplinarity, how to define and assess transdisciplinary (TD) work remains unclear. More fundamentally, the nature and balance of competencies of individuals who form different types of multidisciplinary (MD), interdisciplinary (ID), and transdisciplinary teams remain broad. This paper presents a model that illustrates the competencies required to work in an MD, ID and TD way. To construct the model, a systematic literature review identified the key competencies required to engage in MD, ID and TD work. The competencies were qualitatively extracted, inductively analysed and thematically grouped. The model illustrates how: MD competencies focus on specific goal achievement, which in themselves may be discipline-targeted or distributed; ID competencies focus on integrating ideas from different disciplines, with an explicit appreciation of non-disciplinary and non-academic perspectives on technical advancement; and TD competencies extend the focus to the synthesis of new ideas, solutions or approaches through cogent collaborative skills and common high-level motivational drivers. The model identifies foundational competencies common to MD, ID and TD, nuanced shared competencies across the ID and TD domains, and distinct TD competencies. We provide insight into effective TD team composition, management and evaluation that will be of broad interest to organisations and managers associated with the support of complex, transdisciplinary projects.