Bridging divides: The role of social science in operationalising transdisciplinarity for epidemic preparedness in sub-Saharan Africa, 2012-2023.

This paper investigates the role of transdisciplinarity, social science, and communities' knowledge in epidemic and pandemic preparedness and response in sub-Saharan Africa. It addresses how social science contributions have evolved over the past decade, explores the ways in which transdisciplinary approaches have been implemented and developed and analyses how social science can help to operationalise transdisciplinarity. The research applies a conceptual framework focusing on the intersection of power, knowledge, and crisis, and adopts a definition of transdisciplinarity that emphasises multi-actor collaboration and the integration and bridging of academic and non-academic knowledge. Three empirical case studies are presented: neglected zoonoses (2012-2014), the West Africa Ebola outbreak (2014-2016), and the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2023). This paper argues that attention to the politics of knowledge and power dynamics in research and policy implementation is key to understanding how social science and transdiciplinarity can be a catalyst for knowledge integration and bridging into effective epidemic preparedness and response systems. The paper identifies three main areas of social science contribution. The first of these is how social science serves as a catalyst, translating, bonding, and connecting diverse disciplinary perspectives. Secondly, social science functions as a nexus, facilitating connections and collaboration across academic and societal boundaries to address complex challenges. Thirdly, the operationalisation of innovative social science methods, such as transdisciplinary modelling, participatory research, rapid response studies, and social media analysis, offers opportunities for generating actionable, context-specific knowledge that bridges science, policy, and practice. The findings advance theoretical and empirical understanding of transdisciplinary approaches, and assess progress towards more contextually-responsive, integrative and bridging strategies.