“Living in the Discomfort”: Embodied Professional Learning for Transdisciplinary Higher Education

Transdisciplinary higher education (TDHE) requires educators to integrate diverse forms of knowledge in their teaching and learning; however, professional learning pathways rarely support the embodied approaches essential to achieve this aim. Despite growing recognition that embodied knowledge sits at the heart of teaching and learning, educator learning continues to be dominated by disembodied approaches, limiting educators’ capacity to navigate the complex and dynamic environments characteristic of TDHE. This paper examines a professional learning workshop codesigned and implemented across two international TDHE institutions to support educators in developing capacities for embodied approaches. We used reflexive thematic analysis of participant reflections and observations to demonstrate how an explicit focus on embodiment fostered four core sensibilities: (1) transdisciplinary integration, (2) embodied translation, (3) embodied experimentation, and (4) embodied expansion. Hopwood’s conceptualisation of “attuning” was later applied, demonstrating how these sensibilities developed through the holistic processes of noticing, attending, and making sense of emerging practice, while demonstrating how the workshop design functioned as an extended attuning sequence. Our findings suggest that effective professional learning in TDHE should focus on embodiment, fostering educator sensibilities through embodied experiences and supported experimentation within safe, collaborative environments, and fostering relational expertise through transdisciplinary engagement. The workshop supported an initial attuning that opened pathways for continued professional learning, offering important considerations for the design and facilitation of professional learning in TDHE contexts.