This initiative is based on connecting and scaling local innovations in Southern Transylvania, Romania, through a transdisciplinary research engagement in the area, in different words it is about creating a network of local innovations to pave Transylvania’s pathway to sustainability through a science-society partnership. The main goal is to create a safe interfacing space that supports and connects those engaged in transformation in Transylvania. The broader objectives are: i) social learning that leads to local empowerment; ii) an impulse for societal transformation recognising the efforts of the local practitioners of change. The main intervention points are the relationships between practitioners of change in Southern Transylvania and the relationships at the level of rural communities; and surfacing underlying held values. Two research projects contributed to strengthening the network of sustainability-related initiatives in Transylvania: - Sustainable landscapes in Central Romania: Transdisciplinary research agenda to foster sustainable development in Eastern Europe, with particular emphasis on ancient agricultural landscapes in Central Romania. The project involved natural scientists, social scientists and regional stakeholders. The research team mapped biodiversity and the ecosystem services generated by it, and identified formal and informal institutions that can provide leverage points for enabling sustainable land use practices. - Leverage points for sustainability transformation: Transdisciplinary co-creation with more than 30 local NGOs and movements to lever local contributions to sustainability in the direction of the shared vision for Transylvania’s future.

Rural, long-term and consistent transdisciplinary engagement, locally deliberated and driven transformations. Improved social-relationships among agents of change.