Résumé
Despite growing recognition of evaluation as a vital driver of reflection, learning, and unlearning in transdisciplinary research (TdR) and science–policy interfaces (SPI), how, with whom, and when such evaluation should be carried out remains a matter of considerable debate. Against this background, our work seeks to clarify both the potential benefits and the persistent challenges of evaluating TdR and SPI, with a focus on marine and coastal contexts. We screened an initial corpus of 3,722 peer-reviewed papers published globally. From this sample we identified 16 studies that explicitly applied and explained evaluation approaches to TdR or SPI in marine or coastal settings. These studies serve as the basis of our conference presentation. Across this sample, existing evaluations tend to emphasise short-term outcomes rather than longer-term impacts. Although qualitative methods have generated valuable contextual insights, there remains a need for more systematic and mixed-method approaches to distinguish project-specific effects from external influences. Participatory evaluation, despite its strong conceptual alignment with TdR and SPI, remains underutilised, even though it could enhance legitimacy, collaboration, and transformative potential. While evaluations frequently demonstrate outcomes such as knowledge exchange and network-building, these rarely translate into sustained collaboration, collective action, or tangible environmental change. Moreover, few studies critically assess the evaluation frameworks themselves or capture the long-term transformative impacts of projects. Our methodological approach, though limited in scope at this stage of the project, provided important insights into diverse evaluation practices and how research evaluation can contribute to transformative change. These initial findings form the foundation for a more comprehensive and comparative analysis across a more diverse set of social-ecological systems. Building on our results, we also aim to develop a tailored evaluation framework for the BRIDGES research programme – a 10-year inter- and transdisciplinary initiative in the southwestern Indian Ocean on fisheries transformations and ocean conservation.