Between studying change and contributing to change, sustainability science seeks both to analytically understand sustainability problems, but also to design interventions that can contribute solution-options to these problems. However, knowledge about how to intervene in order to reach a desirable vision (i.e., transformation knowledge) is typically missing. Especially how to deliberately engage with values as places of intervention (leverage points), as proposed by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, remains a critical knowledge gap.

LEVER hypothesizes that the methods of traditional analytical frameworks that consider change and values are not sufficient to address sustainability transformation. It assumes that new transformative methods are necessary to generate transformation knowledge. To fill these gaps, LEVER aims to critically develop and apply a transformative theory and practice to support the (co-)production of transformation knowledge, including a focus on transformation knowledge necessary to unleash values as leverage points for sustainability transformation. To this end, LEVER weaves mode-2 and mode-1 science. It combines transdisciplinary research with empirical methods and experiments with novel transformative tools.