Transformative collaborative geoscience environments that foster effective, interdisciplinary, and collaborative research and learning, offer powerful and immersive opportunities to advance geoscience in a globally relevant direction. These collaborative environments are essential for enabling the transfer and application of knowledge across the various geoscience disciplines, especially promoting mutual learning among participants at all education and career stages. However, collaborative dynamics that bring together diverse cultural perspectives, scientific approaches, and lived experiences can also reinforce barriers to participation and perpetuate existing inequities. For example, many geoscientists and those in the pipeline, particularly novice learners and early-career scientists, continue to feel like “community outsiders” when part of geoscience field teams. This raises a critical question: what practices and skills can geoscience teams adopt to ensure equitable participation and build truly collaborative communities?  

This presentation draws on the author’s collective research to reimagine local and international collaborative geoscience through the lens of a community of practice (CoP). Using qualitative data that includes reflections, interviews, observations, artifacts, and pre-post quantitative surveys from an international subduction zone CoP engaged in interdisciplinary field data collection, this work examines the relational, structural, and cultural dynamics that shape and sustain CoPs in collaborative, team-based fieldwork. Findings from this study highlight three foundational constructs for effective collaboration within international geoscience CoP: joint enterprise that brings together members through shared purpose and reification; shared repertoire that comprises of evolving resources, coordinative practices, and inclusive social infrastructure; and geoscience identity formation where individuals develop a sense of belonging and value within CoP is shaped by how individuals perceive their roles, contributions, and value within the CoP (formation of self), as well as members’ ability to align with and navigate community norms and structures, including negotiating boundaries and adapting behavior in response to the CoP’s evolving goals and values.   

In addition, this presentation will consider the strengths and limitations of the various constructs to help geoscience teams expand their “toolkit” of best and flexible foundations for practice and learning within CoP.