Designing and implementing solution-oriented team science initiatives—a chronic pain example

Large, collaborative projects that combine researchers from multiple scientific disciplines have become an integral part of the scientific endeavor. While transdisciplinary team science projects hold great potential, they also come with a unique set of challenges compared to monodisciplinary projects. The Science of Team Science (SciTS) field has developed multiple conceptual models and frameworks that guide the design, implementation, and evaluation of team science initiatives to maximize their potential for making breakthrough discoveries and creating solutions for complex problems. While these conceptual models contain a trove of valuable information for successful team science, guidance on how to effectively implement them is lacking. Here, we describe our experiences with implementing conceptual SciTS models to design and establish the REstoring JOINt health and function to reduce pain (RE-JOIN) consortium, a transdisciplinary team science project aimed at elucidating the mechanisms underlying chronic joint pain, with a solution-oriented focus. We highlight our experiences and challenges with implementing existing conceptual models and provide practical tips and guidance for designing and implementing solution-oriented team science initiatives.