This background paper introduces our plans for collaboration, learning and action within the Transforming Education for Sustainable Futures (TESF) research network. It sits alongside others addressing the conceptual foundations of TESF, the role of education for sustainable livelihoods and cities, the development of values-based indicators for SDG 4.7, co-production research methods, and other areas relevant to our work. At the time of publication, the COVID-19 pandemic is leading many of us to experience increased vulnerability, precarity and uncertainty. In this shifting landscape, progress towards reorienting education systems for more socially and environmentally sustainable futures requires us to focus on processes of collaboration, learning and adaptation in order to capitalise on distributed capacities and emergent windows of opportunity. Mobilising capacities is key to these efforts.