Disturbing work disturbing research: Extending cross-national comparison to trans-border theorising. This paper draws on my recent cross-national comparative research, with colleagues in Finland and Germany, which has examined the way flexible capitalism is disturbing work and prompting transforming politics. It reflects on our process of research conducted largely via email across two continents and the implications this process had for the way we built knowledge about changes in work, learning and politics. I argue that researching 'Disturbing Work' disturbed our research. It pushed us to move beyond notions of cross-national comparative study and develop methodologies that were sensitive to cultural differences . It also led us to develop and refine 'trans-border theorising' as a distinct methodological strategy which consciously and explicitly deployed cultural differences as a means of building knowledge.