We develop a twofold approach to the development and utilization of policy-relevant knowledge. First, we propose that moving beyond competition to focus on compatibility may promote more effective interdisciplinary collaborations in the context of complex social-ecological problems. Second, we propose that attention to the policy affordances of a set of compatible hypotheses may inform the development of a more holistic and robust set of policy options. This twofold approach is modeled in our methodological approach, in which we have sought to discover how the concepts each of us have been developing are compatible with each other, and what affordances they might offer for improving translation across the science-policy boundary. We illustrate and apply our approach to the complex milieu surrounding the issue of lead paint toxicity. In addition, we draw on findings from focus groups with researchers involved in collaborations at the science-policy boundary to develop recommendations for productive and policy-relevant interdisciplinary collaboration.
Search Results
Paul D. Hirsch and Valerie A. Luzadis
In Nature and Culture
- Published (Print):
- 01 Mar 2013
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 97–118 (22 total)
Nancy Tuana
Research on human-environment interactions often neglects the resources of the humanities. Hurricane Katrina and the resulting levee breaches in New Orleans offer a case study on the need for inclusion of the humanities in the study of human-environment interactions, particularly the resources they provide in examining ethics and value concerns. Methods from the humanities, when developed in partnership with those from the sciences and social sciences, can provide a more accurate, effective, and just response to the scientific and technological challenges we face as a global community.
In Nature and Culture
- Published (Print):
- 01 Sep 2007
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 210–222 (13 total)
Ronlyn Duncan
The question posed in this article is how shifts in governance ushered in by the sustainability paradigm are reshaping knowledge governance. Drawing on constructivist theories of knowledge, I examine the tension between the sustainability mandate to open up knowledge making to local knowledge, and conventional science policy practice that would see it excluded. I present a water management case study from New Zealand's South Island region of Canterbury, where communities are involved in establishing catchment nutrient limits to manage land use and water quality. It is concluded that although local knowledge was embraced within the knowledge-making process, the pursuit of epistemic authority led to its recalibration, aggregation, and standardization. As such, it was stripped of its complexity. This research highlights the role of politics in anchoring the linear knowledge governance model in place and the challenge for supplanting it.
In Nature and Culture
- Published (Print):
- 01 Jun 2013
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 205–225 (21 total)
Jeroen P. van der Sluijs
Uncertainty complexity and dissent make climate change hard to tackle with normal scientific procedures. In a post-normal perspective the normal science task of "getting the facts right" is still regarded as necessary but no longer as fully feasible nor as sufficient to interface science and policy. It needs to be complemented with a task of exploring the relevance of deep uncertainty and ignorance that limit our ability to establish objective, reliable, and valid facts. This article explores the implications of this notion for the climate science policy interface. According to its political configuration the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) adopted a "speaking consensus to power" approach that sees uncertainty and dissent as a problematic lack of unequivocalness (multiple contradictory truths that need to be mediated into a consensus). This approach can be distinguished from two other interface strategies: the "speaking truth to power approach," seeing uncertainties as a temporary lack of perfection in the knowledge (truth with error bars) and the "working deliberatively within imperfections" approach, accepting uncertainty and scientific dissent as facts of life (irreducible ignorance) of which the policy relevance needs be explored explicitly. The article recommends more openness for dissent and explicit reflection on ignorance in IPCC process and reporting.
In Nature and Culture
- Published (Print):
- 01 Jun 2012
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 174–195 (22 total)
Green Out of the Blue, or How (Not) to Deal with Overfed Oceans
An Analytical Review of Coastal Eutrophication and Social Conflict
Alix Levain, Carole Barthélémy, Magalie Bourblanc, Jean-Marc Douguet, Agathe Euzen, and Yves Souchon
public action ( Larson 1996 ; Nixon 2009 ), which has provoked endless debates over science-policy interactions but also over the lock-in effects of sociotechnical systems, in which interactions among technological, social, and managerial components of a
In Environment and Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Sep 2020
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 115–142 (28 total)
Editorial
Mobility Studies, a Transdisciplinary Field
Dagmar Schäfer
can give these issues a voice. In an article on science, geopolitics, and research assessment, Tereza Stöckelová recently observed that “science policies and science studies largely share an understanding of scientific knowledge and objects as
Policentrismo y su relevancia para el análisis socioterritorial
Características, enfoques y dimensiones analíticas
Gabriela De la Mora-De la Mora
.2016.027.010 Chaffin , B.C. , Garmenstani , A.S. , Gosnell , H. & Craig , R.K. ( 2016 ). Institutional networks and adaptive water governance in the Klamath River Basin . Science & Policy , 5 . Clement , F. ( 2010 ). Analyzing
In Regions and Cohesion
- Published (Print):
- 01 Mar 2017
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 69–86 (18 total)
Shobita Parthasarathy
science policy, Science: The Endless Frontier. Written in 1945, Bush's report rejected the Manhattan Project's mission-driven approach and instead argued that unfettered scientific inquiry would produce greater societal benefit. He noted: The
In Democratic Theory
- Published (Print):
- 01 Dec 2020
- Article Type:
- Article Commentary
- Pages:
- 104–109 (6 total)
Introduction
Oceans
Amelia Moore and Jerry K. Jacka
through relational processes rather than being fixed and stable, upsets dualisms of nature and culture, and attributes agency to humans as well as other-than-human beings. As such, bycatch is brought into being by fisheries science, policy, and management
In Environment and Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Sep 2020
- Article Type:
- Introduction
- Pages:
- 1–4 (4 total)
Adaptation Lived as a Story
Why We Should Be Careful about the Stories We Use to Tell Other Stories
Nicole Klenk
-based policy making in adaptation governance, the evidentiary standard at the science-policy interface most commonly performed through knowledge assessments (e.g., the IPCC) seems to leave little space for “hearing” polyvocal adaptation stories. The challenge
In Nature and Culture
- Published (Print):
- 01 Dec 2018
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 332–355 (24 total)