| 1. |
- Fazey, Ioan, et al.
(författare)
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Transforming knowledge systems for life on Earth : Visions of future systems and how to get there
- 2020
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Ingår i: Energy Research & Social Science. - : Elsevier. - 2214-6296 .- 2214-6326. ; 70
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Formalised knowledge systems, including universities and research institutes, are important for contemporary societies. They are, however, also arguably failing humanity when their impact is measured against the level of progress being made in stimulating the societal changes needed to address challenges like climate change. In this research we used a novel futures-oriented and participatory approach that asked what future envisioned knowledge systems might need to look like and how we might get there. Findings suggest that envisioned future systems will need to be much more collaborative, open, diverse, egalitarian, and able to work with values and systemic issues. They will also need to go beyond producing knowledge about our world to generating wisdom about how to act within it. To get to envisioned systems we will need to rapidly scale methodological innovations, connect innovators, and creatively accelerate learning about working with intractable challenges. We will also need to create new funding schemes, a global knowledge commons, and challenge deeply held assumptions. To genuinely be a creative force in supporting longevity of human and non-human life on our planet, the shift in knowledge systems will probably need to be at the scale of the enlightenment and speed of the scientific and technological revolution accompanying the second World War. This will require bold and strategic action from governments, scientists, civic society and sustained transformational intent.
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| 2. |
- Biggs, Reinette, et al.
(författare)
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Social-ecological change : insights from the Southern African Program on Ecosystem Change and Society
- 2022
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Ingår i: Ecosystems and People. - : Informa UK Limited. - 2639-5908 .- 2639-5916. ; 18:1, s. 447-468
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Social-ecological systems (SES) research has emerged as an important area of sustainability science, informing and supporting pressing issues of transformation towards more sustainable, just and equitable futures. To date, much SES research has been done in or from the Global North, where the challenges and contexts for supporting sustainability transformations are substantially different from the Global South. This paper synthesises emerging insights on SES dynamics that can inform actions and advance research to support sustainability transformations specifically in the southern African context. The paper draws on work linked to members of the Southern African Program on Ecosystem Change and Society (SAPECS), a leading SES research network in the region, synthesizing key insights with respect to the five core themes of SAPECS: (i) transdisciplinary and engaged research, (ii) ecosystem services and human well-being, (iii) governance institutions and management practices, (iv) spatial relationships and cross-scale connections, and (v) regime shifts, traps and transformations. For each theme, we focus on insights that are particularly novel, interesting or important in the southern African context, and reflect on key research gaps and emerging frontiers for SES research in the region going forward. Such place-based insights are important for understanding the variation in SES dynamics around the world, and are crucial for informing a context-sensitive global agenda to foster sustainability transformations at local to global scales.
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| 3. |
- Biggs, Reinette, et al.
(författare)
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The Southern African Program on Ecosystem Change and Society : an emergent community of practice
- 2023
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Ingår i: Ecosystems and People. - : Informa UK Limited. - 2639-5908 .- 2639-5916. ; 19:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sustainability-focused research networks and communities of practice have emerged as a key response and strategy to build capacity and knowledge to support transformation towards more sustainable, just and equitable futures. This paper synthesises insights from the development of a community of practice on social-ecological systems (SES) research in southern Africa over the past decade, linked to the international Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS). This community consists of a network of researchers who carry out place-based SES research in the southern African region. They interact through various cross-cutting working groups and also host a variety of public colloquia and student and practitioner training events. Known as the Southern African Program on Ecosystem Change and Society (SAPECS), its core objectives are to: (1) derive new approaches and empirical insights on SES dynamics in the southern African context; (2) have a tangible impact by mainstreaming knowledge into policy and practice; and (3) grow the community of practice engaged in SES research and governance, including researchers, students and practitioners. This paper reflects on experiences in building the SAPECS community, with the aim of supporting the development of similar networks elsewhere in the world, particularly in the Global South.
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| 4. |
- Chambers, Josephine M., et al.
(författare)
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Co-productive agility and four collaborative pathways to sustainability transformations
- 2022
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Ingår i: Global Environmental Change. - : Elsevier BV. - 0959-3780 .- 1872-9495. ; 72
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Co-production, the collaborative weaving of research and practice by diverse societal actors, is argued to play an important role in sustainability transformations. Yet, there is still poor understanding of how to navigate the tensions that emerge in these processes. Through analyzing 32 initiatives worldwide that co-produced knowledge and action to foster sustainable social-ecological relations, we conceptualize 'co-productive agility' as an emergent feature vital for turning tensions into transformations. Co-productive agility refers to the willingness and ability of diverse actors to iteratively engage in reflexive dialogues to grow shared ideas and actions that would not have been possible from the outset. It relies on embedding knowledge production within processes of change to constantly recognize, reposition, and navigate tensions and opportunities. Co-productive agility opens up multiple pathways to transformation through: (1) elevating marginalized agendas in ways that maintain their integrity and broaden struggles for justice; (2) questioning dominant agendas by engaging with power in ways that challenge assumptions, (3) navigating conflicting agendas to actively transform interlinked paradigms, practices, and structures; (4) exploring diverse agendas to foster learning and mutual respect for a plurality of perspectives. We explore six process considerations that vary by these four pathways and provide a framework to enable agility in sustainability transformations. We argue that research and practice spend too much time closing down debate over different agendas for change - thereby avoiding, suppressing, or polarizing tensions, and call for more efforts to facilitate better interactions among different agendas.
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| 5. |
- Chambers, Josephine M., et al.
(författare)
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Six modes of co-production for sustainability
- 2021
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Ingår i: Nature Sustainability. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2398-9629. ; 4, s. 983-996
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Co-production includes diverse aims, terminologies and practices. This study explores such diversity by mapping differences in how 32 initiatives from 6 continents co-produce diverse outcomes for the sustainable development of ecosystems at local to global scales. The promise of co-production to address complex sustainability challenges is compelling. Yet, co-production, the collaborative weaving of research and practice, encompasses diverse aims, terminologies and practices, with poor clarity over their implications. To explore this diversity, we systematically mapped differences in how 32 initiatives from 6 continents co-produce diverse outcomes for the sustainable development of ecosystems at local to global scales. We found variation in their purpose for utilizing co-production, understanding of power, approach to politics and pathways to impact. A cluster analysis identified six modes of co-production: (1) researching solutions; (2) empowering voices; (3) brokering power; (4) reframing power; (5) navigating differences and (6) reframing agency. No mode is ideal; each holds unique potential to achieve particular outcomes, but also poses unique challenges and risks. Our analysis provides a heuristic tool for researchers and societal actors to critically explore this diversity and effectively navigate trade-offs when co-producing sustainability.
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| 6. |
- Cockburn, Jessica, et al.
(författare)
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Understanding the context of multifaceted collaborations for social-ecological sustainability : a methodology for cross-case analysis
- 2020
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Ingår i: Ecology & Society. - 1708-3087. ; 25:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There are limited approaches available that enable researchers and practitioners to conduct multiple case study comparisons of complex cases of collaboration in natural resource management and conservation. The absence of such tools is felt despite the fact that over the past several years a great deal of literature has reviewed the state of the science regarding collaboration. Much of this work is based on case studies of collaboration and highlights the importance of contextual variables, further complicating efforts to compare outcomes across case-study areas and the likely failure of approaches based on one size fits all generalizations. We expand on the standard overview of the field by identifying some of the challenges associated with managing complex systems with multiple resources, multiple stakeholder groups with diverse knowledges/understandings, and multiple objectives across multiple scales, i.e., multifaceted collaborative initiatives. We then elucidate how a realist methodology, within a critical realist framing, can support efforts to compare multiple case studies of such multifaceted initiatives. The methodology we propose considers the importance and impact of context for the origins, purpose, and success of multifaceted collaborative natural resource management and conservation initiatives in social-ecological systems.
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| 7. |
- Laycock Pedersen, Rebecca, et al.
(författare)
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Distinguishing transdisciplinary (and) action research in sustainability science : a comparative systematic-narrative hybrid literature review
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- There are many socially engaged research modes in sustainability science. The main ones are action research and transdisciplinary research. There is also transdisciplinary action research, a field that seems to combine the two. This paper aims to provide a better understanding of the differences between these research modes in the context of sustainability science to help potential users to determine appropriate research mode(s) to fulfil their purposes. To do so, we asked three research questions: (i) What are the aims of these research modes? (ii) What are some methods used to fulfil the aims of these research modes? (iii) In what empirical domain are the different approaches being used today? Using a comparative systematic-narrative hybrid literature review and bibliometric studies the paper attempts to fulfil the set aim. In total, we analysed 1487 articles in-depth, of which 633 utilised the action research mode, 787 used transdisciplinary research, and 67 used transdisciplinary action research. There are a lot of similarities between the research modes, e.g. they all use traditional qualitative social science research methods, engage the same types of stakeholders, and address the same sustainability issues. But the differences relate to the aims of the research modes. Researchers employing action research seem to be more intent on achieving action in the practice domain and knowledge from that action for both practitioners and researchers (action-for-knowledge). In contrast, researchers employing transdisciplinary research rather seem to be more intent on producing new, relevant and shared knowledge for an action that is later undertaken in the practice domain (knowledge-for-action). Although this might be a premature conclusion, researchers employing transdisciplinary action research seem to be more intent on achieving action based on integrative knowledge (integrative knowledge-for-action). Finally, some advice regarding the choice of research mode for a particular purpose is presented.
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| 8. |
- McGarry, Dylan
(författare)
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The Pluriversity for Stuck Humxns : A Queer EcoPedagogy & Decolonial School
- 2021
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Ingår i: Queer Ecopedagogies. - Cham : Springer. ; , s. 183-218
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Pluriversity for stuck humxns is an exploratory dialogue between early career researchers and established researchers. It responds to the concern that dominant forms of knowledge production are not assisting us to move towards life affirming ways of being and that alternatives are possible. The production of this chapter is one of many new acts towards realising other modes of being and becoming unstuck in scholar activist practice. The chapter begins with an invitation in the form of a poem by Lena Weber, and the resulting text is a response to the poem from multiple contributors from around the world, who imagine transgressive and progressive ‘departments’ of the Pluriversity. Situated amongst the impulses of queer ecopedagogy and drawing on imagination to understand and play with multiple (or diverse) knowledges, the authors explore what nurturing institutions for scholarly training and life may look like, and what might be possible and in fact are possible through our collaborative experience in the act of creating the Pluriversity for stuck humxns. Itself an intersectional being, this chapter is a queer inquiry dedicated to challenging and reframing norms and dogma and to shake up the boundaries of categories and narrowly and often dogmatically employed concepts. The authors break open pedagogy in ways that allowed them to question research practice and instead conceive of a ‘research worthy of their longing’.
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| 9. |
- Sellberg, My M., et al.
(författare)
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Towards a caring transdisciplinary research practice : navigating science, society and self
- 2021
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Ingår i: Ecosystems and People. - : Informa UK Limited. - 2639-5908 .- 2639-5916. ; 17:1, s. 292-305
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Transdisciplinary research that bridges science and society is needed to address the complex social-ecological sustainability challenges we are facing. However, many transdisciplinary researchers grapple with balancing the competing demands of scientific rigour and excellence, societal impact and engagement, and self-care. This is especially evident in the growing literature by early-career researchers describing the challenges of pursuing a transdisciplinary research career in social-ecological sustainability research. To guide discussion and reflection towards a flourishing transdisciplinary research practice, we synthesized our own and other researchers' experiences of using a transdisciplinary approach and formulated the heuristic of the 'Triple-S': caring for Science, Society and Self. This heuristic adds the frequently overlooked personal aspects of transdisciplinary research. Current dominant academic structures, cultures and metrics of success are not supporting a balanced and flourishing transdisciplinary research practice, but rather creating and exacerbating the trade-offs between these three aspects. As an example of a solutions-oriented approach, we developed a theory of change to address the changes we see are necessary to enable a transdisciplinary research practice in line with the Triple-S. We hope that this will foster academic environments where transdisciplinary research practice can flourish and the next generation of researchers are not burnt-out, but empowered.
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