Author-tag: Alison Deviney

Six key steps for stakeholder engagement

By Khara Grieger, Kimberly Bourne, Alison Deviney and Nourou Barry.

authors_grieger_bourne_deviney_barry
1. Khara Grieger (biography)
2. Kimberly Bourne (biography)
3. Alison Deviney (biography)
4. Nourou Barry (biography)

How can you systematically plan stakeholder engagement? What are the key issues that need to be considered? What guiding questions can help? 

STEP 1: Identify and clarify engagement goals

Spend time at the beginning of the engagement process to clearly identify why you are engaging with stakeholders. Common goals include sharing knowledge or information; collecting insights, perspectives, or information from stakeholders; and co-creating or co-designing solutions. Other potential goals may include building trust and improving transparency, enhancing collaborations and partnerships, and improving the implementation of decisions.

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Using field experiences to generate transdisciplinary research questions

By Kimberly Bourne and Alison Deviney.

authors_kimberly-bourne_alison-deviney
1. Kimberly Bourne (biography)
2. Alison Deviney (biography)

What are the benefits of field experiences for large convergence research centers? How can they be used to generate new research questions that cross disciplines and benefit local communities?

We draw on a two-day retreat centered around a geographically specific issue to provide lessons that may be useful for others. The retreat combined field excursions and a brainstorming workshop to generate new research questions. An additional benefit was that it positively changed the power dynamics in the group.

In our case, the large convergence research center focuses on innovations for sustainable phosphorus management. A central field site is in South Florida, USA, where phosphorus pollution from agricultural and urban areas threatens a wetlands national park (the Everglades).

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