Projects sub-menu
Compiling resources
Key to the development of i2S has been bringing together resources (concepts, methods, processes and other tools) that are useful for tackling complex societal and environmental problems. This is currently being undertaken through i2Insights blog and repository, with three previous projects laying the foundations:
1. Original resources repository
An original repository of resources was provided on an earlier website (still available at https://i2s.anu.edu.au/resources) and consisted of:
- tools (concepts and methods) for (i) synthesising knowledge across disciplines and stakeholders, (ii) understanding and managing diverse unknowns and (iii) providing research support for policy and practice change (linked to the second version of the i2S theoretical framework, see https://i2insights.org/i2s/i2s-publications/#i2s-theory)
- approaches, which are different ways of tackling complex real world problems, including interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity, systems thinking, action research and more
- journals where new tools can be published
- professional associations and networks where like-minded researchers can band together
- conferences for exchanging ideas and expanding networks.
New resources were added regularly between 2002 and 2021 and publicised bi-monthly in i2S News (see i2S News pre-2022 at https://i2insights.org/i2s/i2s-news/).
Many tools were updated and moved to the Integration and Implementation Insights blog and repository (https://i2Insights.org) to provide one rich consolidated repository. Tools that were duplicates of those available on i2Insights or the i2S Talks YouTube channel were removed. Tools that were superseded were archived.
Journals, professional associations and networks, and conferences were relocated to the website of the ITD-Alliance (https://itd-alliance.org/). These resources are available at https://itd-alliance.org/resources/
2. Dialogue methods proof-of-concept
This project (2010-2011) tested the feasibility of using an on-line forum to increase the number of methods and cases in the 2009 compilation of dialogue methods (McDonald, D., Bammer, G. and Deane P. (2009). Research Integration Using Dialogue Methods, ANU E-Press). This was linked to further developing i2S through an “i2S development drive” proposed in the book “Disciplining Interdisciplinarity”.
The report ‘Developing proof-of-concept for the i2S development drive: Compiling dialogue methods project’ showed that busy researchers are not likely to contribute to web-based forums. This project indirectly led to the establishment of i2Insights blog and repository as another means of compiling resources.
This project was funded by the Drug Policy Modelling Program and the ARC Centre of Excellence in Policing and Security.
3. SESYNC Collaboration
Gabriele Bammer was invited to collaborate with the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center on “Building resources for complex, action-oriented team science.”
SESYNC is the US National Science Foundation-funded National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center at the University of Maryland and was located in Annapolis, USA. The website is now a repository of resources. From 2011 to around 2022 SESYNC funded projects, called pursuits, that would fit into a theme relevant to socio-environmental synthesis. SESYNC funded a theme “Building Resources for Complex, Action-Oriented Team Science” led by Professor Gabriele Bammer.
This is the first time a theme leader had been appointed to:
- work with pursuit leaders and teams to maximize interactions and synergies among the pursuits
- maximize outcomes within and across pursuits
- galvanise the establishment of a community beyond the pursuits that will continue to be active in developing, employing and assessing best practices for research integration and implementation.
The motivator for the SESYNC theme was that progress on socio-environmental and other complex real-world problems requires the integration of a vast range of information types, typically by teams of experts and stakeholders with diverse perspectives and disciplinary knowledge, as well as employing that integrated understanding to underpin effective action. There is a wealth of practices and theories for action-oriented team science, developed by thousands of individuals and teams around the world, but the documentation is widely scattered in the published and grey literatures. That fragmentation means that what is known about research integration and implementation is largely inaccessible.
The theme was the home for three pursuits, which were chosen from applicants to a ‘Request for Proposals (RfP)’ which was issued on 24 December, 2014, with a closing date of 9 March 2015. The RfP elicited well over 100 enquiries and more than 40 proposals with a range of exciting, high-quality ideas for building such resources.
Members of each of the three chosen pursuits met 3-4 times between 2015 and 2018, with publications resulting from the pursuits accessible through the following links for each pursuit:
Two key outcomes for i2S are:
- the development of the Integration and Implementation Insights blog and repository as a major activity of the theme, with pursuit members playing a major role in establishing the blog. i2Insights contributions by pursuit members can be found at https://i2insights.org/tag/partner-sesync/. (Other SESYNC pursuits that Gabriele Bammer participated in are also included in this list.)
- One activity arising from the Co-Creative Capacity pursuit was examining the role of co-creation in Integration and Implementation Sciences (i2S) which lead to the following publication in a special issue of the journal Evidence and Policy arising from: Bammer, G. (2019). Key issues in co-creation with stakeholders when research problems are complex. Evidence and Policy. (Online): https://doi.org/10.1332/174426419X15532579188099