Synthesis centers as critical research infrastructure

August 22, 2017August 31, 2017 Community Member Institutionalisation Author - Andrew Campbell, Collaboration, Complexity, Integration, Interdisciplinarity, Multidisciplinarity, Research impact, Synthesis, team, Transdisciplinarity

Community member post by Andrew Campbell

When we think of research infrastructure, it is easy to associate astronomers with telescopes, oceanographers with research vessels and physicists with particle accelerators.

But what sort of research infrastructure (if any) do we need in order to do more effective multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research on big, complex, ‘wicked’ challenges like climate change or food security?

Some eminent colleagues and I argue in a new paper (Baron et al., 2017) that the answers include: Continue reading →

Responsive research – simple, right? The AskFuse case study

July 11, 2017December 28, 2017 Community Member Case study, Institutionalisation Author - Rosemary Rushmer, Co-production, Collaboration, Journal partner - Evidence and Policy, Policymaking, Research impact, Research implementation

Community member post by Rosemary Rushmer

Researchers are constantly being challenged to demonstrate that their research can make a difference and has impact. Practice and policy partners are similarly challenged to demonstrate that their decisions and activity are informed by the evidence base. It sounds like all we need to do is join the two groups together – simple, right?

In Fuse (the Centre for Translational Research in Public Health, www.fuse.ac.uk) we wanted to do exactly that. We wanted to supply the evidence that end-users said they wanted (supply and demand), and make it easy for them to access and use research evidence.

Yet, we knew that current approaches to supplying evidence (briefs, guidelines, publications) do not work as well as we once thought they did. It needed a re-think… Continue reading →

Keys to transformation: Interactions of values, rules and knowledge

June 20, 2017July 4, 2017 Community Member Concepts Adaptation, Author - Matthew Colloff, Author - Michael Dunlop, Author - Russell Gorddard, Author - Russell Wise, Decision context, Knowledge, Research impact, Research implementation, Rules, Values, Vrk heuristic

Community member post by Russell Gorddard, Matthew Colloff, Russell Wise and Michael Dunlop

Adapting to climate change can require profound alterations in environmental management and policy. However the social context of a decision process limits options and resists change, often dooming attempts to adapt to climate change even before they begin. How can decision makers in policy and management more effectively see the institutional and social water they swim in, in order to better drive change?

Values, rules and knowledge (vrk) provide a useful heuristic to help decision makers analyze how the social system shapes their decision context. Put simply, decisions require:

knowledge of options and their implications
values to assess the options
rules that enable implementation.

gorddard_values-rules-knowledge — Figure adapted from original in Gordardd *et al*. (2016)

Viewing the decision context as an interconnected system of values, rules and knowledge can reveal limits to adaptation and suggest strategies for addressing them (Gorddard et al. 2016).

Values are the set of ethical precepts that determine the way people select actions and evaluate events.

Rules are both rules-in-use (norms, practices, habits, heuristics) and rules-in-form (regulations, laws, directives).

Knowledge is both evidence-based (scientific and technical) knowledge and experiential knowledge.

Decision context is the subset of interacting subsystems that are at play in a particular decision process. One core idea is that the decision context may exclude relevant values, knowledge or rules from being considered in decisions. Adaptation may therefore involve change in the decision context.

russell-gorddard — Russell Gorddard (biography)

matt-colloff — Matthew Colloff (biography)

michael-dunlop — Michael Dunlop (biography)

Continue reading →

Impacts of social learning in transformative research

May 16, 2017May 30, 2017 Community Member Processes Author - Flurina Schneider, Author - Julie Zaehringer, Author - Lara Lundsgaard-Hansen, Author - Thoumthone Vongvisouk, Co-production, Cross-cultural, Research impact, Social learning, Stakeholders, Transdisciplinarity

Community member post by Flurina Schneider, Lara M. Lundsgaard-Hansen, Thoumthone Vongvisouk, and Julie G. Zähringer

How can science truly support sustainability transformations?

In our research projects we often find that the very process of co-producing knowledge with stakeholders has transformative impacts. This requires careful design and implementation. Knowledge co-production in transdisciplinary and other research leads to social learning and can make a difference in the lives of those involved. Continue reading →

Going beyond ‘context matters’: A lens to bridge knowledge and policy

April 25, 2017May 9, 2017 Community Member Concepts Author - Leandro Echt, Author - Vanesa Weyrauch, Change, Complexity, Context, Culture, Decision context, Funding, Governance, Governmental institutions, Leadership, Policymaking, Politics, Power, Research impact, Research implementation, Time

Community member post by Leandro Echt and Vanesa Weyrauch

The role and importance of context in the interaction between research and policy is widely recognized. It features in general literature on the subject, in case studies on how research has successfully influenced policy (or not), and in practitioners´ reflections on the results of their work. But how does context specifically matter? Can we move beyond generic statements?

vanesa-weyrauch — Vanesa Weyrauch (biography)

To find some answers to these complex questions, Politics & Ideas and the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) embarked on a joint knowledge systematization effort, combining a literature review with in-depth interviews with 48 experts and policymakers, mostly in developing countries.

What do we mean by context?

Our first challenge was to define what we concretely mean by context. Continue reading →

A primer on policy entrepreneurs

April 18, 2017May 2, 2017 Community Member Processes Advocacy coalition, Author - Jo Luetjens, Change, Context, Framing, Interests, Narratives, Networks, Policy entrepreneur, Policymaking, Research impact, Research implementation, Risk, Social acuity, Window of opportunity

Community member post by Jo Luetjens

In the world of public policy, it is interesting to consider how and why particular policy ideas catch on. What is it that makes some ideas succeed and others fail? By examining the role of policy entrepreneurs we may come closer to an answer. In making policy change happen, what – and who – are policy entrepreneurs? Why are they important? What strategies do they use to effect change? And finally, what are the attributes of a successful policy entrepreneur?

The what

Policy entrepreneurs are energetic people who work with others in and around policymaking venues to promote significant policy change. Continue reading →

Integration and Implementation Insights

Research resources for understanding and acting on complex real-world problems

Research impact

Synthesis centers as critical research infrastructure

Responsive research – simple, right? The AskFuse case study

Keys to transformation: Interactions of values, rules and knowledge

Going beyond ‘context matters’: A lens to bridge knowledge and policy

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