Constructing collaborative communities of researchers in the environmental domain. A case study of interdisciplinary research between legal scholars and policy analysts

The article offers an analysis of the interactions between legal and policy science researchers within a European project on flood risk management using a “Policy Arrangement Approach” (PAA). While interdisciplinary research is increasingly becoming a ‘must’ in environmental governance, under what conditions is cooperation possible and desirable? Our analysis shows that the PAA is not mobilized as an interdisciplinary method, but offers a framework for researchers from different disciplines to learn to work together on a subject such as flooding, requiring interdisciplinary insights. The paper shows the steps that are progressively put in place to reach a common language and reformulate issues by benefitting from each other’s view and approaches. The article concludes by drawing attention to new means of knowledge production relating to so-called “messy” or “wicked” problems, such as environmental issues. Within this framework, interdisciplinary work is not considered to be a pre-condition for the study, but rather the result of the research process itself. The analysis draws attention to the actual (working) conditions established to create an interdisciplinary community of flooding practices by challenging disciplinary borders.     

Practising interdisciplinarity in the interplay between disciplines: experiences of established researchers

This paper focuses on the practice of interdisciplinary research and its relationship with disciplines within the context of sustainability research. Disciplines are defined as institutions, i.e. conventions, norms or formally sanctioned rules that coordinate human action [Vatn, A., 2005. Institutions and the Environment. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK). These institutions coordinate the practice of research. The central claim of this study is that interdisciplinary research occurs at the interplay between disciplinary institutions. These ideas are developed through the analysis of nine qualitative interviews conducted with established researchers who share an interest in studying issues of environmental sustainability. Specifically, this analysis identifies the motives of researchers who engage in interdisciplinary research and discusses the key characteristics of interdisciplinary research practice. The findings suggest that interdisciplinary research practice relies on disciplinary institutions as points of theoretical and methodological reference. Yet, the paper points at tensions that occur between the practice of interdisciplinary research and the practice of more traditional disciplinary research.     

Unruly pathogens: eliciting values for environmental risk in the context of heterogeneous expert knowledge

This paper examines some of the theoretical and methodological issues arising from the process of conceptualising and eliciting values for environmental risk in the context of heterogeneous expert knowledge. Drawing on the experience of a recent research project examining the relationship between livestock farming systems and microbial watercourse pollution the paper reflects critically upon efforts to develop an interdisciplinary assessment of the factors that may affect the loss of potential pathogens from agricultural land to water courses as the basis for targeting high risk fields and farms. The paper describes the procedures for designing the natural and cultural parameters that surround microbial risks and the issues that are raised for making whole system assessments workable based on contrasting and unstable systems of disciplinary insight. Situated within claims about the need for generating reliable and widely applicable assessments of environmental risk the paper suggests that interdisciplinary working raises important issues about the role of ‘uncertain’ knowledge in the management of ‘known’ risks.     

Scientist and stakeholder perspectives of transdisciplinary research: Early attitudes,expectations, and tensions

Transdisciplinary approaches are becoming increasingly adopted as a way to research complex socio-environmental problems. Conceptually, transdisciplinarity aims to foster meaningful knowledge co-production through integrative and participatory processes that bring together diverse actors, disciplines, and knowledge bases. In practice, transdisciplinarity is more ambiguous. While there is a growing body of literature on such approaches, there remains no widely-accepted definition, concrete framework, or empirical strategy for how to carry out a transdisciplinary project. We propose that this lack of explicit structure and entrenched meaning leaves space for transdisciplinary approaches to be shaped by the evolving network of participating scientists and stakeholders, according to their perspectives of the approach and what it embodies. Here, we examine the perspectives of a diverse group of actors (n = 42) embarking on a 10-year transdisciplinary research project focused on building resilience to natural hazards and disasters in New Zealand. We present the findings of qualitative surveys and group interviews that investigate stakeholders’ and scientists’ early perspectives of transdisciplinary, or co-created, research. The study represents the first stage of longitudinal research that will continue over the course of the project. Results show that early actors in the project share an overall consistent understanding of co-created research. Participants described a process that integrated diverse people and knowledge; created benefits on both a social and personal level; fostered clear, two-way dialogue; and overcame pragmatic and intrinsic challenges. Collectively, participants agreed with adopting transdisciplinary approaches to natural hazard, risk, and resilience research, with stakeholders showing a stronger degree of agreement than scientists. While attitudes towards transdisciplinarity were overall positive, a number of underlying conflicts emerged in regards to carrying out new modes of knowledge production within traditional social and institutional structures. These conflicts result in a tension that is felt by actors involved in transdisciplinary projects early on, and in some cases, influences perception of their ability to fully participate in such an approach. Evaluating actor perspectives and expectations early in the transdisciplinary process can give insight into how attitudes, expectations, and conflicts might shape transdisciplinary efforts, and can provide relevant parameters for assessing change over time.     

生态系统健康评价新视角及其应用

对人类生存和发展所依赖的生态系统之健康性的讨论,迄今已引起多个学科的重视。到目前为止,对几乎所有的生态系统类型都各自进行过健康评价。但是,由于生态系统健康研究是一个新领域,有关它的概念、评价等方面存在各种争论,故急需一种更能被普遍接受的、用来定义、分析、评价生态系统健康的理论与方法。论文阐述了生态系统健康的内涵以及评价生态系统健康的基础前提,依据统计学理论,通过因子分析和正态分布理论,提出了评价生态系统健康的一个新视角。最后通过模拟实例对100个生态系统群进行生态系统健康评价,找到了其中不健康的11个生态系统。该方法能通用于各种类型的生态系统健康评价,为生态系统健康的定量分析与评价提供了新的途径。     

Assessing vulnerabilities to the effects of global change: an eight step approach

In the recent years, global environmental change research has seen increased attention to the concept of vulnerability. There have been a growing number of vulnerability assessments, but relatively little discussion on appropriate and common methods. Here we propose a method to guide vulnerability assessments of coupled human–environment systems toward a common objective: informing the decision-making of specific stakeholders about options for adapting to the effects of global change. We suggest five criteria vulnerability assessments must at least possess to achieve this objective. They should have a knowledge base from various disciplines and stakeholder participation, be place based, consider multiple interacting stresses, examine differential adaptive capacity, and be prospective as well as historical. On the basis of these criteria, we present a general methodological guideline of eight steps. To examine whether these eight steps, if attentively coordinated, do in fact achieve the criteria, and in turn satisfy the objective of the assessment, we discuss two case studies. We expect most readers to identify some of the steps as part of their well-established disciplinary practices. However, they should also identify one or more steps as uncommon to their research traditions. Thus taken together the eight steps constitute a novel methodological framework. We hypothesize that if researchers employ this framework, then the products of the research will (1) achieve the objective of preparing stakeholders for the effects of global change on a site-specific basis, and (2) further the “public good” of additional insights through cross-study comparisons of research projects designed according to common principles.     

Transdisciplinary sustainability research beyond engagement models: Toward adventures in relevance

Transdisciplinary models of research are increasingly upheld as the gold standard of collaborative science to solve complex social and environmental problems, promising to ‘close the gap’ between knowledge and action, inject science with greater accountability, democratic participation, and include stakeholders as practitioners of research. Absent in transdisciplinary models are more ‘risky’ questions of relevance, subject positionality, and the lived encounters between researchers and stakeholders. Who are the ‘holders’ and who determines the ‘stakes’? This article examines how notions of roles, typologies, and effectiveness constrain relationships between researchers and stakeholders; and document the ways in which research teams, shot through with these tensions, in turn develop new roles, typologies, and markers of ‘success’. In drawing on recent philosophical scholarship on social science practices, we argue that relevance in transdisciplinary research cannot rest on typologies, logics, and templates of collaboration in which effectiveness is determined in advance. The growing business of team science and its predictive aspirations risk rendering transdisciplinary research irrelevant if its practitioners do not loosen the grip on realist perspectives on stakeholder roles, research outcomes, and metrics of success. Instead, we argue for the development of skills for paying attention to the categories, friction, and tensions that are provoked by collaborative interactions, discourses, and techniques with stakeholders. Environmental researchers must learn to be responsive to the durable existence of stakeholders and seek to develop the means to reveal what matters, and therefore is relevant, to them.     

The origins of aneuploidy research consortium

The presence of high levels of aneuploidy in oocytes and early embryos and their fate is of considerable scientific and clinical importance. The Origins of Aneuploidy Research Consortium (OARC) was established to promote interdisciplinary communication and collaborative research into this topic. Under the umbrella of OARC, a series of papers has now been published in this Special Issue of Prenatal Diagnosis. Recent studies have transformed the view that aneuploidy is usually attributable to meiotic non-disjunction. The molecular basis for the association between meiotic error and maternal age is becoming understood. The clinical significance of mitotic instability in the earliest cells divisions of the embryo is also becoming clearer. An error in the segregation of one or more whole chromosomes from a parent does not invariably result in a non-viable pregnancy or an abnormal outcome. Epidemiologic data allows an assessment of in utero viability, the effect of maternal age, and secondary factors that may affect aneuploidy prevalence. We advocate careful use of nomenclature and revision of educational materials to more accurately explain the complex and often nuanced mechanisms. OARC plans to hold additional workshops, promote additional publications and offer educational resources.     

Sustainability in higher education: what is happening?

This special issue focuses upon diverse facets of Education for Sustainability. The 33 documents within it are from authors in institutions of higher education from Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, South America, Central America and North America. Some authors use discipline-specific foci to foster inclusion of sustainable development (SD) within their educational programs. Many other authors report on their experiences in working within interdisciplinary teams to re-focus education, research and outreach to help accelerate the rate at which educational institutions foster and underpin the values, knowledge and actions to help their students transform society from unsustainable to sustainable patterns.The authors of these articles underscore the importance of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development that began on January 2005 to be an important framework and a catalyst for increasing SD educational, research and outreach efforts within all academic institutions, worldwide.The developers of this special issue hope that the lessons learned by the authors of these articles will help all in envisioning the way forward and in overcoming the resistance to change within and outside of academia as we work together on our joint journey toward sustainable societies.     

Informal knowledge processes: the underpinning for sustainability outcomes in EIA?

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was originally tailored for restructuring rules and values regarding environmental protection, through interdisciplinary work. EIA has developed as a tool for decision-making for the implementation of projects which potentially pose significant environmental impacts. This paper reviews the sustainability and interdisciplinarity assumptions inherent in EIA. It illustrates through a case study of a proposed landfill extension in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, that these principles can arise more from informal knowledge processes than from legal ones. It can be shown that interdisciplinarity is often misunderstood as multidisciplinarity or simple knowledge clustering, and sustainability has no common definition amongst EIA practitioners, but that there predominates an understanding which delivers weak sustainability, driven primarily by social and economic goals. The conclusion is that EIA cannot achieve the original vision set out in the world's first legislation adopted in 1970 unless a learning-organization approach is taken whereby: the critical role of informal knowledge is recognized; informal knowledge is properly managed by EIA teams to engender a common understanding of sustainable development goals; interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary working practices are adopted.     

环境正义研究前沿及其启示

环境正义不仅是重大的现实问题,也是不同学科和领域研究的焦点。通过对国内环境正义研究文献的梳理,比较分析环境正义所涉学科、内容和方法后发现：环境正义研究呈现出多学科视角、多元化主题和学科交叉趋势,但研究体系不够完善,缺乏理论创新;亟待构建中国特色环境正义理论体系和分析框架,总结中国环境正义研究案例和解决模式;环境正义概念多而不统一,混杂而不明确,需进一步厘清和辨明;考虑多维内涵、多重维度和多维原则,建构和完善环境正义概念体系;环境正义问题主要表现在多尺度区域和多类型群体两个层面,环境强势群体（区域）与弱势群体（区域）的环境权责不对等是焦点;城乡环境正义问题广受关注,需加强经济弱势地区和环境弱势地区环境正义研究;解决环境正义问题的政策措施缺乏系统性考量和可操作性,在具体的社会文化和地方情境中探讨环境正义及其解决之道是重点;按照问题的轻重缓急,分区域分群体逐步消除环境不正义;环境正义评价标准欠缺,不同学科数据和方法交叉融合不足。未来环境正义研究的重点和难点在于：建构一个问题导向的、跨学科交叉的环境正义理论框架;精确表征和测度环境（不）正义;模拟多尺度、多主体的环境正义演变过程;基于地方性加强环境正义的典型案例研究。     

Integrated regional modelling and scenario development to evaluate future water demand under global change conditions

Within climate change impact research, the consideration of socioeconomic processes remains a challenge. Socioeconomic systems must be equipped to react and adapt to global change. However, any reasonable development or assessment of sustainable adaptation strategies requires a comprehensive consideration of human-environment interactions. This requirement can be met through multi-agent simulation, as demonstrated in the interdisciplinary project GLOWA-Danube (GLObal change of the WAter Cycle; ). GLOWA-Danube has developed an integrated decision support tool for water and land use management in the Upper Danube catchment (parts of Germany and Austria, 77,000 km²). The scientific disciplines invoked in the project have implemented sixteen natural and social science models, which are embedded in the simulation framework DANUBIA. Within DANUBIA, a multi-agent simulation approach is used to represent relevant socioeconomic processes. The structure and results of three of these multi-agent models, WaterSupply, Household and Tourism, are presented in this paper. A main focus of the paper is on the development of global change scenarios (climate and society) and their application to the presented models. The results of different simulation runs demonstrate the potential of multi-agent models to represent feedbacks between different water users and the environment. Moreover, the interactive usage of the framework allows to define and vary scenario assumptions so as to assess the impact of potential interventions. It is shown that integrated modelling and scenario design not only provide valuable information, but also offer a platform for discussing complex human-environment-interactions with stakeholders.     

The Role of Wood Material for Greenhouse Gas Mitigation

Based on an interdisciplinary perspective the role of wood as a carbon sink, as a multi-purpose material, and as a renewable energy source for the net reduction of greenhouse gases is discussed. We synthesize aspects from engineering, natural and social sciences to better understand the role of wood substitution in CO₂ mitigation. We also formulate some recommendations on filling knowledge gaps that could be useful for policy making regarding how wood substitution could be further expanded. There are sufficient wood resources to substantially increase the use of wood for material and energy purposes. However, a number of factors hinder a wider use of wood for energy and material purposes. Furthermore, an analysis of wood substitution is a very complex issue, since the substitution influencing factors are to be found along the entire wood supply chain and involve several industries, socio-economic and cultural aspects, traditions, price dynamics, and structural and technical change. To improve the knowledge about wood as a substitute for other resources and the implications, it would be helpful to better integrate research from different disciplines on the subject and to cover different scales from a project to an economy-wide level.     

A database for integrated assessment of European agricultural systems

A major bottleneck for data-based policy making is that data sources are collected, managed, and distributed by different institutions, residing in different locations, resulting in conceptual and practical problems. The use of dispersed data for agricultural systems research requires the integration of data sources, which means to ensure consistency in data interpretations, units, spatial and temporal scales, to respect legal regulations of privacy, ownership and copyright, and to enable easy dissemination of data. This paper describes the SEAMLESS integrated database on European agricultural systems. It contains data on cropping patterns, production, farm structural data, soil and climate conditions, current agricultural management and policy information. To arrive at one integrated database, a shared ontology was developed according to a collaborative process, which facilitates interdisciplinary research. The paper details this process, which can be re-used in other research projects for integrating data sources.     

An interdisciplinary approach to integrating sustainability into mining engineering education and research

This paper considers how the Mining Engineering Department at the University of British Columbia (UBC) is addressing the need to integrate sustainable development into mining engineering on behalf of industry and society. In particular, it considers the evolution of an interdisciplinary model, the Sustainability Working Group (SWG), which has brought together a diverse array of disciplines from academia, industry, government, NGOs and mining communities. The operational mechanisms and structure of SWG have enabled momentum to be gained through several initiatives. These aim to impact on undergraduate and postgraduate education, lifelong learning and research.     

The importance of scientific literacy in fostering education for sustainability: Theoretical considerations and preliminary findings from a Brazilian experience

Scientific literacy can be considered as a new demand of post-industrial society. It seems necessary in order to foster education for sustainability throughout students' academic careers. Universities striving to teach sustainability are being challenged to integrate a holistic perspective into a traditional undergraduate curriculum, which aims at specialization. This new integrative, inter- and transdisciplinary epistemological approach is necessary to cultivate autonomous citizenship, i.e., that each citizen be prepared to understand and participate in discussions about the complex contemporary issues posed by post-industrial society. This paper presents an epistemological framework to show the role of scientific literacy in fostering education for sustainability. We present a set of 26 collaborative concept maps (CCmaps) in order to illustrate an instance of theory becoming practice. During a required course for first-year undergraduate students (ACH 0011, Natural Sciences), climate change was presented and discussed in broad perspective by using CCmaps. We present students' CCmaps to show how they use concepts from quantitative and literacy disciplines to deal with the challenges posed by the need of achieving a sustainable development.     

A review of concepts and criteria for assessing agroecosystem health including a preliminary case study of southern Ontario

The model of agroecosystem health has been advocated as an appealing guideline for agricultural research. Yet, some ambiguity remains in how the concept can be defined and how the general criteria for assessing the health of an agroecosystem at a particular scale can be selected. This paper reviews the literature from various disciplines pertinent to the concept of agroecosystem health. It focuses on assessing the applicability of assorted concepts, norms, and criteria to agroecosystem health assessment, and develops a general definition of agroecosystem health. A classification scheme is proposed which scattered while potentially useful concepts in the literature are discussed, using southern Ontario as a case study to further illustrate the usefulness of the conceptual framework in studying agroecosystem health. Agroecosystem health can be characterized from four different perspectives that are related to agroecosystem structure, function, organization, and dynamics. Given the complexity of agroecosystems, the health of the systems at different scales cannot be fully captured from one perspective only. Criteria, such as resource availability, diversity, and accessibility, are some of the existing concepts capable of depicting the structural state of agroecosystem health. Concepts including productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness appear very useful for assessing the functional performance of agroecosystems. As any agroecosystem interacts actively with its external environments and changes over time, such characteristics are not necessarily captured by structural or functional criteria. Organizational criteria, such as autonomy and self-dependence, are useful to characterize the organizational nature inherent to agroecosystem health. Stability and resilience on the other hand are two appealing concepts capable of revealing the temporal dimension of agroecosystem health. Numerous empirical studies that are used to illustrate how these concepts developed in different disciplines of agricultural research can be potentially employed to facilitate the assessment of agroecosystem health. It is argued that any holistic investigation of the health of an agroecosystem needs to examine biophysical, economic, and human conditions of the system and to evaluate these conditions from perspectives pertinent to system structure, function, organization, and dynamics.     

Integrating energy efficiency performance in production management – gap analysis between industrial needs and scientific literature

For governments and for manufacturing companies, global warming, rising energy prices, and customers’ increasing ecological awareness have pushed energy efficient manufacturing to the top of the agenda. Governments and companies are both striving to identify the most effective measures to increase energy efficiency in manufacturing processes. Based on results of a recent EU-funded roadmapping project, this paper highlights the needs of industrial companies for integrating energy efficiency performance in production management. First, it analyses concepts and tools for measurement, control and improvement of energy efficiency in production management proposed in literature. Second, the paper outlines that ICT tools and standardization are important enablers for energy efficient manufacturing. Third, industrial needs in these areas are presented based on expert interviews. The industrial needs thus identified are contrasted with concepts proposed in literature to point out the implementation gaps between practice and theory. The paper demonstrates that there exists a gap between the solutions available and the actual implementation in industrial companies. It concludes by deriving requirements for energy management in production that future collaborative research projects should address.     

Solution-oriented global environmental assessments: Opportunities and challenges

This article provides an introduction to the Special Issue dedicated to “Solution-oriented Global Environmental Assessments: Opportunities and Challenges”. In the follow-up to the Paris climate agreement and the adoption and early implementation of the global Sustainable Development Goals involving many synergies and trade-offs, the need to shift the focus from environmental problem analysis towards the exploration of specific solution options can be observed in international environmental governance debates. To remain policy-relevant, credible and legitimate, global environmental assessments (GEAs) must carefully adapt to a rapidly evolving governance landscape. This Special Issue sheds light on the potential utility and implications of increased solution-orientation of GEAs. It builds on the research project “The Future of Global Environmental Assessment Making” that was jointly initiated in 2013 by UN Environment and the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change. The article collection includes research on the coevolution of GEAs and the increasingly solution-oriented governance context; conditions of success for contemporary GEAs; the treatment of divergent viewpoints, stakes and stakeholders in solution-oriented GEAs; knowledge aggregation; and the enhanced measurement of GEA effectiveness in the emerging governance landscape.