Actionable science in biodiversity conservation

We have recently interviewed dozens of conservation practitioners about how they use science and other forms of knowledge, and are in the process of analyzing our findings for publication. We have also interviewed and surveyed the participants of about a dozen Knowledge-Action-Partnerships (KAPs) using the KAP Scorecard tool we developed for this research. We are currently writing about the best practices of conservation KAPs. 

Description from our grant proposal: 

In recent years, conservation scientists (knowledge producers) have recognized that partnerships with stakeholders (knowledge users) are essential for innovation and realizing measurable conservation outcomes.  These partnerships – referred to here as knowledge partnerships – represent a model of discovery that can advance public value outcomes. Public value is an important concept in science and innovation policy research and management, but there is little research on how partnerships between institutions can deliver public value, especially in conservation science. We propose to fill this gap by studying the role of knowledge partnerships in linking the supply of and demand for conservation knowledge. 

In particular, we ask: 1) What are the mechanisms by which the demand for knowledge informs the production and supply of science in the field of conservation?; 2) What role do knowledge partnerships play in linking the supply of and demand for conservation knowledge, and what effect does the design of these partnerships have on their ability to deliver public value?; and 3) How can research projects and knowledge partnerships be designed to avoid public value failures, improve the connection between the production and use of science, and thus increase the public value of scientific activity?  By analyzing the experiences of knowledge users and the possibilities inherent in knowledge partnerships as a distinct organizational form, we aim to understand the organizational configurations best suited for facilitating demand-driven conservation science.

We will produce a framework for understanding how the processes of scientific research can be transformed to be more inclusive of knowledge users, improve the connection between the production and use of science, and therefore increase the public value of scientific activity. Our work identifying the indicators of public value success is directly relevant to many governmental, private and non-profit organizations, both those working on conservation and those focused on other areas.

This research will provide guidelines on how to design knowledge partnerships for public value and will offer new models of institutional partnerships to address complex social and ecological aspects of biodiversity conservation, thus enabling solutions that are relevant, culturally sensitive, economically viable and nimble.

Broader impacts on the production of science with public value will be realized through the utilization of a ‘knowledge partnership scorecard,’ in which best practices for accomplishing public value outcomes are generalized and made accessible via trainings and publicly available tools to those involved in the production and use of science. The scorecard tool provides a way for stakeholders in all sectors and across organizations to assess and improve their roles in producing public value.

Co-production of knowledge happens within a partnership between two different groups: the knowledge suppliers and the knowledge users. Co-production is a process of knowledge production that necessarily involves equal participation by those from both groups (Miller & Wyborn, 2018).

We imagine co-production as a meeting point of two vectors, representing knowledge users and knowledge producers. Knowledge producers may be located anywhere along their vector (the left side of Figure 1), from the end farthest away from the co-production intersection to the intersection itself, representing their ‘proximity’ to knowledge users. At the far left end sit isolated ivory tower researchers, motivated by the ‘free play of free intellects’ concept and maximally disengaged from the knowledge users. Between that extreme and the co-production terminal are many other concepts which inform and motivate knowledge production, such as science communication, actionable science, stakeholder engagement, use-inspired research and boundary spanning. These could be organized along the vector with regards to how closely they engage with users (Figure 1). The vector represents the guiding ideas and actions of knowledge suppliers and therefore represents the possible spectrum of supply-driven science. Our recent NSF ScSip award (#1661406), which involved interviewing conservation scientists (see Gerber et al., 2020), focused on this vector.

Conservation scientists acknowledge the importance of partnering with stakeholders in business, government, and non-governmental organizations to manage biodiversity. This research seeks to identify factors that increase the public value outcomes from these partnerships, which represent a form of knowledge transfer that advances scientific contributions to society. By identifying the individual behaviors and institutional designs that foster higher public value outcomes, this project advances understanding of how publicly supported science can be directed to optimize public benefits and social significance, building a foundation for advancing public value outcomes in other fields of science. The findings translate research into practice through connections with the practitioner communities and by sharing findings on effective partnership strategies. The project creates general guidelines and indicators to assist with knowledge partnership design and new models for institutional partnerships that cultivate practical outcomes in sustainability.

Public value theory is a conceptual framework that has been examined empirically in science and technology cases. Much of this research has focused on developing typologies of public value failures and characterizing instances according to these typologies. This project extends this line of research by recognizing public value outcomes in biodiversity research as a product of both individual behaviors and institutional arrangements, moving towards establishing a causal basis for public value outcomes in a single, specific domain of scientific research. Using field study methods including semi-structured interviews, this project examines the behaviors and attitudes of biodiversity researchers relative to scientific productivity. The project examines how networks of researchers, including those from universities, government, and think tanks work together in affecting different types of scientific outcomes.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

Carr Kelman, C., Barton, C. J., Whitman, K., Lhoes, S., Anderson, D. M., & Gerber, L. R. (2022). Five approaches to producing actionable science in conservation. Conservation Biology, e14039. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.14039

Gerber, Leah R. and Barton, Chris J. and Cheng, Samantha H. and Anderson, Derrick "Producing actionable science in conservation: Best practices for organizations and individuals" Conservation Science and Practice , v.2 , 2020 https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.295 Citation Details

Gerber, Leah R and Raik, Daniela "Conservation science needs new institutional models for achieving outcomes" Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment , v.16 , 2018 https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.1951 Citation Details

We are conducting interviews with conservation practitioners who are actively engaged in incorporating evidence into policy and practice decisions at all scales of conservation. If you are interested in participating in this project, please fill out the form below and we will be in touch.