Reserach Institute of Organic Agriculture
Socioeconomics
Robert Home, Dr. Sc. Nat., is a social scientist who works at the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) in Switzerland in the Department of Socioeconomics. He has a special interest in the factors that enable or hinder innovation in organic agriculture, and in decision processes: why do people make the decisions that they do. Typical research subjects include farmers and farmers’ families, gardeners, urban residents, consumers, and cooks in restaurants. He is Australian and has lived in Switzerland since 2004.

Presenter of 1 Presentation

RESEARCHERS WORKING WITH CITY ADMINISTRATIONS: REFLECTING ON TRANSDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION UNDER CONDITIONS OF SHARED GOALS BUT DIFFERENT CONSTRAINTS

Session Type
Pecha Kuchas
Date
02/24/2022
Session Time
02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Room

Hall B

Lecture Time
02:25 PM - 02:30 PM

Abstract

Abstract Body

Academics and city administrations generally agree that environmental management decisions should be science based, which suggests the value of collaboration between city officials and researchers. Such collaboration, termed “ecology with cities”, is an example of translational ecology that should integrate ecological and social sciences to inform decision-makers. However, there has been insufficient reflection on whether ecology with cities achieves the expected development of practical social-ecological knowledge for the common good. We addressed this gap by asking city officials and researchers, in Switzerland and with whom we have collaborated in the past, about their motivations for, and experiences with, transdisciplinary collaboration. The respondents reported largely overlapping goals and an awareness of the mutual benefits of accessing the skills and resources of the other group. However, the reflections also unearthed latent tensions related to insufficient mutual awareness of institutional boundaries and limitations. We conclude that researchers should try to include collaboration partners who have experience in translational ecology practice and should establish learning processes early in a collaboration. Building good working relationships with city administrations and establishing such processes would facilitate the creation of realistic mutual expectations in which institutional limitations are considered so that common goals of maintaining or improving the ecological quality of cities can be amicably reached.

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