SS 32 - Practicing and Rewarding Co-production of Knowledge Within Universities

Session Description: Climate extremes, increased disturbances, loss of biodiversity, and food security are some of the most pressing issues we face this century. In order to tackle these complex issues, we need to bring together a coalition of people, including stakeholders, policy makers, and research professionals to produce actionable science. This integrative and collaborative approach has been termed "knowledge co-production" or "translational ecology" or "public impact research." While co-production of knowledge is recognized as one of the most effective ways to make science actionable and socially relevant, creating these partnerships take time, and lead to products that may be different than the traditional metrics used by universities to assess hiring, tenure, and/or promotion (e.g. community engagement, cultural education). Yet for many students and professionals trained in the ecological sciences, having the skills to engage with non-researcher partners is the main motivating force to enter the field.

In this special session, we will bring together researchers who practice this model of knowledge co-production to address climate, conservation, and sustainability related topics (including graduate student, postdocs, faculty members, research scientists). Our goals are two-fold: first, we invite our panelists to discuss ways in which they have incorporated actionable science into their research, followed by a second discussion on ways in which universities and governmental agencies can reward those who are striving to conduct community based participatory research. The format of this 90 minute session will consists of a 10 minute introduction and code of conduct, followed by a brief 5 minute presentation by each panel member, describing their research background and how they engage in collaborative research with different communities. The majority of the remaining session will consist of a panel and audience discussion on topics related to how universities and governmental agencies can support and reward researchers to advance in this field.