OOS 31-6 - Doing transdisciplinary research for climate adaptation: an autoethnographic account

Transdisciplinary research has become a core element of global climate adaptation science-policy agendas. Transdisciplinarity involves collaboration among academics and nonacademics from different backgrounds in knowledge production and application. In recent years, there has been an increase in transdisciplinary-oriented environmental research focused on climate adaptation. Yet, studies describing how the research process unfolds are scarce in applied ecology and related literature. This is a significant gap because disciplinary divides - e.g., natural and social sciences -- have traditionally run deeply in those fields, and without an evidence base of experiences with transdisciplinary research, researchers may not fully comprehend the methods of how this research can be carried out.

This talk will present a case study of transdisciplinary research in-the-making. The case is an ongoing research project from the Midwest Climate Adaptation Science Center (MW CASC) that assesses the practices and outcomes of adaptation planning for natural resources in the Midwest, pursued in collaboration with a Community of Practice (CoP). CoPs are learning partnerships among people with a shared concern or passion for a topic who practice and learn through regular interaction. In the studied case, the CoP targets academic and non-academics from different natural resource management sectors who share an interest in climate adaptation in practice and want to learn with each other and from the research project about how to do better adaptation work. The CoP is designed to create spaces for peer learning, networking, and co-production informed by and informative for the research project. Key findings of the research will inform discussions on adaptation planning and implementation that can help CoP members improve their practice and expand their repertoire of resources. CoP discussions will validate or contest findings, shape researcher approaches, and inform the relevance of findings for adaptation practice in the Midwest region.

Drawing on autoethnography, a qualitative research method that emphasizes a researcher's personal experience and reflection, I will discuss results of an autoethnographic analysis from the point of view of the lead project researcher, working in collaboration with research mentors and CoP leads. These results include six aspects of the project and how they shape the research process and outcomes: researcher’s positionality, project decision context, non-technical project details, problems encountered, and lessons learned. This presentation aims to demonstrate the successes and challenges of integration of a CoP in research projects to facilitate transdisciplinary research, identification of lessons learned, and use of these insights by the CoP.