TY - JOUR
T1 - User engagement in sustainability research
AU - Talwar, Sonia
AU - Wiek, Arnim
AU - Robinson, John
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors wish to thank two anonymous reviewers and the participants at the 5th Canadian Risk and Hazards Network Symposium on Practitioners and Researchers: Forging Partnerships for Disaster Resilient Communities (held 5–9 November 2008 at St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada) for helpful comments on previous versions of this article. John Robinson and Sonia Talwar acknowledge the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada President’s Fund for Innovation (award no. 421-2006-0019). Arnim Wiek acknowledges the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant PA0011-115315). Sonia Talwar gratefully acknowledges Dr. Craig Forster (1952–2008) for his contributions to the SWYM project and, in particular, the many meaningful conversations about working with others to engage in sustainability.
PY - 2011/6
Y1 - 2011/6
N2 - User engagement, stakeholder involvement, and public consultation in sustainability research have received increased attention over the last decade. Key driving factors behind this are that social outcomes, policy relevance, and user engagement have all become requirements for securing research funding. Many articles have provided compelling arguments for the need to reconsider why, when and how users are engaged within the research process. We propose a typology of user engagement strategies in research, focusing on the actual research process and emphasizing types of engagement in research. We illustrate these types with a comparative analysis of empirical examples from three interactive sustainability research projects, based in Canada and Switzerland. The article discusses the challenges that require a reconfiguration of institutional and organizational structures to seize the full potential of interactive sustainability research.
AB - User engagement, stakeholder involvement, and public consultation in sustainability research have received increased attention over the last decade. Key driving factors behind this are that social outcomes, policy relevance, and user engagement have all become requirements for securing research funding. Many articles have provided compelling arguments for the need to reconsider why, when and how users are engaged within the research process. We propose a typology of user engagement strategies in research, focusing on the actual research process and emphasizing types of engagement in research. We illustrate these types with a comparative analysis of empirical examples from three interactive sustainability research projects, based in Canada and Switzerland. The article discusses the challenges that require a reconfiguration of institutional and organizational structures to seize the full potential of interactive sustainability research.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/79959871850
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/79959871850#tab=citedBy
U2 - 10.3152/030234211X12960315267615
DO - 10.3152/030234211X12960315267615
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:79959871850
SN - 0302-3427
VL - 38
SP - 379
EP - 390
JO - Science and Public Policy
JF - Science and Public Policy
IS - 5
ER -