Co Creating Actionable Science

In response to the call for actionable and collaborative solutions-oriented research for sustainability, this collection of essays provides insights into the multi-layered challenges that underlie this fast-emerging field. It offers the reader a deeper understanding of the myriad local avenues where knowledge is co-produced to meet the grand challenge of our times—‘transformation to sustainability’. Situated within a wide variety of research settings in the global North and South, the contributions here variously probe how actionable science emerges (or fails to emerge) in this process. From diverse perspectives, they ruminate on various research practice topics, including how to reconcile scientific understanding with normative action, how to acknowledge and integrate participant knowledge in research, and how to handle potential negative impacts of actionable science. In examining these rarely reflected-upon questions, the book provides valuable, empirically-based insights into research practice, and will be useful for scholars and educators working with transdisciplinary research design and practice.

In response to the call for actionable and collaborative solutions-oriented research for sustainability, this collection of essays provides insights into the multi-layered challenges that underlie this fast-emerging field. It offers the reader a deeper understanding of the myriad local avenues where knowledge is co-produced to meet the grand challenge of our timesâ "â ~transformation to sustainabilityâ (TM). Situated within a wide variety of research settings in the global North and South, the contributions here variously probe how actionable science emerges (or fails to emerge) in this process. From diverse perspectives, they ruminate on various research practice topics, including how to reconcile scientific understanding with normative action, how to acknowledge and integrate participant knowledge in research, and how to handle potential negative impacts of actionable science. In examining these rarely reflected-upon questions, the book provides valuable, empirically-based insights into research practice, and will be useful for scholars and educators working with transdisciplinary research design and practice.

This volume teaches readers how to sort through the vast mountain of climate and environmental science data to extract actionable insights. With the advancements in sensing technology, we now observe petabytes of data related to climate and the environment. While the volume of data is impressive, collecting big data for the sake of data alone proves to be of limited utility. Instead, our quest is for actionable data that can drive tangible actions and meaningful impact. Yet, unearthing actionable insights from the accumulated big data and delivering them to global stakeholders remains a burgeoning field. Although traditional data mining struggles to keep pace with data accumulation, scientific evolution has spurred the emergence of new technologies like numeric modeling and machine learning. These cutting-edge tools are now tackling grand challenges in climate and the environment, from forecasting extreme climate events and enhancing environmental productivity to monitoring greenhouse gas emissions, fostering smart environmental solutions, and understanding aerosols. Additionally, they model environmental-human interactions, inform policy, and steer markets towards a healthier and more environment-friendly direction. While there's no universal solution to address all these formidable tasks, this book takes us on a guided journey through three sections, enriched with chapters from domain scientists. Part I defines actionable science and explores what truly renders data actionable. Part II showcases compelling case studies and practical use scenarios, illustrating these principles in action. Finally, Part III provides an insightful glimpse into the future of actionable science, focusing on the pressing climate and environmental issues we must confront. Embark on this illuminating voyage with us, where big data meets practical research, and discover how our collective efforts move us closer to a sustainable and thriving future. This book is an invitation to unlock the mysteries of our environment, transforming data into decisive action for generations to come.

What is transdisciplinarity - and what are its methods? How does a living lab work? What is the purpose of citizen science, student-organized teaching and cooperative education? This handbook unpacks key terms and concepts to describe the range of transdisciplinary learning in the context of academic education. Transdisciplinary learning turns out to be a comprehensive innovation process in response to the major global challenges such as climate change, urbanization or migration. A reference work for students, lecturers, scientists, and anyone wanting to understand the profound changes in higher education.

Sustainability Science: Key Issues is a comprehensive textbook for undergraduates, postgraduates, and participants in executive trainings from any disciplinary background studying the theory and practice of sustainability science. Each chapter takes a critical and reflective stance on a key issue or method of sustainability science. Contributing authors offer perspectives from diverse disciplines, including physics, philosophy of science, agronomy, geography, and the learning sciences. This book equips readers with a better understanding of how one might actively design, engage in, and guide collaborative processes for transforming human-environment-technology interactions, whilst embracing complexity, contingency, uncertainties, and contradictions emerging from diverse values and world views. Each reader of this book will thus have guidance on how to create and/or engage in similar initiatives or courses in their own context. Sustainability Science: Key Issues is the ideal book for students and researchers engaged in problem and project based learning in sustainability science.

This open access book is a 2022 Nautilus Gold Medal winner in the category "World Cultures' Transformational Growth & Development". It states that the societal fault lines of our times are deeply intertwined and that they confront us with challenges affecting the security, fairness and sustainability of our societies. The author, Prof. Dr. Patrick Huntjens, argues that overcoming these existential challenges will require a fundamental shift from our current anthropocentric and economic growth-oriented approach to a more ecocentric and regenerative approach. He advocates for a Natural Social Contract that emphasizes long-term sustainability and the general welfare of both humankind and planet Earth. Achieving this crucial balance calls for an end to unlimited economic growth, overconsumption and over-individualisation for the benefit of ourselves, our planet, and future generations. To this end, sustainability, health, and justice in all social-ecological systems will require systemic innovation and prioritizing a collective effort. The Transformative Social-Ecological Innovation (TSEI) framework presented in this book serves that cause. It helps to diagnose and advance innovation and spur change across sectors, disciplines, and at different levels of governance. Altogether, TSEI identifies intervention points and formulates jointly developed and shared solutions to inform policymakers, administrators, concerned citizens, and professionals dedicated towards a more sustainable, healthy and just society. A wide readership of students, researchers, practitioners and policy makers interested in social innovation, transition studies, development studies, social policy, social justice, climate change, environmental studies, political science and economics will find this cutting-edge book particularly useful. “As a sustainability transition researcher, I am truly excited about this book. Two unique aspects of the book are that it considers bigger transformation issues (such as societies’ relationship with nature, purpose and justice) than those studied in transition studies and offers analytical frameworks and methods for taking up the challenge of achieving change on the ground.” - Prof. Dr. René Kemp, United Nations University and Maastricht Sustainability Institute

Globalization and technological innovation have greatly enhanced the free mobility of currencies, commodities, services, information, jobs and people; yet this can also cause gaps in regional development and create uneven wealth in minority economies. Social Innovation and Business in Taiwan links the ultimate goal of the common good by connecting people not just through technology, but through new forms of organization. Based on five major research cases observed in Taiwan, this book introduces the core concept of a social innovation system to show how the common good can be established, adapted and diffused across communities, societies and national boundaries. By identifying effective and sustainable ways to create social value, this innovation system shows a universally true way to lead to a more humane global society.

This open access book draws together key research from the UK Climate Resilience programme. It focuses on topics central to the programme’s research agenda, including improved characterisation and quantification of climate risks, enhanced understanding of the management of climate risks, and the development and delivery of climate services. Key chapters address the challenges inherent to undertaking resilience research, including how to make the term ‘climate resilience’ usable and useful, co-producing research between academics, policy makers and practitioners, and engaging and communicating outside of academia. This book is unique in providing a concise and accessible overview of the programme’s key lessons, placing the findings into a wider context and it will inform future research, policy and practice agendas.