NCSE 2020: Science in Environmental Decision-Making Fostering Transdisciplinary Science and Transformational Change

National Council For Science And The Environment/Cedd, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

Part 1 The National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) Annual Conference affords an opportunity to convene scholars from diverse disciplines and backgrounds to help engineer outcomes that advance the pace and scale of solutions to serve society. NCSE's Annual Conference provides ideal conditions to serve as a "convergence accelerator," actively bringing together scientists with those who make decisions. Through innovative conference design that brings together scientists and decision-makers (e.g. leaders from local governments in NCSE's Applied Solutions network of local governments), NCSE will expand active networks through new relationships for collaboration on areas of mutual subject matter interest (e.g. water, energy, etc). Through broader programmatic work post-conference, NCSE is laying the foundation for sustained and enduring collaboration between science and decision-making communities, outlining a path for further solutions-oriented research. Part 2 This workshop will allow The National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) to add a third day to the Annual Conference. This third day will be organized and facilitated to create enabling conditions for future convergence research, along with specific opportunities and outcomes. Areas of focus will include: 1) innovative governance for science and decision-making from local to international scales; 2) connecting social and natural science research for sustainability solutions; 3) convening diverse communities through facilitated interactions between scientists and decision-makers that focus on knowledge co-creation and reframing critical questions. The conditions NCSE will create will lay foundations for true knowledge co-production, where scientists advance their ability to frame future research questions that are informed directly by questions that decision-makers are asking (Sarewitz and Pielke 2007). The result will be ideas and plans for solution-driven research, guided by the real-world grounding of problems that decision makers are working to solve on the ground. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.