INITIAL NOTIFICATION AND DRAFT AGENDA:  Please also see linked event on June 10th below

This  Work in Progress seminar will explore the potential for developing a research focus on meta-questions of Interdisciplinary Research – with a focus on sustainability. Many important new centres, initiatives and funding calls are focussed on interdisciplinary research for sustainability broadly conceived to include environment, society, economy & culture (for example UN agencies). These initiatives raise problems of interdisciplinarity in particularly acute form and many research leaders, participants and related PhD candidates are confronting these issues with varying degrees of success. The seminar is free of charge: email Haris Shekeris  cs3110@bris.ac.uk to book a place.

In this seminar we propose to:

·        provide an illustration of the overall academic content and purposes of this developing research area

·        begin to set the agenda for future scholarly activity, research collaborations and proposals

This seminar should be of interest to all those involved in research on/for sustainability and the developing meta-research questions around interdisciplinary research in general. The format will be short presentations followed by discussion with time for networking.

Seminar Agenda:

2.00       Welcome from Professor Alexander Bird – Department of Philosophy

2.10       Challenges of Interdisciplinary Research for Sustainability: Professor Paul Bates, Director of the Cabot Centre, University of Bristol

2.40       Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Research – issues arising in IAS events: Professor Gregor McLennan, Director of Institute for Advanced Studies

3.10       Report from the QUEST (major NERC funded Earth System Climate Science) IDR project:  Dr Sarah Cornell/Edinburgh colleagues

3.40       TEA

4.00       Assistant Professor Johannes Persson, LUCID – Lund University Centre of Excellence for Integration of Social and Natural Dimensions of Sustainability

4.30       A developing international meta-research area? report from American ‘Toolbox’ conference (American Science Association & American Philosophical Association):  Dr Jenneth Parker

5.00       Discussion of issues raised and news of other linked initiatives

5.30       Close/networking over drinks

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COPERNICUS Alliance Working Group Meeting: Copernicus European Interdisciplinary Research on Sustainability (CEIDROS): 10th June, Bristol University, Engineering Department, Systems Centre

Organised jointly by: Dr Jenneth Parker, Research Director Schumacher Institute; Dr Mike Yearworth, Reader, Systems Engineering, University of Bristol

 Linked event 9th June ‘Philosophy and Methodology of Interdisciplinary Research for Sustainability’ at Philosophy Department, University of Bristol – see information below

Aims:

-         to help to develop an intellectual ‘critical mass’ to develop thinking and practice on IDRS

-         to develop common agreement on the main areas of work and ways to take them forward

-         to plan future communications, network and events including meshing with existing relevant networks

-         to develop research plans and proposals

-         to develop ‘response capacity’ for inputting/commenting on research policy at EU and member state levels

Indicative agenda:

10.30     Coffee

11am     Welcome and aims of the day: Mike Yearworth and Jenneth Parker

11.20     Presentation of the  draft terms of reference for the working group – Discussion

12.00     Working groups on:

#1: Policy and practice in IDROS across Europe

#2: Research management and methodologies for IDROS

#3: Developing capacity for IDROS in younger research and developing research teams

#4: Knowledge co-creation and working with stakeholders in IDROS

Suggestions for other/different working groups welcome – to be discussed and determined on the day

1.0               LUNCH

2.0               Report back from groups

3.0               Taking things forward: networking; future events; response team; sub groups etc

3.30       Developing research ideas: how might this group research and develop this area of work through EU funding applications? Brief introduction on possibilities available, followed by working sessions

5.00       Ideas developed – taking these forward – issues of leadership of initiatives and intellectual property in the working group

CEIDROS Rationale

Across Europe research on sustainability has developed greatly in various fields. However this development has so far been in response to certain highlighted political agendas, the pressure exerted by certain research communities for support for their agendas, and certain very partial and disconnected concepts of the knowledge necessary for the wider sustainability research programme. These are the normal pressures on research development in the real world of politics, policy and limited funds. There are already some well established national and thematic (e.g. systems modeling, climate science etc) research networks. However there are certain key features of research into sustainability which make it very desirable to have an overall reflective forum and network that can take an overview. Many of the special features of the sustainability research programme derive from the overall need for degrees of interdisciplinary working across subjects that would previously have been seen as impossible and/or academically undesirable.

 

Specific consequences of this need for interdisciplinary include:

-              The need to engage reflectively about ways to help to enable more effective interdisciplinary research

-              The need for comparative studies of interdisciplinary working across Europe and across different subject fields

-              The need for more research into ways that projects work with stakeholders and the issues of knowledge co-creation for sustainability

-              The need for informed intervention in research funding and assessment policies across Europe – including EU partnership and thematic funding programmes

-              The need for a network that can take an overview, supported by European academics of the strategic priorities for supporting and developing research into neglected areas of sustainability

-              A way to broker innovative interdisciplinary partnerships to help enable work on some hitherto neglected areas of the sustainability research programme

-              The need for a network that can view and assess European research contributions and research policy/funding developments as part of the wider global research efforts on sustainability and advise accordingly

 

 

Many agencies variously charged with bringing about sustainability draw their knowledge base from fragmented and/or limited thematic interdisciplinary clusters. In this way many of the same questions also apply to inter-agency working at the national, regional and international policy levels and are vital to the effective development of more joined up policy and practice. For this reason it is desirable to include advisors in the network who had this perspective.

 

We aim to make a very robust case for the importance of this work and to develop some innovative research projects at the European level. A key element of this could be the provision of some kind of research partnership for sustainability research across Europe