A scientist’s guide to engaging decision makers

Abstract:

Being trained as a scientist provides many valuable tools needed to address society's most pressing environmental issues. It does not, however, provide training on one of the most critical for translating science into action: the ability to engage decision makers. Engagement means different things to different people and what is appropriate for one project might not be for another. However, recent reports have emphasized that for research to be most useful to decision making, engagement should happen at the beginning and throughout the research process. There are an increasing number of boundary organizations (e.g., NOAA’s Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessment program, U.S. Department of the Interior’s Climate Science Centers) where engagement is encouraged and rewarded, and scientists are learning, often through trial and error, how to effectively include decision makers (a.k.a. stakeholders, practitioners, resource managers) in their research process. This presentation highlights best practices and practices to avoid when scientists engage decision makers, a list compiled through the personal experiences of both scientists and decision makers and a literature review, and how this collective knowledge could be shared, such as through a recent session and role-playing exercise given at the Northwest Climate Science Center’s Climate Boot Camp. These ideas are presented in an effort to facilitate conversations about how the science community (e.g., AGU researchers) can become better prepared for effective collaborations with decision makers that will ultimately result in more actionable science.