U52A:
Geoscience Impact in a Complex World: Successful Collaboration with Social Scientists


Note: Abstract submissions to Union sessions are by invitation only.


Session ID#: 52707

Session Description:
Decision making, whether by government officials, business executives, or nonprofit administrators, is a complex human endeavor, operating on scales from local to global. The impact of geoscience information on decisions depends on both the relevance of the analysis to the problem at hand, and on understanding and integrating the complex societal and behavioral factors involved in decisions.

This session will explore successful and unsuccessful collaborations between geoscientists and social scientists, detailing efforts to ensure that relevant interdisciplinary information would be appropriately incorporated in decision-making processes. Each presentation focuses on a particular problem or class of problems, and the approaches used by researchers and organizations in addressing the issue. Speakers will describe the challenges and methods used to bridge the natural and social science disciplines, including lessons for increasing the impact of geosciences on decisions. The session will conclude with an extended discussion among the panelists, with audience participation.

OSPA Liaison:  Carrie Hritz, National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC), Univ. of MD, Annapolis, MD, United States
Primary Convener:  Margaret R Goud Collins, Friends of IIASA, Falmouth, MA, United States
Conveners:  Margaret Palmer, National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC), Annapolis, United States, Carrie Hritz, National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC), Univ. of MD, Annapolis, MD, United States and Fabian Wagner, IIASA International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria
Primary Liaison:  Margaret R Goud Collins, Friends of IIASA, Falmouth, MA, United States
Chairs:  Margaret Palmer, National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC), Annapolis, United States and Margaret R Goud Collins, Friends of IIASA, Falmouth, MA, United States
Co-Organized with:
Union, and Public Affairs

Cross-Listed:
  • GC - Global Environmental Change
  • NH - Natural Hazards
  • PA - Public Affairs
  • SI - Societal Impacts and Policy Sciences

Proposed Co-Organized Session with:
  • PA - Public Affairs
  • SI - Societal Impacts and Policy Sciences
Index Terms:

0493 Urban systems [BIOGEOSCIENCES]
1630 Impacts of global change [GLOBAL CHANGE]
6309 Decision making under uncertainty [POLICY SCIENCES]
6620 Science policy [PUBLIC ISSUES]

Abstracts Submitted to this Session:

No submissions have been made yet.

See more of: Union