From research to sustainability transitions - Identifying pathways to societal effects

Thorsten Schilling
EPFL, 2019
EPFL thesis

Abstract

Problem statement. The rise of sustainability as a guiding norm for societal development also affects knowledge production in science. Particularly in the context of sustainability science, researchers are increasingly confronted with claims for creating societally relevant knowledge that helps to solve existing problems and facilitates sustainable development. This re-orientation of the science-society contract raises questions about the role of research in sustainability transition processes. There is need for further conceptual and empirical insights on how research can create societal effects and how these effects relate to ongoing dynamics shaping sustainability transition processes.

Research goal. This dissertation aims at clarifying the ways in which research can contribute to sustainability transitions.

Methodology. The dissertation consists of a theoretical conceptual and an empirical part. The theoretical conceptual part is (primarily) literature-based. Via a critically reflection on existing concepts from the resilience and (sustainability) transitions literature, we integrate ideas through a re-entry approach into a common conceptual perspective. The empirical part of the dissertation includes a meta-analytical study of ongoing sustainability research projects with a qualitative research design that primarily builds on semi-structured and problem-centered interviews. Throughout three rounds of interviews with researchers and practitioners involved in the projects, we created and discussed (mental) models of the intervieweesâ perceived pathways to societal effects and particularly shed light on the link between participatory processes and societal effects. In addition, two already finished transdisciplinary projects were analyzed via a framework-based self-reflection by the two co-leaders of the projects from research and practice.

Results. On the theoretical level, we introduce a new conceptual perspective to frame sustainability transitions from a resilience perspective. Thereby, we elaborate, how transition progress, stability, and adaptability constitute three dimensions that determine the resilience of sustainability transition processes. The empirical results highlight the broad variety of pathways to societal effects that can be identified across different sustainability research projects and the importance of boundary conditions in the related practice contexts of the projects as critical influence factors for achieving societal effects. Furthermore, we show the diversity and complexity of ways in which participatory processes are embedded in pathways to societal effects.

Conclusion. The results of this dissertation contribute to clarifying the role of research projects in sustainability transition processes. Understanding societal effects of sustainability research requires a broad conceptual perspective that allows to consider the diverse and complex ways in which research projects and existing structures and dynamics in the related practice contexts of the projects reciprocally shape each other.

Official source

https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/265974?ln=en

About this result

This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.

Related concepts

Related publications

Thorsten Schilling
EPFL, 2019
EPFL thesis

Abstract

Research goal. This dissertation aims at clarifying the ways in which research can contribute to sustainability transitions.

Official source

https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/265974?ln=en

About this result

Related concepts (17)

Related concepts

Related publications (36)

Related publications

Problem. In the field of sustainability, scholars and policy-makers herald the transformative power of participation in transdisciplinary (TD) research. The increasing use of TD in science policy is rooted in the expectation that involving practitioners in the research process produces 'socially robust' knowledge and fosters the desired societal change. However, there is a strong discrepancy between these expectations, ideal-typical conceptions of TD, and a limited understanding of the complex interactions that forge participation in knowledge production practices. Aim. This thesis aims to enhance understanding of the complex processes that shape participation practices and their outcomes in TD sustainability research. Methods. This thesis links social theories and literature from sustainability research, Science and Technology Studies, and development research with empirical enquiries into the making of participation. Qualitative and quantitative methods are combined in order to draw a rich picture of researchers' and practitioners' perceptions of participation processes and outcomes. Results. To begin, this thesis offers a novel perspective on participation as a relational space that is dynamically forged through the interplay of structures and processes. Secondly, it identifies structural and actor-related elements that constitute participation spaces, including: (in)coherence with reference systems, resources, timing, expectations, trust, values and power relations. The empirical analyses show that funding bodies, researchers, and practitioners exercise 'power over' actor selection, as well as agenda and rule setting, leading to the exclusion of some knowledges and values. Throughout TD processes, 'power over' intersects with 'power with' and 'power to', highlighting trade-offs between the epistemic and societal goals of participation. Unpacking processes also shows how partly incommensurable values with regard to sustainability shape knowledge production, and how the latter can perpetuate dominant discourses on society-nature relations. Finally, this thesis reveals diverse participation-effect pathways as well as feedback effects. Researchers' and practitioners' diverging perceptions of pathways come with contrasting roles and responsibilities they ascribe to themselves and to others. Conclusions. The results demonstrate that participation processes in TD sustainability research are not only a matter of techniques and methods, but also of political endeavours that must be placed in a broader socio-political context. The value negotiations and power relations that form them, the multiple purposes for which they are mobilised and their role in the governance landscape demonstrate the importance of the politics of participation. Fostering conceptual clarity and empirical knowledge of the dynamics that shape participation in and the effects of TD research, this thesis feeds into a critical sustainability scholarship that is aware of power dynamics and is reflexive towards its own practices. It provides researchers and practitioners with theoretically and empirically-grounded analytical perspectives and guiding questions on the role of structures, actors and power relations in TD practice. These tools allow for unravelling the deep-rooted challenges of participation and support researchers and practitioners in making their assumptions about pathways to societal change visible and negotiable.

EPFL2020

How do participation of practice partners and societal impacts interrelate? Perspectives from sci- ence and practice actors in transdisciplinary sustainability research projects

Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer, Livia Bianca Fritz, Thorsten Schilling

In this contribution, we put the spotlight on the interlinkages between participatory knowledge production and sustainabili ty transformations by proposing an empirical enquiry into transdisciplinary (TD) research projects. With regard to (un)sustainab le development the limitations of knowledge production within the exclusive realms of science have become manifest in malfunc- tio ning feedback between science and political action. In reaction, claims have been made that scientific inquiry along clear -cut boundaries between scientific knowledge production and the societal usage thereof is not sufficient for tackling complex sust ain- ability problems. TD, which aims at integrating heterogeneous actors and diverse forms of expertise, has emerged as a key noti on in this quest for more “robust?” and responsive knowledge. One core assumption in the literature is that the participation of a wider set of societal actors enhances the societal impact of research and facilitates transformations. In this presentation, we juxtapose this assumption with meta -level reflections on real -world TD sustainability research cases. We investigate (i) which factors constitute different practices of participation, (ii) how actors in TD projects establish the link between participati on prac- tices and intended societal impact of their projects and (iii) which other influence factors they perceive as relevant for t heir in- tended societal impacts. In doing so, we look at a sample of sustainability research projects funded by the program “Science for Sustainable Development (WfNE)” of the Ministry for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony and the Volkswagen Foundation. T hese projects represent a broad variety of topics and research designs including diverse participatory approaches and intended soc ie- tal effects. Our results are based on a series of qualitative analyses: We performed a document analysis of the project prop osals and two rounds of interviews with project leaders and scientists. Furthermore, we included the practice perspective in our an aly- sis by conducting interviews with non -scientific actors involved in the projects. This procedure allows us to provide find ings on how both scientific and non -scientific actors in TD projects in the field of sustainability research conceive of and perceive (i) par- ticipation processes in the project, (ii) participation as an influence factor for societal impacts, and (iii) furt her project- or con- text -based influence factors for the intended societal effects. Finally, we present a tentative analytical framework sensitive to diverse participatory processes and different types of potential impacts they are associated with.

2017

The energy transition – an integrative analysis

Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer

The ongoing energy transition is seen as a key component for the transition towards a more sustainable society. An important component in the move towards a sustainable energy system is the transition from a mainly centralized, fossil-fuel system to a more localized, renewable one. This transition, however, requires not only the development of new energy technologies but also radical, systemic shifts in deeply held values and beliefs, in patterns of social behavior, and in governance regimes. Thereby the ecological, technical and social systems have to be conceptualized as Social-Ecological-Technical Systems (SETS) and new integrative, interdisciplinary research approaches are needed which consider the interaction between these subsystems. We present results of an integrative analysis of transitions which occurred in two Austrian energy regions during the last 20 years. We show (i) how institutional development and infrastructure development are related to each other within time; (ii) whether and how demand and supply of renewable energy carries can be met at the regional level; and (iii) which factors in household behavior affect decision making- and consequently energy demand in the housing sector. Finally, we present some thoughts on the resilience of such transition processes and discuss the need for further research. Socio-ecological transitions are defined as transitions between different societal regimes and co-dependent ecological changes. In the past, two major transitions have occurred as are the transition from the hunter and gatherers society to the agricultural society and from the latter to the industrial society. These transitions have both been characterized by an increased material and energy consumption per capita and an increase in urban population. Scholars have stated that we are in the middle of a new transition maybe towards a sustainable society. This transition is likely to encompass a further increase in the share of the population living in urban areas, however linked to significant efforts to change the metabolism of cities by e.g., transforming the energy system away from a fossil fuel based towards a renewable energy system. The experiences of various scholars have led to the insight that this transition cannot be analyzed with disciplinary approaches alone. They have to be dealt with in an integrative, interdisciplinary way that considers the dynamics and interactions between social and ecological systems. This presentation will show how inter- and transdisciplinary research could be framed to better understand, simulate, and provide policy recommendations for the ongoing transition. These approaches significantly feed into the new research foci in urban ecology, as they specifically study the dynamics within and the interaction between the social and ecological systems. Empirical results for the transition of energy regions will be presented.

2016