Ferre, M, Martin-Ortega, J orcid.org/0000-0003-0002-6772, Di Gregorio, M orcid.org/0000-0003-2545-217X et al. (1 more author) (2022) How do information flows affect impact from environmental research? - An analysis of a science-policy network. Journal of Environmental Management, 321. 115828. ISSN 0301-4797
Abstract
Evidence of the impact arising from environmental research is increasingly demanded. Exchanges between science providers and actors that use scientific knowledge to address environmental problems are recognized as a key component of the mechanisms through which impact occurs. Yet, the role of interactions between science and policy actors in delivering and shaping research impact is not well established. We aim to better understand how transfer of science in a science-policy network generates impact. Our approach relies on an exploratory social network analysis (SNA), applied to a network of organisations working on land and water management in a catchment in the UK. We analyse flows of scientific information across these organisations and how those contribute to impact, which we conceptualized as change in organisations at three levels: increased awareness, operational change and strategic change. We find that organisations occupying central positions in the network facilitate the transfer of science and influence the level of change achieved. We also find that the effectiveness of the flows of information and impact delivery depends on boundary organisations, in particular public regulatory bodies, that connect agents with others. Moreover, intended change reported by science providers does not often transform directly into change as reported by the receivers of the information. We conclude that both exchanges between researchers and research users and the role of boundary organisations are key to impact delivery and making change possible. This is valuable for understanding where improvements to information flows between organisations might enhance impact.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Keywords: | Research impact; Science-policy network; Boundary organisations; Information flows; Catchment management |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Sustainability Research Institute (SRI) (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) NE/P011160/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 27 Jul 2022 13:53 |
Last Modified: | 13 Mar 2023 20:04 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.115828 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:189404 |