Convivial conservation:Implementing intellectual, collaborative, and communicative praxis in a research project

In this chapter, we reflect on how we implemented an intellectual, collaborative, and communicative praxis rooted in convivial conservation, conviviality, and political ecology in our six-country, four-year CONVIVA (convivial conservation) research project of which all three authors were a part (2019–2022). We highlight our intellectual praxis of challenging and complementing convivial conservation through iterative dialogue and listening, our collaborative praxis of co-convening and co-authoring in open-access and free academic outlets while championing underrepresented voices within and beyond the project, and our communicative praxis of complementing academic work with accessible outputs such as blogs, policy briefs, or podcasts in different languages. We argue that, despite challenges such as Covid and academia's ingrained inequalities, the collective's efforts built a positive intellectual, collaborative, and communicative praxis through listening and a dedication to transformation, which we hope to take forward into other projects.