U.S.-Mexico Planning Workshop: International Collaboration to Advance Sustainability Science in the U.S. and Mexico

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In this international planning workshop, researchers from the U.S. and Mexico will catalyze a new research collaboration based in sustainability science between Arizona State University (ASU) and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). This new collaboration will be initiated through a plenary planning session hosted by UNAM and attended by 30 scientists from both institutions, who will develop a conceptual framework that will serve as the common basis for research proposals to NSF and regional funding agencies. Key policy decision-makers in Mexico will be consulted to define the focal problem domains of the studies. The research that emerges from this collaboration is expected to be innovative in terms of the ideas and concepts brought to bear on specific resource management problems that now appear intractable, and transformative in the structure and process of the cross-border collaboration as well as in the intended impacts on decision-outcomes and planning. A replicable structure and approach is expected to be provided as an example for other research initiatives around the globe. The interdependency of Mexican and US futures adds additional salience to this endeavor. The ASU researchers will interface primarily with UNAM counterparts in the Institute of Ecology, whose Director is Dr. Dominguez Pérez-Tejada.The funded activities will result in a research agenda formulated together with key stakeholders from outside the academic community who have a strong interest in the projects' results. The primary benefit is the establishment of a research partnership addressing complex sustainability problems. The project will not only contribute new scientific insights, but also enable the formulation of new decision support tools that will aid managers and policy makers at both local and national levels. The initiative will involve early career scholars in both US and Mexico and will enable them to establish themselves within a cutting-edge international research agenda and intellectual network. Arizona State University is well placed geographically and institutionally to support this endeavor. By coordinating this collaboration with an ongoing grant in sustainability science curriculum and education from US AID, graduate students from both institutions will be involved in the development of the research agenda and leverage complementary pedagogical work in sustainability science education. Involvement of junior researchers in international research is a major goal of OISE.