SEES Fellows: Pathways & Partnerships in Adaptive Drought Communication in the Great Plains

SEES 研究员：途径

• 批准号: 1415368
• 负责人: Nicole Colston
• 金额: $ 41.63万
• 依托单位: Oklahoma State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-07-15 至 2018-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1415368&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SEES; Fellows; Pathways; & Partnerships

The project is supported under the NSF Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability Fellows (SEES Fellows) program, with the goal of helping to enable discoveries needed to inform actions that lead to environmental, energy and societal sustainability while creating the necessary workforce to address these challenges. Sustainability science is an emerging field that addresses the challenges of meeting human needs without harm to the environment, and without sacrificing the ability of future generations to meet their needs. A strong scientific workforce requires individuals educated and trained in interdisciplinary research and thinking, especially in the area of sustainability science. With the SEES Fellowship support, this project will enable a promising early career researcher to establish herself in an independent research career related to sustainability. This project builds upon Resiliency Theory and theories of applied community participation to explore two specific contexts of participatory communication (i.e., processes of collective learning and shared meaning) at the science-society interface: (1) adaptive co-management meetings in New Mexico and Oklahoma, and (2) existing education efforts by drought scientists at two Great Plains universities (Oklahoma State University and University of Nebraska-Lincoln). A mixed methods approach (including, household surveys, oral histories, key informant interviews, and pilot tests) will model community-partnership capacity for drought adaptation in Cimarron (OK) and Union (NM) Counties, and assess the impact of community-academic partnerships on drought literacy and adaptive capacity across the Great Plains. Research in adaptive co-management meetings and interactive media (as contexts for participatory communication between scientists and citizens) provides the context for innovative case study research on the role of public communication about science in community drought adaptation.Collaboration in case study research with Host Mentor Vadjunec and outreach efforts with Partner Institution Mentor Thomas (UNL) offers a unique opportunity to research the intersections of participatory communication and scientific literacy about the human and climatic drivers of extreme drought. The core research questions addressed by this proposal are, (1) What formal and informal pathways, players, and partnerships exist for participatory communication between scientists and citizens about drought vulnerability and adaptation, (2) How does communication about drought risk and recovery inform the effective diffusion and translation of drought literacy efforts in the Great Plains, and (3) How can we design forums and spaces for sustained interaction (i.e., engagement and collective learning) between stakeholders involved in adaptive drought communication? The project objectives uniquely related to advancing research at the intersections of sustainability science and education are, (1) to identify dimensions of community and partnership capacity for drought education and pathways of adaptive drought communication across scales, (2) to advance dynamic participatory models which assist in the adaptive co-management of water resources in local communities (i.e., increasing citizen-science dialogue, mobilizing community leaders, and fostering the drought education partnerships), and (3) to design and measure the success of drought literacy efforts based on inputs from sustainability scientists at various stages of community decision-making. The adaptive drought co-management workshops in NM and OK provide spaces for stakeholder interaction, which may lead to new approaches, innovations, and learning outcomes for communities in those regions. Outreach partnerships with UNL maximize dissemination of user-friendly and culturally-relevant drought outreach products, including a project website to consolidate scientific knowledge about drought in the Great Plains and interactive media templates. Interdisciplinary collaborations and research findings will inform efforts in academic community partnerships for sustainable practices across many NSF-supported disciplines.

该项目得到了NSF科学，工程和教育可持续发展研究员（SEES研究员）计划的支持，其目标是帮助实现所需的发现，为导致环境，能源和社会可持续性的行动提供信息，同时创造必要的劳动力来应对这些挑战。可持续发展科学是一个新兴的领域，它解决了在不损害环境的情况下满足人类需求的挑战，并且不牺牲后代满足其需求的能力。一个强大的科学队伍需要在跨学科研究和思维方面受过教育和培训的个人，特别是在可持续发展科学领域。在SEES奖学金的支持下，该项目将使一个有前途的早期职业研究人员能够在与可持续发展相关的独立研究生涯中确立自己的地位。这个项目建立在弹性理论和应用社区参与理论的基础上，探索参与性沟通的两个具体背景（即，集体学习和共享意义的过程）在科学-社会界面：（1）在新墨西哥州和俄克拉荷马州举行的适应性共同管理会议，以及（2）两所大平原大学（俄克拉荷马州）干旱科学家现有的教育工作（州立大学和内布拉斯加大学林肯分校）。一种混合方法（包括家庭调查、口述历史、关键知情人访谈和试点测试）将在西马龙（OK）和联合（NM）县建立社区伙伴关系适应干旱的能力模型，并评估社区-学术伙伴关系对整个大平原地区干旱扫盲和适应能力的影响。适应性共同管理会议和互动媒体研究（作为科学家和公民之间参与性交流的背景）为创新性案例研究提供了背景，研究了公众对科学在社区干旱适应中的作用。与东道主导师Vadjunec合作进行案例研究，并与伙伴机构导师托马斯（UNL）开展外联工作。提供了一个独特的机会，研究参与性沟通和科学素养的交叉点，对极端干旱的人类和气候驱动因素。该提案所解决的核心研究问题是：（1）科学家和公民之间就干旱脆弱性和适应问题进行参与式沟通的正式和非正式途径、参与者和伙伴关系;（2）关于干旱风险和恢复的沟通如何为大平原地区干旱扫盲工作的有效传播和转化提供信息;以及（3）我们如何设计可持续互动的论坛和空间（即，参与适应性干旱信息通报的利益攸关方之间的互动（包括互动协作和集体学习）？与推进可持续性科学和教育交叉领域的研究密切相关的项目目标是：（1）确定干旱教育的社区和伙伴关系能力的各个方面以及适应性干旱宣传的各种途径;（2）推进有助于当地社区适应性共同管理水资源的动态参与模式（即，增加公民与科学的对话，动员社区领导人，促进干旱教育伙伴关系），以及（3）根据可持续性科学家在社区决策各个阶段的投入，设计和衡量干旱扫盲工作的成功。北地中海和俄克拉荷马州的适应性干旱共同管理研讨会为利益攸关方互动提供了空间，这可能会为这些地区的社区带来新的方法、创新和学习成果。与UNL的外联伙伴关系最大限度地传播了方便用户和具有文化相关性的干旱外联产品，包括一个项目网站，以整合关于大平原干旱的科学知识和互动媒体模板。跨学科合作和研究结果将为学术界合作伙伴关系的努力提供信息，以促进许多NSF支持的学科的可持续实践。