Doctoral Dissertation Research: Bioprospecting and Scientific Knowledge in Post-Conflict Societies

博士论文项目调查了生物多样性的动员，作为在从战争过渡到和平的社会中建立冲突后未来的资源。在制药和其他行业越来越多地寻找替代材料来源来开发其产品的背景下，具有高度生物多样性的地方正经历着对生物勘探——生物资源的调查、研究和商业化——前所未有的兴趣。本研究考察了在战后恢复的地区将生物多样性作为创造经济收益的资源加以动员时所面临的风险。该博士生研究了生物勘探作为塑造当地社区期望、科学家实践和和平愿望的一种手段的潜力。除了有助于培养研究生的经验、科学数据收集和分析方法外，这项研究还将丰富对政治过渡背景下，特别是冲突后情景下科学家和环境知识的作用的科学理解。更广泛地说，这项研究的结果将促进对同时产生科学、自然和建设和平愿望的科学分析。通过扩大历史上代表性不足的人群和地区的参与，该项目将为在建设和平、生物勘探、科学与创新等领域工作的科学家和政策制定者提供信息。通过为期12个月的人种学田野调查，博士生将跟随一群科学家、农村居民、实验室、沿海景观和政府办公室的国家官员，在生物多样性和受冲突影响的地区开展生物勘探项目。本研究将探讨使生物多样性调查和市场化的条件，以及如何通过科学家、农村居民和政府官员之间的接触来体验和构成生物勘探。数据将通过参与观察、实验室人种志、参与测绘练习、访谈、生活史和文献分析来收集。数据整合和分析后，结果将在科学家、国家官员、学者和相关地区的居民中传播。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The doctoral dissertation project investigates the mobilization of biodiversity as a resource for building post-conflict futures in societies transitioning from war to peace. In a context where pharmaceutical and other industries are increasingly searching for alternative sources of materials to develop their products, places that exhibit high biodiversity are experiencing unprecedented interest in bioprospecting—the survey, study, and commercialization of biological resources. This research examines what is at stake when biodiversity is mobilized as a resource for producing economic gain in regions recovering from war. The doctoral student investigates the potential of bioprospecting as a means of shaping local communities' expectations, scientists' practices, and peacemaking aspirations. In addition to contributing to the training of a graduate student in the methods of empirical, scientific data collection and analysis, this research will enrich scientific understanding of the role of scientists and environmental knowledge in the context of political transition, particularly post-conflict scenarios. More broadly, the findings of this research will advance the scientific analysis of the simultaneous production of science, nature, and peacebuilding aspirations. By broadening the participation of people and locations historically underrepresented, this project will inform scientists and policymakers working in the fields of peacebuilding, bioprospecting, and science and innovation. By conducting twelve months of ethnographic fieldwork, the doctoral student will follow a group of scientists, rural residents, and state officials in laboratories, coastal landscapes, and government offices as they embark on a bioprospecting project in a biodiverse and conflict-affected area. This research will examine the conditions that enable the survey and marketization of biodiversity and how bioprospecting is experienced and constituted through the encounters between scientists, rural residents, and government officials. Data will be collected through participant observation, laboratory ethnography, participatory mapping exercises, interviews, life-histories, and document analysis. After data integration and analysis, results will be disseminated among scientists, state officials, academics, and residents of relevant places.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.