NERC Water Security Knowledge Exchange Programme Communicating Environmental Science Workshop
Delivery Partners: Wales Environment Research Hub and the Climate Change Consortium for Wales
27th – 28th June 2013 at the Reichel Conference Centre, Bangor University
Background
Following an earlier successful workshop funded by the NERC Water Security Knowledge Exchange Programme (WSKEP) and delivered by the Wales Environment Research Hub (WERH), NERC provided funding to WERH for a one-off workshop in the area of “communicating environmental science”.
WERH works closely with the Climate Change Consortium of Wales (C3W) which is a consortium of four leading research universities in Wales working on climate change science. WERH and C3W collaborated on both the design and the delivery of this NERC KE workshop.
Rationale
WERH and C3W were keen to foster an interactive environment for this workshop, with a mix of expert science communicators, researcher providers and end-users of research (policy-makers, agencies, businesses, NGOs). Although the main theme was environmental science, invited contributors also included those with expertise in politics, social science and medicine to enable cross-fertilisation of ideas from different disciplines.
Workshop Output
Originally NERC suggested the production of a “Best Practice” manual in relation to communicating science effectively. However, in the lead time preceding the workshop, the Living With Environmental Change (LWEC) programme published their own manual – LWEC Knowledge Exchange Guidelines [Available online: http://www.lwec.org.uk/publications/lwec-knowledge-exchange-guidelines].
As a result, it was decided to produce a separate output from the workshop – rather than duplicate the LWEC publication. WERH and C3W agreed that the most useful output would be to collate and synthesise the content and supporting material for the workshop, according to the framework of the LWEC Guidelines, so as to extend and deepen them through feedback and case studies. Workshop output materials so far, including programme, delegate list, event photos, presentations and case studies with supporting links and sets of re-training materials (e.g. the video package), workshop summary and feedback with graphs, are available on the workshop website at:
NERC Water Security Knowledge Exchange Programme,
Wales Environment Research Hub, Climate Change Consortium for Wales
Communicating Environmental Science Workshop
Venue: Reichel Conference Centre, Bangor University
Who
Time
Activity
Day 1 - Thursday 27 June, 2013
Morning
0900-1000
Registration, welcome and refreshments
Parallel poster
session
NERC Knowledge
Exchange Fellows
1000-1110
Introduction to Knowledge Exchange
Chair- Shaun Russell
Shaun Russell
1000-1015
Workshop introduction and context
Faith Culshaw
1015-1045
Overview of NERC and KE Programmes
Matthew Goodwin
1045-1115
Keynote Address: Engaging academics with policy
1115-1135
Tea/coffee
1135-1310
Communicating science – interactive session
James Scourse
1135-1210
Introduction to the interactive session on making science relevant and
engaging audiences. Exercise 1 - know your topic and keep your message
simple
1210-1240
Exercise 2 - know your audience and tailor your presentation to their
interests, concerns and expectations
1240-1310
Exercise 3 - how to devise "hooks" that link what we want to communicate
with the interests of the target audience
1310-1400
Lunch
Afternoon
1400-1530
Communicating science effectively
Chair- Saskia Pagella
Parallel poster
session
NERC Knowledge
Exchange Fellows
John Martin
“Wartime Farm”
Alice Bell
1400-1430
Public engagement with science
Adam Corner
1430-1500
Knowledge exchange for behaviour change
Tony Coll
1500 -1530
Using the video medium for explaining research outputs
1530 -1550
Tea/coffee
1550-1700
Communicating science and the media
Vince Jones
1550-1650
5-minute case studies: the “Chasing Ice” global warming story (Vince Jones);Ming the Mollusc – oldest known animal (James Scourse); UK-NEA and the Wales Land-use and Climate Change Report (Shaun Russell).
Panel discussion – Alice Bell, Vince Jones, John Martin, James Scourse, Shaun Russell.
Shaun Russell
1650-1700
Day summary
Day 2 – Friday 28 June, 2013
Morning
0930-1100
Science into practice - industry end-users
Chair- Shaun Russell
Parallel poster
session
Faith Culshaw
0930-1000
The UK Water Research and Innovation Partnership
Tony Harrington
1000-1030
An industry perspective on research needs and knowledge transfer
1030-1100
Tea/coffee
1100-1230
Science into Policy – progress and products
Chair- Tim Pagella
Elizabeth Warham
1100-1130
The science into policy work of the Government Office for Science
Environment Agency
1130-1200
EA science reporting
Graham Winter
1200- 1230
Activities of the National Assembly of Wales Research Service
1230-1330
Lunch
Afternoon
1330-1500
Science and Impact
Chair – Charlie Falzon
Parallel poster
session
Kathryn Monk
1330-1400
Pathways to Impact and the Research Excellence Framework (REF)
Andrew Pullin
1400-1430
Evidence synthesis using systematic review
Jo Rycroft-Malone
1430-1500
Evidence into practice
1500-1520
Tea/coffee
Gary Carvalho
1520-1550
Knowledge Exchange case study: the EU-FP7 “FishPopTrace” project
Mark Everard
1550-1620
Communicating ecosystem services
Workshop Feedback
Questions (rated very good, good, ok, poor, very poor)
Percentage (%) respondents reporting ‘Very good’ or ‘Good’ The invitation/ booking process 88
The venue and refreshments 94 The overall workshop process design 94 The session introductory presentations 88 The workshop facilitators 88 Your opportunity to connect with others 100 Your opportunity to join in discussions 82 The workshop value to you in your role 94
Some of the feedback questions (e.g. concerning introductory presentations and facilitators) were taken from a standard form, and were not relevant to the format of this workshop. This discrepancy will be addressed in future events.
Feedback Comments
25 of the 50 delegates’ provided formal documentary feedback, with many more providing informal comment on the day and afterwards.
The strongest positive feedback was for both the practical and the multi-disciplinary nature of the event. Delegates consistently reported that they found great value in hearing about experiences and learning from case studies in disciplines outside their own. They felt that they gained truly novel insights and pointers for their future work, from this open interaction. There were lively and animated discussions throughout the event, and several reported the workshop as the most enjoyable that they had ever attended.
Two comments featured in the feedback which will inform the design of future WERH and C3W workshops. Delegates found that the first day was preferable owing to its highly interactive nature. Day two had rather more formal “Power Point” presentations. Some reported that finishing earlier on the second day would have allowed more to stay for the full workshop, whilst still heading home from the Bangor location in good time.
Workshop Output
LWEC (2013) states ‘Fundamentally, KE is the process of ensuring that the right insights are conveyed to the right people both in the right way and the right time’ (p.1). LWEC developed the Guidelines to help both researchers and research end users to ‘develop understanding of each other’s needs and capacities, and enable them to exchange reasonable, meaningful questions and responses with each other’ (LWEC, 2013 p.1).
LWEC lists the following items as key areas for consideration when participating in KE events:
1. Target – identify what you need to achieve from KE and put an appropriate structure in place to from the start of any research project
2. Design – embed a realistic KE programme within the full research programme
3. Engage – it is critical to develop a dialogue with potential end users and other stakeholders
4. Facilitate – as the research programme proceeds, enhance the KE process by enabling engagement with end users and stakeholders where possible
5. Share – knowledge exchange should ensure a two-way flow between stakeholders
by harnessing specific mechanisms to ensure this 6. Impact – make sure that results delivered are of real use to the programme’s end
users and stakeholders
7. Sustain – ensure that engagement and impact continues beyond the timescale of the research programme
8. Evaluate – monitor any KE activities and learn from experiences to enhance future KE events and processes and future research projects
The full “Communicating Environmental Science” report will summarise and synthesise the content and findings of the workshop, according to this LWEC framework. It will also link to the many case studies and other supporting material that was referenced at the meeting. Much of this material is already available on the workshop website at:
http://www.werh.org/Communicating%20Science%20workshop/CESworkshop.php.en
