50,834 research outputs found
Engaging stakeholders in research to address water-energy-food (WEF) nexus challenges
The waterâenergyâfood (WEF) nexus has become a popular, and potentially powerful, frame through which to analyse interactions and interdependencies between these three systems. Though the case for transdisciplinary research in this space has been made, the extent of stakeholder engagement in research remains limited with stakeholders most commonly incorporated in research as end-users. Yet, stakeholders interact with nexus issues in a variety of ways, consequently there is much that collaboration might offer to develop nexus research and enhance its application. This paper outlines four aspects of nexus research and considers the value and potential challenges for transdisciplinary research in each. We focus on assessing and visualising nexus systems; understanding governance and capacity building; the importance of scale; and the implications of future change. The paper then proceeds to describe a novel mixed-method study that deeply integrates stakeholder knowledge with insights from multiple disciplines. We argue that mixed-method research designsâin this case orientated around a number of cases studiesâare best suited to understanding and addressing real-world nexus challenges, with their inevitable complex, non-linear system characteristics. Moreover, integrating multiple forms of knowledge in the manner described in this paper enables research to assess the potential for, and processes of, scaling-up innovations in the nexus space, to contribute insights to policy and decision making
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Unravelling the dynamics of learning design within and between disciplines in higher education using learning analytics
Designing effective learning experience in virtual learning environment (VLE) can be supported by learning analytics (LA) through explicit feedback on how learning design (LD) influences studentsâ engagement, satisfaction and performance. Marrying LA with LD not only puts existing pedagogical theories in instructional design to the test with actual learning data, but also provides the context of learning which helps educators translate established LA findings to direct interventions. My dissertation aims at unpacking the complexity of LD and its impact on studentsâ engagement, satisfaction and performance on VLE using LA. The context of this study is 400+ online and blended learning modules at the Open University (OU) UK. This research combines multiple sources of data from the OU Learning Design Initiative (OULDI), system log data, self-reported surveys, and performance data. Given the scope of this study, a wide range of visualization techniques, social network analysis, multi-level modelling, and machine learning will be used
Unlocking medical leadershipâs potential:a multilevel virtuous circle?
Background and aim: Medical leadership (ML) has been introduced in many countries, promising to support healthcare services improvement and help further system reform through effective leadership behaviours. Despite some evidence of its success, such lofty promises remain unfulfilled. Method: Couched in extant international literature, this paper provides a conceptual framework to analyse ML's potential in the context of healthcare's complex, multifaceted setting. Results: We identify four interrelated levels of analysis, or domains, that influence ML's potential to transform healthcare delivery. These are the healthcare ecosystem domain, the professional domain, the organisational domain and the individual doctor domain. We discuss the tensions between the various actors working in and across these domains and argue that greater multilevel and multistakeholder collaborative working in healthcare is necessary to reprofessionalise and transform healthcare ecosystems
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Framing systems thinking in practice competencies: report on systems thinking in practice competencies workshop 10 June 2017
On 10 June 2017, fourteen stakeholders from across the UK came together in Camden, London to engage in a collaborative inquiry on the framing of Systems Thinking in Practice (STiP) competencies as part of ongoing work that seeks to better support professional and institutional recognition of STiP skill-sets and capabilities. Phase 1 of this current inquiry comprised a series of online conversations with six prominent systems thinking practitioners. Phase 2 sought to extend the inquiry with a selective invitation to engage with a one-day workshop in London. Phase 3 will seek to deepen and widen the conversations on framing STiP competencies and capabilities with a view towards developing and enacting a platform for managing systems thinking in practice capabilities through ongoing development of competency frameworks associated with STiP. During the workshop reported on in this paper, stakeholders examined several existing and emerging competency frameworks in the systems thinking domain and explored issues of mutual interest and concern, whilst envisaging how to co-operate over the framing and enactment of competencies and capabilities in STiP
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Towards a New Model of Leadership for the NHS
This paper was commissioned by the NHS Leadership Academy as a contribution to thinking about the future development of leadership in and around the NHS. It was prepared in collaboration with the Hay Group. The backdrop and one of the triggers was the launch of a new suite of professional development programmes sponsored and organised by the NHS Leadership Academy. From the research reported in this paper a new framework for leadership in the healthcare is built. This is being used to guide the construction of a new Leadership Model. To quote the NLA this 'will be a well-researched, evidence-based model that reflects the values of the NHS, what we know about effective leadership, what we have learned from the Leadership Framework and what our patients and communities are now asking from us as leaders'
Governance, scale and the environment: the importance of recognizing knowledge claims in transdisciplinary arenas
Any present day approach of the worldâs most pressing environmental problems involves both scale and governance issues. After all, current local events might have long-term global consequences (the scale issue) and solving complex environmental problems requires policy makers to think and govern beyond generally used time-space scales (the governance issue). To an increasing extent, the various scientists in these fields have used concepts like social-ecological systems, hierarchies, scales and levels to understand and explain the âcomplex cross-scale dynamicsâ of issues like climate change. A large part of this work manifests a realist paradigm: the scales and levels, either in ecological processes or in governance systems, are considered as ârealâ. However, various scholars question this position and claim that scales and levels are continuously (re)constructed in the interfaces of science, society, politics and nature. Some of these critics even prefer to adopt a non-scalar approach, doing away with notions such as hierarchy, scale and level. Here we take another route, however. We try to overcome the realist-constructionist dualism by advocating a dialogue between them on the basis of exchanging and reflecting on different knowledge claims in transdisciplinary arenas. We describe two important developments, one in the ecological scaling literature and the other in the governance literature, which we consider to provide a basis for such a dialogue. We will argue that scale issues, governance practices as well as their mutual interdependencies should be considered as human constructs, although dialectically related to natureâs materiality, and therefore as contested processes, requiring intensive and continuous dialogue and cooperation among natural scientists, social scientists, policy makers and citizens alike. They also require critical reflection on scientistsâ roles and on academic practices in general. Acknowledging knowledge claims provides a common ground and point of departure for such cooperation, something we think is not yet sufficiently happening, but which is essential in addressing todayâs environmental problems
Models of everywhere revisited: a technological perspective
The concept âmodels of everywhereâ was first introduced in the mid 2000s as a means of reasoning about the
environmental science of a place, changing the nature of the underlying modelling process, from one in which
general model structures are used to one in which modelling becomes a learning process about specific places, in
particular capturing the idiosyncrasies of that place. At one level, this is a straightforward concept, but at another
it is a rich multi-dimensional conceptual framework involving the following key dimensions: models of everywhere,
models of everything and models at all times, being constantly re-evaluated against the most current
evidence. This is a compelling approach with the potential to deal with epistemic uncertainties and nonlinearities.
However, the approach has, as yet, not been fully utilised or explored. This paper examines the
concept of models of everywhere in the light of recent advances in technology. The paper argues that, when first
proposed, technology was a limiting factor but now, with advances in areas such as Internet of Things, cloud
computing and data analytics, many of the barriers have been alleviated. Consequently, it is timely to look again
at the concept of models of everywhere in practical conditions as part of a trans-disciplinary effort to tackle the
remaining research questions. The paper concludes by identifying the key elements of a research agenda that
should underpin such experimentation and deployment
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