Evaluating knowledge transfer at the interface between science and society

In view of the global grand challenges, fundamental research institutions are increasingly being asked to provide context for the application of their research findings and to incorporate transdisciplinary forms of knowledge production. But how can the involvement of stakeholders from outside academia be captured and evaluated within the research process? And how can they be engaged in meaningful science-stakeholder dialogue? “Good” processes are a prerequisite for meeting these changing requirements and for ensuring a successful knowledge transfer at the interface between science and society

Biochemical composition and condition of Crassostrea gigas (Thunberg, 1793) in relation to integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) feed sources

Offshore aquaculture has the potential to satisfy some of the rising demand for animal protein and, using an integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) approach, to do so in a sustainable, ecologically friendly and economically valuable way. This approach relies heavily on the bio-extraction capacity of filter-feeding organisms like the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas (Thunberg, 1793), to turn excess particles of higher trophic cultured organism like fish, into valuable biomass. This study investigates the incorporation of IMTA related feeds by C. gigas based on changes in its biochemical composition. To accomplish this objective, a laboratory based feeding experiment was conducted, using five prepared diets. These consisted of a commercial turbot feed, turbot feces and the microalgae Tetraselmis chui and were mixed to simulate different open water feeding scenarios. Oysters feeding on high energy turbot feed, as part of their diet, managed to significantly increase their condition index (CI), while condition in the other groups remained unaffected. Lower carbon-to-nitrogen (C/N) ratio in oysters feeding solely on low energy turbo feces implied a depletion of energy reserves after the experiment, whereas oysters feeding on a mixture of turbot feed and feces showed no such signs. Changes in fatty acid (FA) composition of oysters were particularly apparent in animals feeding on turbot feed. Composition and abundance of saturated and mono-unsaturated FA changed, in part, in relation to diet composition. Changes are believed to be the result of biosynthesis of non-methylene-interrupted (NMI) FA. The results presented in this study indicate that C. gigas will incorporate particulate fish waste and are even able to increase their condition while doing so. This suggests that they will be able to absorb excess nutrients released from aquaculture sites and become another valuable product of an IMTA system

Identifying and evaluating successful processes in knowledge transfer projects: first lessons

Various societal systems around the globe have endorsed a scientific-technocratic approach to decision-making. This is not a novel observation, however, within this approach, issues such as “knowledge transfer”, “stakeholder engagement”, “participation” rank high. Thus, improving exchange and communication at the nexus of the science/policy interface has seen considerable attention over the course of the last decade. The creation of multiple web-based platforms, such as the Earth System Knowledge Platform (ESKP) of the Helmholtz Foundation, are a case in point. Even if beyond reproach in terms of political and somewhat equitable participation of society at large, these well intended initiatives may not lead necessary to well-informed and sustainable justified decision-making. Indeed, only a limited number of publications are available on the issue of what kind of “metrics of success” can be employed and how to chart the impact these efforts of stakeholder inclusion and forms of dialogue. We present here a first evaluation effort on natural science projects, which were conducted under the umbrella of the ESKP. We accompanied six projects over the course of the entire project cycle, all of which had explicit knowledge transfer components and stakeholder orientation. We conducted an ex-ante and ex-post evaluation of these research projects as well as various interviews, to assess progress, identify new success criteria for research as well as to understand how and in which way natural science scientists approach and engage with stakeholders outside of their direct academic sphere. First results of this ongoing assessment indicate that new types of output and corresponding success criteria classified to better describe and evaluate success must be developed on a case specific basis. This pertains especially to the normative question of what is success and for whom. It can be concluded from these first lesson that navigating between wishful thinking, empirical evidence and practical relevance is the challenge every knowledge platform faces

Climate Change and Biodiversity—Implications for the Local Fisheries Sector

The North Sea has been and still is one of the most intensely used marine areas worldwide. Shipping (trade and private), the exploration/exploitation of energy resources (oil, gas and wind), fisheries and tourism compete for the scarce space (Holm et al. 2017). Especially, in German waters, resource-use conflicts rise between stakeholders

Development of multi-use platforms at sea:Barriers to realising Blue Growth

The recent H2020 Blue Growth projects MARIBE and MUSES investigated the potential of a variety of different combinations of economic activities in co-location or integrated in multi-use platforms. Both projects identified barriers - including regulatory, financing, liability and insurance issues; environmental concerns; stakeholder perceptions; and lack of appropriate skills – that hamper the development of multi-use platforms. The H2020 MARIBE project concluded that further funding for multi-use demonstrations should be provided to increase investor confidence and bring multi-use through the so-called Valley of Death. The H2020 MUSES project concluded that multi-use needs to be proactively facilitated and incentivised through public regulatory bodies and respective support programmes. This paper combines and analyses results from both projects in order to identify key research gaps and actions required for the continued development of multi-use platforms, based on a structured critical review of available peer-reviewed literature on the topic as well as reports of both the MUSES and MARIBE projects. Research gaps and actions are analysed based on a multi-use platform typology to inform developers, policy makers, academia and investors for future development of multi-use at sea

Fishing within offshore wind farms in the North Sea:Stakeholder perspectives for multi-use from Scotland and Germany

Offshore wind power generation requires large areas of sea to accommodate its activities, with increasing claims for exclusive access. As a result, pressure is placed on other established maritime uses, such as commercial fisheries. The latter sector has often been taking a back seat in the thrust to move energy production offshore, thus leading to disagreements and conflicts among the different stakeholder groups. In recognition of the latter, there has been a growing international interest in exploring the combination of multiple maritime activities in the same area (multi-use; MU), including the re-instatement of fishing activities within, or in close proximity to, offshore wind farms (OWFs). We summarise local stakeholder perspectives from two sub-national case studies (East coast of Scotland and Germany's North Sea EEZ) to scope the feasibility of combining multiple uses of the sea, such as offshore wind farms and commercial fisheries. We combined a desk-based review with 15 semi-structured qualitative interviews with key knowledge holders from both industries, regulators, and academia to aggregate key results. Drivers, barriers and resulting effects (positive and negative) for potential multi-use of fisheries and OWFs are listed and ranked (57 factors in total). Factors are of economic, social, policy, legal, and technical nature. To date, in both case study areas, the offshore wind industry has shown little interest in multi-use solutions, unless clear added value is demonstrated and no risks to their operations are involved. In contrast, the commercial fishing sector is proactive towards multi-use projects and acts as a driving force for MU developments. We provide a range of management recommendations, based on stakeholder input, to support progress towards robust decision making in relation to multi-use solutions, including required policy and regulatory framework improvements, good practice guidance, empirical studies, capacity building of stakeholders and improvements of the consultation process. Our findings represent a comprehensive depiction of the current state and key stakeholder aspirations for multi-use solutions combining fisheries and OWFs. We believe that the pathways towards robust decision making in relation to multi-use solutions suggested here are transferable to other international locations

Multi-use of the sea:A wide array of opportunities from site-specific cases across Europe

<p><b>Comparison of MU Combinations:</b> (Top) ranked by Drivers—Highest to lowest, and (Bottom) ranked by Added Values—Highest to lowest.</p

Multi-use of the sea as a sustainable development instrument in five eu sea basins

This paper examines the concept of maritime multi-use as a territorial/SPATIAL governance instrument for the enhancement of sustainable development in five EU sea basins. Multi-use (MU) is expected to enhance the productivity of blue economy sectors, as well as deliver additional socio-economic benefits related to the environmental and social dimensions of sustainable development. The paper provides a definition of maritime multi-use and identifies the multi-uses with the highest potential in EU sea basins. In each sea basin, multi-use plays a different role as concerns sustainable development. For the Eastern Baltic Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea, the MU focus should remain on the environmental pillar of sustainable development. In the North Sea, North Atlantic and Western Baltic Sea, addressing social sustainability seems a key precondition for success of MU in enhancement of sustainable spatial development at sea. Moreover, it has been suggested to introduce MU key global strategies such as SDGs or Macroregional strategies and action plans and to supplement maritime spatial planning with sectoral incentives and educational efforts as key vehicles supporting MU. The paper concludes by identifying aspects which, in order to inform maritime spatial planning and maritime governance regarding a more conscious application of the aforementioned concept, require further investigation. Key tasks are related to: more profound evaluation of performance of policies supporting MUs, researching the impact of MU on societal goals and on the MU costs and benefits, including external ones, and finally identifying the impact of MU on the development of various sectors and regions on land

Engaging in meaningful science-stakeholder dialogues in polar and marine research

The call for research projects of direct societal relevance and the transference of scientific results to end-users has significantly increased over the past years. The globally growing competition for ocean resources and space as well as pressures on the marine environment have created an increasing demand to meaningfully include stakeholders outside academia in research activities. Yet, despite an increase of dissemination and outreach efforts, these activities are often found to be lacking targeting and tailoring of the transferred information to the relevant audiences (European Commission, 2011). The communication efforts are therefore mostly one-dimensional and nondirectional, following the “deficit” model, which regards the lay-audience as passive receivers of information rather than individuals interpreting messages according to their personal and professional background, experiences and needs (Nisbet, 2009; Bauer, 2008; Bauer, Allum and Miller, 2007; Nisbet and Goidel, 2007; Scheufele, 2007). In most cases, this approach, however, limits understanding and sense-making of the given information (Moser, 2010). This study works from the premise that meaningful stakeholder engagement calls for dialogic communication processes, in which interests and expectations of the all actors are accounted for. For this analysis the subjective experiences of researchers obtained during various sciencestakeholder projects at the Alfred-Wegener-Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Science, were gathered using semi-structured interviews. Projects were selected based on a content analysis of their respective abstracts, identifying those that stated the objective to engage with stakeholders. The in-depth project analysis showcases three common approaches to multi-stakeholder communication processes: 1. A limited one-dimensional communication model, in which the target audience was vaguely defined and messages were produced in a “one size fits all” matter without evaluation of the effects of provided information. 2. A linear, targeted information transfer, in which stakeholder needs were segmented and accounted for, providing tailored scientific information to each audience segment. 3. A targeted information exchange, in which stakeholder views and feedbacks were requested at one or multiple occasions during the research process, potentially influencing the research project and thus the subsequent tailored information transfer. Based on the experiences reported by researchers using these communications models and feedback by stakeholders engaged in them, the interaction between the actors was then rated to be most beneficial for involved participants, when stakeholders were involved from the beginning of a research processes as regular project partners and when stakeholders were able to leverage their science cooperation for own purposes. To systemise this approach the study proposes a fourth dialogic approach to science-stakeholder interactions, which enables the co-production of knowledge. Compared to the above mentioned communication processes this approach calls for scientists and stakeholders to become equal partners in the research process, which engage in a continuous dialogue throughout the project - and ideally beyond - in order to produce a result, which feeds back into the research arena and allows for informed-decision making in the stakeholders’ respective domains. Hence, new interactive formats of science-stakeholder dialogues are needed, which overcome the current barrier between academia and “the outside” world, transforming scientific findings to societal relevant knowledge