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Making ecological science policy-relevant: issues of scale and disciplinary integration

Stevens, Carly J., Fraser, Iain M, Mitchley, Jonathan, Thomas, Matthew B. (2007) Making ecological science policy-relevant: issues of scale and disciplinary integration. Landscape Ecology, 22 (6). pp. 799-809. ISSN 0921-2973. (doi:10.1007/s10980-007-9092-8) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:3162)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10980-007-9092-8

Abstract

In this paper, we ask why so much ecological scientific research does not have a greater policy impact in the UK. We argue that there are two potentially important and related reasons for this failing. First, much current ecological science is not being conducted at a scale that is readily meaningful to policy-makers. Second, to make much of this research policy-relevant requires collaborative interdisciplinary research between ecologists and social scientists. However, the challenge of undertaking useful interdisciplinary research only re-emphasises the problems of scale: ecologists and social scientists traditionally frame their research questions at different scales and consider different facets of natural resource management, setting different objectives and using different language. We argue that if applied ecological research is to have greater impact in informing environmental policy, much greater attention needs to be given to the scale of the research efforts as well as to the interaction with social scientists. Such an approach requires an adjustment in existing research and funding infrastructures.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1007/s10980-007-9092-8
Uncontrolled keywords: evidence-based research; interdisciplinary; scale
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory
Divisions: Divisions > Kent Business School - Division > Kent Business School (do not use)
Depositing User: Suzanne Duffy
Date Deposited: 14 May 2008 06:52 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 09:41 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/3162 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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