Upload
dora-fields
View
217
Download
4
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Walking the tightrope: Pursuing real-world impacts from research in an academic environment
David PannellCentre for Environmental Economics and PolicySchool of Agricultural and Resource Economics
For this PPT see www.davidpannell.net under “Talks”
Balancing act
Real-worldimpact
Academicimpact
What matters?
Academic impact· Sophistication
· Originality/innovation
· Citations
· Academic reputation
· Evidence/rigour
Real-world impact· Simplicity
· Usefulness/relevance
· Opinions of trusted others
· Trust, credibility, relationships
· Clarity, persuasiveness
Academic impact
· ERA
· Assessed by established senior academics
· Usually value rigour over relevance
· Usually uni-disciplinary
· Journal quality (A*, A, B, C)
· Citations
· Academic reputation
Real-world impact
· Growing interest
· Perception: we need to do better at convincing government about benefits of research
· ARC discussing how to include real-world impact in ERA
· UK’s Research Excellence Framework: 20% of funding based on “impact” from 2014.
Trial by universities, 2012
· Group of Eight (Go8) and Aust Technology Network of Universities (ATN)
· Each university submitted cherry-picked case studies (165 submissions)
· Evaluated by people from industry & government
· 24 ‘best’ selected
Example – research project
2000: Salinity was a hot topic
$1.4 billion of public funding
I was shocked
· Poor design of the program
· Program developers seemed to have been unaware of crucial areas of salinity research and their implications
· No chance of any significant benefits
My response· Media
· Discussion papers
· Presentations
· Submissions
Tried to help them
· Developed INFFER (Investment Framework for Environmental Resources)A tool for integrating the science with other infoDevelop logical, evidence-based environmental
projectsAssess value for moneyPrioritise projects
Strategy· Extensive input by users
· Make tools as simple as possible
· Provide training and help desk for users
· Clear documentation aimed at non-experts
· Public critiques of existing approaches
· Attempt to influence gov’t agencies to change the signals
Regional NRM application
International application
Policy impacts
· Senate inquiry (2006)Recommended use of INFFER
· NRM Ministerial Council (2007)Endorsed new set of principles for investment in
salinity
· Victorian Government, Biodiversity White Paper “INFFER will be utilised for the next five years”.
· Caring for our Country Influenced design of project template
Example – blog
“Pannell Discussions”
· Started in 2004
· Theme: environmental economics, agricultural economics, policy, etc.
· 250 posts so far
· Each is a mini-discussion paper (500-1000 words)
· Often references my own research
· About one every two weeks
“Pannell Discussions”
· Subscribers receive notification of new posts
· 640 subscribers
· New posts are tweeted (130 followers)
· Popular posts get about 1000 readers
Real-world impacts
· Less obvious than for INFFER
· Readers have a better understanding of economics than they would have
· Some reduction in confusion, misconceptions, prejudices
· Greater awareness of specific tools & concepts
· Increased profile for myself and UWA in the community
Costs?
· It takes time INFFER: lots!Pannell Discussions: about 1 hour per week
· Some academics might not consider these endeavours to be very academically respectable
· Some aspects are difficult, stressful, frustrating
· Is it worth it?Real world – definitely yesAcademically – yes, but …
Academic benefits (sample of 1!)· Journal papers generated
Directly part of the INFFER work: 17Related/stimulated by: 16
· But, different sorts of papersResponding to identified real-world needsCan be out of left field relative to the existing lit More inter-disciplinary papersMore synthesis/commentary type of papersMostly, it’s not the type of research that gets into
the most prestigious disciplinary journals
Academic benefits
· CitationsThese papers get relatively well citedOne INFFER-related paper is the most cited paper
over the last 8 years in Land Economics (one of the leading international journals in my field)
Academic benefits
· Prizes/awards
· INFFEREureka Prize for
Interdisciplinary ResearchAARES Quality of Research Discovery Award
· Pannell DiscussionsAARES Quality of Research Communication Award
· GeneralPerhaps made some contribution to my Federation
Fellowship
Academic benefits
· Opportunities generated
· Invited onto steering committee of major EU project, thanks to blog
· Reputation for useful research easier to get funding (unsolicited approaches offering $)
Would I recommend it?
· Not for everyone
· Need to Get a buzz out of making a differenceHave strong communication skillsEnjoy the various challenges Be prepared/able to make the timeNot be too obsessed with academic prestige
· If project pushes for change, need toEnjoy learning about how things work in the real
worldBe resilient and persistent
Resilience/persistence needed
· People will suspect your motives
· People with a vested interest in the status quo will attack you
· People will misunderstand, misinterpret, and totally misrepresent what you are saying
· Nobody reads more than a page
· Nobody knows about your discipline
· Everybody is too rushed to do things properly
Resilience/persistence needed
· Everybody thinks they are doing a good job, even if they clearly aren’t
· People think evidence and analysis is optional
· It reduces their flexibility for decision making
· People will pursue objectives you think are inappropriate
· Significant change takes years
· You have to repeat yourself ad nauseam
Resilience/persistence needed
· You’ll see the same mistakes made repeatedly
· If you succeed, it could be more because of relationships and trust than the quality of your evidence or logic
· Even if you convince some people in the system of your position, people higher up who know absolutely nothing about it will over-rule them
· The person you’ve been cultivating will change jobs
Implications for universities
· Don’t expect everyone to do it
· Some high achievers for real-world impact might not be academic high achievers
· Perhaps an initiative to free up some time for selected people
· Don’t set rigid requirements for “quality” based only on academic criteria
Implications for disciplines
· Broaden perspective on what constitutes quality
· Broaden who judges
· Avoid rigour-mortis
· Be open to multi-disciplinary work
Resources
· Pannell, D.J. and Roberts, A.M. (2009). Conducting and delivering integrated research to influence land-use policy: salinity policy in Australia, Environmental Science and Policy 12(8), 1088-1099.http://dpannell.fnas.uwa.edu.au/dp0803.htm
· Pannell, D.J. (2004). Effectively communicating economics to policy makers. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics 48(3), 535-555. http://dpannell.fnas.uwa.edu.au/j78ajare.pdf
Resources
· Weible et al. (2012). “Understanding and influencing the policy process”, Policy Science 45, 1-12. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11077-
011-9143-5
Pannell Discussions (Blog posts)· 150 – Why don’t environmental managers use
decision theory?http://www.pannelldiscussions.net/2009/04/150-wh
y-dont-environmental-managers-use-decision-theory/
· 136 – Engaging with policy: tips for researchershttp://www.pannelldiscussions.net/2008/09/136-eng
aging-with-policy-tips-for-researchers/
Resources
· A relevant blog post by ecologist Brian McGill on “What it takes to do policy-relevant science” http://dynamicecology.wordpress.com/2013/05/14/
what-it-takes-to-do-policy-relevant-science/
· Video: Ben Martin (U Sussex) “Science Policy Research - Can Research Influence Policy? How? And Does It Make for Better Policy?”http://upload.sms.csx.cam.ac.uk/media/747324
For this PPT see www.davidpannell.net under “Talks”
Other needs (for policy impact)· Need some demand pull
· Seek a product champion
· Understand potential users
· Understand the chain from research to impact for your issue
A chain from research to impact: Information for policy· Research
· Something useful is learned (or isn’t)
· New information influences policy (or doesn’t)
· Policy change is implemented (or isn’t)
· If policy aims to change behaviour, people respond as intended (or don’t)
· Changes (relative to no research) result – social, environmental or economic benefits (or not)
Other needs (for policy impact)· Need “absorptive capacity” in the organisation
· The political circumstances need to be right. You can’t change ideological positions of govt.
· Timing. Grasp opportunities.
· Good communicationSimplicity, brevity, clarityAvoid jargon, maths, complex graphs