Abstract
Cultivating a more dynamic relationship between science and policy is essential for responding to complex social challenges such as sustainability. One approach to doing so is to “span the boundaries” between science and decision making and create a more comprehensive and inclusive knowledge exchange process. The exact definition and role of boundary spanning, however, can be nebulous. Indeed, boundary spanning often gets conflated and confused with other approaches to connecting science and policy, such as science communication, applied science, and advocacy, which can hinder progress in the field of boundary spanning. To help overcome this, in this perspective, we present the outcomes from a recent workshop of boundary-spanning practitioners gathered to (1) articulate a definition of what it means to work at this interface (“boundary spanning”) and the types of activities it encompasses; (2) present a value proposition of these efforts to build better relationships between science and policy; and (3) identify opportunities to more effectively mainstream boundary-spanning activities. Drawing on our collective experiences, we suggest that boundary spanning has the potential to increase the efficiency by which useful research is produced, foster the capacity to absorb new evidence and perspectives into sustainability decision-making, enhance research relevance for societal challenges, and open new policy windows. We provide examples from our work that illustrate this potential. By offering these propositions for the value of boundary spanning, we hope to encourage a more robust discussion of how to achieve evidence-informed decision-making for sustainability.
Highlights
Scientific research has a key role to play in developing sustainability solutions
Scientific knowledge, alongside other forms of knowledge, has an important contribution to make in addressing contemporary sustainability challenges
Based on our collective experiences, we contend that boundary spanning as a distinct practice can play a critical role in facilitating this contribution, by reconciling the production and use of scientific knowledge to support sustainability policy and solutions
Summary
Scientific research has a key role to play in developing sustainability solutions. integrating science into decision-making processes about sustainability (or any complex or “wicked” issue) alongside the many actors, institutions, types of knowledge, jurisdictions, political processes, and other social issues remains a significant challenge (Cook et al 2010; McCright and Dunlap 2011; Cvitanovic et al 2014; Addison et al 2015; Hering 2015; Cairney 2016; Clark et al 2016a). The academic literature, and our collective experiences, we define the practice of boundary spanning as ‘work to enable exchange between the production and use of knowledge to support evidence-informed decision-making in a specific context’ and boundary spanners ‘as individuals or organizations that and actively facilitate this process’.
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