This project explored the contributions of environmental social science and humanities (ESSH) to environmental solutions, and how to overcome barriers to the involvement of the ESSH community in natural science research.
Social and environmental challenges are deeply interwoven. Responding to overlapping concerns about climate change, biodiversity loss and inequality is not merely a scientific or technical enterprise, but also a deeply political, economic, moral and social endeavour. Generating fair and effective responses requires a bridging and blending of different academic disciplines.
A central message that emerged from our work is that people are at the heart of collaborative communities, and that building relationships is a fundamental component of interdisciplinary research.
Main lessons
- Commitment to listening well and being generous in learning about other perspectives is critical to building mutual understanding and relationships
- Dialogue around specific issues is likely to precipitate exciting exchanges of ideas
- Early integration of ESSH is vital to develop deep and meaningful collaborations
- Building bridges takes time and requires commitment, especially since the incentive structures are not generally well-aligned with the investments required
- There is lots of potential for creativity to play exciting and interesting role in building bridges.
Showcase of work at Oxford: Environmental social science and humanities– building bridges – interdisciplinary environmental research, pdf (opens in a new tab) 10 pages, 9.7 MB
