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Contextualizing climate science: applying social learning systems theory to knowledge production, climate services, and use-inspired research

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Abstract

Scientists need to acknowledge the inherent social contexts that drive the scientific process if they want their research to improve complex societal problems such as vulnerability to climate change. Social interactions and relationships are essential elements for conducting use-inspired research, creating usable knowledge, and providing climate services. The Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS) program was founded on theories of use-inspired research and co-producing knowledge with non-academic partners. A recent program evaluation illuminated gaps in these underlying program models and led to the inclusion of social learning systems theory and communities of practice. Using grounded examples, we demonstrate the CLIMAS program’s ongoing role in fostering, maintaining, and expanding a climate resilience social learning system in the U.S. Southwest. Broader implications from the evaluation focus on the importance of establishing and maintaining relationships, increasing institutional and individual flexibility in response to change, and improving the practice of transdisciplinarity. These findings inform new program evaluation metrics and data collection techniques. This paper contributes to current theory and practice of use-inspired science and climate services by identifying and demonstrating how social interactions inform climate knowledge production. The reconceptualization of the CLIMAS program as part of a growing regional social learning system serves as an example for similar types of programs. We encourage climate services and use-inspired research programs to explore applications of this framework to their own operations.

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Notes

  1. All authors of this paper are members of the CLIMAS team and receive funding from the CLIMAS program through the Climate Program Office at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

  2. Wenger’s conceptualization of social learning systems and communities of practice emerges from information science and anthropology, but has been applied in several fields, including health, education, and business management.

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Acknowledgements

We thank our anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments program through grants NA12OAR4310124 and NA17OAR4310288 with the Climate Assessment for the Southwest program at the University of Arizona.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Climate Assessment for the Southwest, Institute of the Environment, University of Arizona, 1064 E. Lowell St., Tucson, AZ, 85721-0137, USA

    Gigi Owen, Daniel B. Ferguson & Ben McMahan

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  1. Gigi Owen
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  2. Daniel B. Ferguson
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Contributions

G.O. and D.F. designed the evaluation. G.O. collected and analyzed evaluation data. G.O., D.F., and B.M. conceptualized and wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Gigi Owen.

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“Putting Climate Services in Contexts: Advancing Multi-disciplinary Understandings” edited by Sophie Webber

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Owen, G., Ferguson, D.B. & McMahan, B. Contextualizing climate science: applying social learning systems theory to knowledge production, climate services, and use-inspired research. Climatic Change 157, 151–170 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-019-02466-x

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