1a 4 katrin prager

Co-production of knowledge in soils governance

Katrin Prager katrin.prager@hutton.ac.uk

CECHR Symposium 11 February 2015

Prager, K.; McKee, A. (in press) International Journal of Rural Law and Policy

Knowledge types involved in soil governance in the Scottish case study ď Ź What is the role of knowledge in the process of soils governance? ď Ź How can the combination of different types of knowledge influence soil governance?

Types of knowledge: Scientific/expert knowledge; Bureaucratic/administrative/policy-makers stakeholder/citizens/lay/practical/non-scientific

Levels of interaction Identify interaction levels to derive the extent to which knowledge co-production has taken place: a) major interaction/ two way communication b) medium interaction/ one way communication c) minor or absent interaction (Edelenbos et al. 2011)

Activities and co-production processes Timeline Feb 2009

Activity Arena and co-production process Soil Focus Group set up and three Arena 1 - Between natural scientists and annual meetings participants at SFG meetings

2012 – early 2013

Survey consultations: first by SFG Arena 2 – Between SFG subgroup/ natural subgroup , second by natural scientists and representatives of stakeholder scientists groups (soil data users)

Feb – May 2013

Negotiation about study of soil data and information needs

Jun - Aug 2013

Iterative development of study format

Sep-Oct 2013 Dec 13 Until March 2014

Interviews with soil data users Report submitted Exchanges about further steps, feedback

Arena 3 – Between social scientists, core policy actors (SG RESAS, SNH, SEPA) and stakeholders

Findings medium to major level of interaction

Timeline

Activity

Arena and co-production process

Feb 2009

Soil Focus Group set up and three annual meetings

Arena 1 - Between natural scientists and participants at SFG meetings

2012 – early 2013

Survey consultations: first by SFG subgroup , second by natural scientists

Arena 2 – Between SFG subgroup/ natural scientists and representatives of stakeholder groups (soil data users)

Feb – May 2013

Negotiation about study of soil data and information needs

Jun - Aug 2013

Iterative development of study format

Sep-Oct 2013

Interviews with soil data users

Dec 13

Report submitted

Until March 2014

Exchanges about further steps, feedback

Arena 3 – Between social scientists, core policy actors (SG RESAS, SNH, SEPA) and stakeholders

medium level of interaction major interaction between social scientists and policy actors;

medium to no interaction between stakeholders and policy actors

Findings  Different levels of interaction, with co-production processes complementing each other  Divergence in problem framing between the actor groups, diverse soil data needs  Variation in perceptions of solutions

 Challenges remain: blurred boundaries of co-production arenas, delineation of knowledge types  Extent to which knowledge co-production is pursued depends on issues at stake, actors, culture of governance, resources and power held by different stakeholders