Catherine Price
Research Fellow, School of Geography
University of Nottingham
Tom Bott
Research Fellow, School of Biosciences
University of Nottingham
The aim of the project is to design, co-produce and provide a conceptual framework for including the more-than-human world (animals, plants, soil, water, land etc.) within responsible research and innovation (RRI). The implementation of RRI by researchers ensures that research and its impacts are opened up to broader deliberation, engagement and debate in an inclusive manner, and enables the complexities and uncertainties of research to be revealed through involvement with those impacted by the research.
A case study focussing on the deployment of biochar will be used to test the suitability and further develop the conceptual framework. Biochar is an ideal case study as it is a ‘new technology’ that is currently being investigated for its greenhouse gas removal potential at scale and which has a direct impact on the more-than-human world throughout its lifecycle.
The development of this RRI conceptual framework will improve research practice and build capacity within environmental social science. Including the more-than-human world will lead to a more environmentally conscious RRI framework, enabling researchers to better deal with current and future environmental challenges. This type of RRI framework is needed so researchers can negotiate conflicts between environmental challenges and human priorities, thereby ensuring sustainable futures for the planet and its inhabitants.
The project adopts a novel approach by bringing together a social scientist and a soil scientist who will lead the development of the conceptual framework, whilst also being co-designed by those outside of the academy. This enables the project to bridge the divide within academia whilst also bringing in and engaging with the under-valued voices and agencies of alternative expertise. Rather than RRI being based on scientific understandings and knowledge alone, this project brings social science to the fore to ensure an inclusive and collaborative knowledge base underpins the conceptual framework.
This UK focused project includes academics, individuals from Government Departments and Local Authorities, research funders, agricultural and forestry communities, environmental NGOs, the biochar community, and an artist. These diverse knowledge-holders ensure different knowledges and perspectives are feeding into the project.
All three of the ACCESS Guiding Principles are embedded within the project. These are Environmental Sustainability; Equality, Diversity and Inclusion; and Knowledge Co-Production. These will be reflected upon as the project progresses and we will share what we learn.
Catherine talks about her project to Gareth Johnson for The Exchanges Discourse Podcast. The series focuses on early career publishing in academia. In this episode Catherine talks about her research projects and recent papers
Multispecies, More-Than-Human, Nonhuman, Other-Than-Human
Do we need Artificial Pollination if we have Multispecies Justice in the Anthropocene?
Abstract
Responsible research and innovation (RRI) is increasingly being implemented by researchers, and in the UK, its use is encouraged by funders such as UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The aim of RRI is to ensure that research and its impacts are opened up to broader deliberation, engagement and debate in an inclusive manner, and to enable the complexities and uncertainties of research to be revealed through involvement with those impacted by the research. Taken at face value, RRI appears to challenge the status quo of decisions around scientific and technological developments being left to those with scientific expertise. However, existing RRI frameworks are anthropocentric, and exclude the more-than-human world (animals, plants, soil, water, land etc.,). To address these issues a project was undertaken which aimed to design, co-produce and provide a conceptual framework for including the more-than-human world within responsible research and innovation. Part of the project included a one-day in-person workshop with diverse knowledge-holders to ensure different knowledges and perspectives were feeding into the project. The focus of this article is not on the workshop itself, but what arose from it. Following the workshop, one of the knowledge-holders produced a written piece about game theory and its potential role in RRI. This written piece is presented here and its importance and relevance to RRI is reflected upon. We explain why this written piece about game theory matters to RRI.
We conclude by offering recommendations to researchers.
Abstract
A summary document of the ‘Including the More-Than-Human World in Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI): Developing a Conceptual Framework’ project. This summary document provides an overview of the activities carried out at an in-person workshop held at the University of Nottingham, and a visual summary of the findings. Details are also provided about what participants learnt and gained from the workshop.