TY - JOUR

T1 - Action, research and participation

T2 - roles of researchers in sustainability transitions

AU - Wittmayer, Julia M.

AU - Schäpke, Niko

PY - 2014/10/24

Y1 - 2014/10/24

N2 - In sustainability science, the tension between more descriptive–analytical and more process-oriented approaches is receiving increasing attention. The latter entails a number of roles for researchers, which have largely been neglected in the literature. Based on the rich tradition of action research and on a specific process-oriented approach to sustainability transitions (transition management), we establish an in-depth understanding of the activities and roles of researchers. This is done by specifying ideal-type roles that researchers take when dealing with key issues in creating and maintaining space for societal learning—a core activity in process-oriented approaches. These roles are change agent, knowledge broker, reflective scientist, self-reflexive scientist and process facilitator. To better understand these ideal-type roles, we use them as a heuristic to explore a case of transition management in Rotterdam. In the analysis, we discuss the implications of this set of ideal-type roles for the self-reflexivity of researchers, role conflicts and potentials, and for the changing role of the researcher and of science in general.

AB - In sustainability science, the tension between more descriptive–analytical and more process-oriented approaches is receiving increasing attention. The latter entails a number of roles for researchers, which have largely been neglected in the literature. Based on the rich tradition of action research and on a specific process-oriented approach to sustainability transitions (transition management), we establish an in-depth understanding of the activities and roles of researchers. This is done by specifying ideal-type roles that researchers take when dealing with key issues in creating and maintaining space for societal learning—a core activity in process-oriented approaches. These roles are change agent, knowledge broker, reflective scientist, self-reflexive scientist and process facilitator. To better understand these ideal-type roles, we use them as a heuristic to explore a case of transition management in Rotterdam. In the analysis, we discuss the implications of this set of ideal-type roles for the self-reflexivity of researchers, role conflicts and potentials, and for the changing role of the researcher and of science in general.

KW - Sustainability Science

KW - Action research

KW - Process-oriented sustainability science

KW - Roles of researchers

KW - Transdisciplinarity

KW - transition management

KW - Action research

KW - Process-oriented sustainability science

KW - Roles of researchers

KW - Transdisciplinarity

KW - Transition management

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84910005455&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s11625-014-0258-4

DO - 10.1007/s11625-014-0258-4

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 9

SP - 483

EP - 496

JO - Sustainability Science

JF - Sustainability Science

SN - 1862-4065

IS - 4

ER -