ABSTRACT

The menace of a post-truth era challenges conventional policy-making and science. Instead of fighting an uphill battle against populist solutions, those involved in both policy-making and science have to find innovative ways to collaborate, and make use of the vast amounts of knowledge that are already available. Knowledge brokerage, in this context, is more than a simple question-and-answer game: it is a process of co-creating and re-framing knowledge. In addition, Knowledge Brokerage for Sustainable Development has to deal with trade-offs and ambiguities, as well as world-views, cultures and the preferences of stakeholder groups.

This book is the first in-depth exploration of how knowledge brokerage has the potential to help manage the challenges of sustainable development across political and scientific systems. It presents a selection of innovative and practical tools to enhance the connectivity of research and policy-making on sustainable development issues. In doing so, this book will be an essential publication in research and policy-making. It supports networking among the developers and users of knowledge brokerage systems and will make their experience better known to the different communities involved.The book presents interviews with leading policymakers and researchers such as former EU Commissioner Franz Fischler, Robert-Jan Smits (Director-General of Research and Innovation at the EC), Uwe Schneidewind (President of the Wuppertal Institute), and Leida Rijnhout (European Environmental Bureau). It also provides insights into eleven EU funded projects dealing with different approaches of Knowledge Brokerage for Sustainable Development. 

part A|67 pages

Challenges and world views

chapter A1|6 pages

A new narrative for Europe

chapter A2|5 pages

Communicating limits to growth

part B|216 pages

Projects and experiences

chapter B1|19 pages

AWARE

Bridging the knowledge of citizens, scientists and policy-makers for sustainable water ecosystems management

chapter B2|22 pages

BESSE

Knowledge brokerage and innovation for a sustainable sanitation

chapter B3|16 pages

BRAINPOoL

Knowledge brokerage to bring alternative indicators into policy

chapter B4|18 pages

CORPUS

Linking research and policy for evidence-based policy-making on sustainable consumption

chapter B5|18 pages

FOODLINKS

Building Communities of Practice for learning on sustainable food consumption and production

chapter B6|19 pages

PACHELBEL/STAVE

Shining a light on citizens’ everyday environment-related behaviours

chapter B7|20 pages

PRIMUS

Bridging the gap between research and policy-making on local sustainability

chapter B8|22 pages

PSI-connect

Knowledge exchange in river basin management

chapter B9|24 pages

RESPONDER

Linking sustainable consumption and growth debates following a systems-thinking approach

chapter B10|13 pages

SPIRAL

Improving science–policy interfaces for biodiversity

chapter B11|19 pages

WaterDiss

Analysis and uptake of water research results

chapter |24 pages

Knowledge brokerage for sustainable development

Experiences, recommendations and research outlook