Five principles for the practice of knowledge exchange in environmental management

April 21, 2018

M.S.Reed, L.C.Stringer, I.Fazey, A.C.Evely, J.H.J. Kruijsen

Principle	Summary
Principle 1: Design	Know what you want to achieve with your knowledge exchange and design knowledge exchange into environmental management research from the outset • Set goals for knowledge exchange from the outset • Devise a knowledge exchange and communications strategy • Build in flexibility to knowledge exchange plans so they can respond to changing user needs and priorities • Allocate skilled staff and financial resources to knowledge exchange
Principle 2: Represent	Systematically represent research user knowledge needs and priorities in environmental management research • Systematically identify likely users of your research and other relevant stakeholders • Embed key stakeholders in your research • Consider the ethical implications of engaging with different stakeholders
Principle 3: Engage	Build long-term, trusting relationships based on two-way dialogue between researchers and stakeholders and co-generate new knowledge about environmental management together • Engage in two-way dialogue as equals with the likely users of your research • Build long-term relationships with the users of your research • Work with knowledge brokers • Employ a professional facilitator for workshops with research users • Understand what is likely to motivate research users to get involved in your research • Create opportunities for informal interaction and learning between researchers and stakeholders • Work with stakeholders to interpret the implications of your work for policy and practice, and co-design communication products
Principle 4: Impact	Focus on delivering tangible results as soon as possible that will be valued by as many of your stakeholders as possible • Identify quick wins where tangible impacts can be delivered as early as possible in the research process, to reward and keep likely users of research engaged with the research process • Get your timing right
Principle 5: Reflect and Sustain	Monitor and reflect on your knowledge exchange work, so you can learn and refine your practice, and consider how to sustain a legacy of knowledge exchange beyond project funding • Regularly reflect with your research team and key stakeholders on how effective your knowledge exchange is • Learn from your peers • Share good practice • Identify what knowledge exchange needs to continue after research funding has ceased and consider how to sustain this in the longer-term