Co-designing marine science beyond good intentions: support stakeholders’ empowerment in transformative pathways

Abstract

Calls for science to innovate by including stakeholders' in the creation of marine knowledge have been rising, to create impact beyond laboratories and to contribute to the empowerment of local communities when interacting with marine and coastal ecosystems. As a transdisciplinary group of scientists working on co-designing research projects, this paper draws upon our experiences to further define the concept and seek to improve the process of co-design. We highlight the key barriers for co-design processes to contribute to increasing stakeholders' capacity to produce intended effects on marine policy. We suggest that stakeholder engagement requires overcoming the resistance to non-scientific knowledge sources and considering power asymmetries in the governance and management of the ocean. We argue that power and politics must be placed at the very heart of the production of a co-designed marine science and must be an aspect of the facilitation itself. In this paper, we aim to provide insights to navigate throughout the journey of stakeholder engagement, with the critical perspective necessary to make this process socially and environmentally effective.

Integrating fishers’ knowledge contributions in Marine Science to tackle bycatch in the Bay of Biscay

“…Actions taken to shift social-ecological systems through transformation towards more sustainable trajectories can have negative social impacts and exclude people from decisionmaking processes (Bennett et al, 2019). Co-creating knowledge with fishers requires understanding the governance structures for fishers, considering power asymmetries in the governance and management of the ocean (Caze et al, 2022), and the economic domination that some fishers undergo (Clouette, 2021). The literature on transformation research calls for a greater integration of politics and power, by considering the decision-making process behind the measures leading to the transformations of the system and of the practices, and by tracking winners and losers in the transformations, with the aim for societal justice.…”

“…Finally, decision-makers formulate policies according to their understanding of the world, which is defined by the political use of scientific expertise (Latour, 2018), but also by their experiential knowledge and world views. Knowledge production on bycatch emerges as a key step to the management of an issue that remains the subject of uncertainties, hence participating in knowledge production through the academic system could theoretically be a lever for empowering stakeholders to take an active role in shaping the policies for sustainability (Caze et al, 2022). Power is linked to deliberation, learning (and who defines what type of learning), the choice of indicators for measuring outcomes, and the sharing of risk (Lascoumes, 1994;Armitage et al, 2007).…”

Co-design capacity development for the UN Ocean Decade

“…These methods range from varied forms of participatory research, through knowledge co-production, to transdisciplinary (TD) research. Each term represents increasing levels of stakeholder engagement in the research process, moving from participatory research, where stakeholders may contribute insights or feedback (Mackinson et al, 2011;Avilés Irahola et al, 2022), to knowledge co-production (Norström et al, 2020;Cazé et al, 2022;Jidda-Fada and Bennett, 2022), which entails a more equal partnership between researchers and stakeholders, and is culminating in transdisciplinary research. This most integrated form not only bridges academic disciplines, but also deeply involves all stakeholders in the research process from conception to execution (Steger et al, 2021;Franke et al, 2022;Klein, 2022;Archibald et al, 2023;Reed et al, 2023;Descalzi et al, 2024).…”

“…Co-design of research is a key aspect of transformative ocean science, as it promotes collaboration and integration among different stakeholder groups, and is essential for developing a comprehensive understanding of the ocean and finding solutions (IOC-UNESCO, 2021; Cazé et al, 2022). Co-design of research here refers to the process of jointly designing a research project.…”