Moving forward: fostering the next generation of Earth stewards in the STEM disciplines

Colón-Rivera, Ricardo J.; Marshall, Kellen; Soto-Santiago, Francisco J.; Ortiz-Torres, Dorimar; Flower, Charles E.

doi:10.1890/120307

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 47 publications

(58 reference statements)

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“…The broadscale, global interpretation of stewardship is based primarily on a developed country perspective, in which it is viewed by some as a possible 'successor' to earlier resource management regimes (namely steadystate and ecosystem management approaches -see Chapin et al 2 ). This view is embodied by a set of nine 'stewardship goals' 8 widely accepted as the guidelines for promoting earth stewardship 17 . These goals, grounded in the theory of social-ecological sustainability, include predominantly social aspects, e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

broader view of stewardship to achieve conservation and sustainability goals in South Africa

Barendse¹,

Roux²,

Currie³

et al. 2016

S. Afr. J. Sci.

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Stewardship is a popular term for the principles and actions aimed at improving sustainability and resilience of social-ecological systems at various scales and in different contexts. Participation in stewardship is voluntary, and is based on values of altruism and long-term benefits. At a global scale, ‘earth stewardship’ is viewed as a successor to earlier natural resource management systems. However, in South Africa, stewardship is narrowly applied to biodiversity conservation agreements on private land. Using a broader definition of stewardship, we identify all potentially related schemes that may contribute to sustainability and conservation outcomes. Stewardship schemes and actors are represented as a social network and placed in a simple typology based on objectives, mechanisms of action and operational scales. The predominant type was biodiversity stewardship programmes. The main actors were environmental non-governmental organisations participating in prominent bioregional landscape partnerships, together acting as important ‘bridging organisations’ within local stewardship networks. This bridging enables a high degree of collaboration between non-governmental and governmental bodies, especially provincial conservation agencies via mutual projects and conservation objectives. An unintended consequence may be that management accountability is relinquished or neglected by government because of inadequate implementation capacity. Other stewardship types, such as market-based and landscape initiatives, complemented primarily biodiversity ones, as part of national spatial conservation priorities. Not all schemes related to biodiversity, especially those involving common pool resources, markets and supply chains. Despite an apparent narrow biodiversity focus, there is evidence of diversification of scope to include more civic and community-level stewardship activities, in line with the earth stewardship metaphor.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

broader view of stewardship to achieve conservation and sustainability goals in South Africa

Barendse¹,

Roux²,

Currie³

et al. 2016

S. Afr. J. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Such factors also reflect an imperative to develop and evaluate organized training and research programs. Organized and structured programs can generate the IDR and TS capacity necessary to create and sustain a S-E research community capable of addressing challenges now and in the future (Clark et al 2011). While the need for IDR and TS remains salient, the novelty of organized IDR and TS training programs requires evaluation of experiences, practices, and curriculum to assess quality and effectiveness.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating team science into interdisciplinary graduate education: an exploration of the SESYNC Graduate Pursuit

et al. 2019

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Complex socio-environmental challenges require interdisciplinary, team-based research capacity. Graduate students are fundamental to building such capacity, yet formal opportunities for graduate students to develop these capacities and skills are uncommon. This paper presents an assessment of the Graduate Pursuit (GP) program, a formal interdisciplinary team science graduate research and training program administered by the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC). Quantitative and qualitative assessment of the program's first cohort revealed that participants became significantly more comfortable with interdisciplinary research and team science approaches, increased their capacity to work across disciplines, and were enabled to produce tangible research outcomes. Qualitative analysis of four themes-(1) discipline, specialization, and shared purpose, (2) interpersonal skills and personality, (3) communication and teamwork, and (4) perceived costs and benefits-encompass participants' positive and negative experiences and support findings from past assessments. The findings also identify challenges and benefits related to individual personality traits and team personality orientation, the importance of perceiving a sense of autonomy and independence, and the benefit of graduate training programs independent of the university and graduate program environment.

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“…However, literature on the lived experiences of graduate students engaged in multidisciplinary to transdisciplinary science remains scant (cf. Graybill et al 2006, Colón-Rivera et al 2013, Andrade et al 2014. Further, a limited number of LTER students consider themselves to have achieved success as social-ecological scholars, and thus, unpacking their experiences will provide a better understanding of the process of becoming a social-ecological researcher within a network.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Graduate students navigating social-ecological research: insights from the Long-Term Ecological Research Network

Record¹,

Ferguson²,

Benveniste³

et al. 2016

E&S

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ABSTRACT. Interdisciplinary, collaborative research capable of capturing the feedbacks between biophysical and social systems can improve the capacity for sustainable environmental decision making. Networks of researchers provide unique opportunities to foster social-ecological inquiry. Although insights into interdisciplinary research have been discussed elsewhere, they rarely address the role of networks and often come from the perspectives of more senior scientists. We have provided graduate student perspectives on interdisciplinary degree paths from within the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network. Focusing on data from a survey of graduate students in the LTER Network and four self-identified successful graduate student research experiences, we examined the importance of funding, pedagogy, research design and development, communication, networking, and culture and attitude to students pursuing social-ecological research. Through sharing insights from successful graduate student approaches to social-ecological research within the LTER Network, we hope to facilitate dialogue between students, faculty, and networks to improve training for interdisciplinary scientists.

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Moving forward: fostering the next generation of Earth stewards in the STEM disciplines

Cited by 7 publications

References 47 publications

broader view of stewardship to achieve conservation and sustainability goals in South Africa

broader view of stewardship to achieve conservation and sustainability goals in South Africa

Integrating team science into interdisciplinary graduate education: an exploration of the SESYNC Graduate Pursuit

Graduate students navigating social-ecological research: insights from the Long-Term Ecological Research Network

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