Article: How boundary objects help to perform roles of science arbiter, honest broker, and issue advocate

Article: How boundary objects help to perform roles of science arbiter, honest broker, and issue advocate

This article examines roles and knowledge by which researchers can enhance connections between science, policy, and society. The authors arranged a participatory scenario workshop with representatives from environmental administration to discuss how different land-use governance arrangements link to sustainability of reindeer herding in northern Finland. They used fast track scenarios as boundary objects that aimed to bring reindeer herders’ problem definitions to be discussed with administrators.

First, they performed the role of science arbiter by using our previous research with reindeer herders as the starting point for the discussions. Next, they discussed and elaborated diverse future alternatives via the role of honest broker. Finally, they were interpreted as issue advocates because the scenario exercise reduced the scope of preferable policy options for administrators. Performing these boundary-spanning roles in the same process, but each, in turn, enables researchers to offer views on sustainability via scenarios that break easily acceptable conventions.

Sarkki, S., Heikkinen, H. I., Komu, E., Partanen, M., Vanhanen, K. and Lépy, É. (2019). How boundary objects help to perform roles of science arbiter, honest broker, and issue advocate. Science and Public Policy, 47(2). DOI: 10.1093/scipol/scz055

Photo: Ninara / Flickr

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