The Challenge:
Participation of stakeholders and citizens is increasingly recognized as a helpful and, in some circumstances, crucial ingredient when managing complex, adaptive socio-ecological systems. The scale, interconnectedness and ongoing dynamics of these systems require new approaches bringing together stakeholder knowledge and problem ownership with new complexity-appropriate tools. Such approaches have much to offer both ex-post evaluation and ex-ante policy appraisal. However, methods for achieving effective participation are not well understood and often fail and participatory approaches for complex systems entail even greater challenges. Recently, there have been a range of interesting experiments and innovations involving aids to participation in complex adaptive systems ranging from immersive digital tools to “low tech” hands-on or experiential techniques.
CECAN Workshop:
We will be holding a workshop on 12-14 February, 2019, at the Barnett Hill Conference Centre, Surrey, UK, as a first step towards building an international community of those developing innovative, complexity-appropriate aids to participatory evaluation, to help people understand and steer their own complex systems and evaluate the effects of policies or other interventions.
Our focus will be on exploring and synthesising new approaches to collective understanding, experiencing and interacting with socio-ecological-technical systems in which numerous scales of dynamics and complexity are at play. We will examine the value of such approaches and how they could be used in collaborative system design and co-management and policy evaluation and appraisal, in particular to allow ordinary people, rather than simply policy makers or experts, to understand, steer and evaluate change in their own complex social systems. This will be a highly interactive and focused small workshop in which we will share, generate and kick start ideas and collaborations and all attendees will be expected to participate fully.
Contributors Will Include:
Petra Ahrweiler, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany
Luis Enrique García Barrios, College of the South Frontier, Mexico
Nigel Gilbert, University of Surrey, UK
Mizuki Oka, University of Tsukuba
Alex Penn, University of Surrey, UK
Pascal Perez, SMART Infrastructure Facility, University of Wollongong, Australia
Alex Smajgl, Deakin University, Australia
Sha Xin Wei and Brandon Mechtley, Synthesis Center, Arizona State University, USA
How to Apply:
If you are interested in participating, please apply by 22 October 2018 by email tocecan@surrey.ac.uk attaching a statement outlining your background, expertise and what you could bring to the workshop (500 words maximum). We encourage creative and interactive proposals for sharing your ideas and approaches.
The workshop will be held at the Barnett Hill Hotel in the Surrey Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The hotel is within reach of London Gatwick Airport. The registration fee of £550 includes all accommodation and meals at the Conference Centre from 11:00 on 12 February to 16:00 on 14 February. Additional nights, before and after the workshop, can be booked at extra cost.
The workshop is being organised by the Centre for the Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus (CECAN) and is supported by the UK Economic and Social Research Council.
Administrative enquiries can be made to cecan@surrey.ac.uk, and enquiries about the programme to n.gilbert@surrey.ac.uk