Knowledge Exchange with Alliance Earth

Description of impact

ESRC funded impact accelleration

ScienceAlliance activity originated from three pieces of research associated with Bangor University. In May 2018, I participated in an expedition to Mozambique (https://theconversation.com/why-we-explored-an-undisturbed-rainforest-hidden-on-top-of-an-african-mountain-98744), part-funded by Bangor University. On this expedition that I met Jeffery Barbee (Alliance Earth – a not for profit scientific and environmental reporting initiative working globally under an environmental education remit; https://allianceearth.org/). This impact activity builds on this, linking to two existing Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded projects: MobilES - Using mobile-phone technology to capture ecosystem service information (ES/R009279/1; I am PI of this project, Dr Wynne-Jones and Dr Amy Lewis [both Bangor University] are also involved in this project as Co-I and PDRA respectively; this 18-month project started 1/10/18), and RUST - Rurality as a vehicle for Urban Sanitation Transformation (ES/R006865/1; Dr Hutchings [Cranfield University] is PI of this project; I am Co-I and have a PDRA [Dr Welivita] at Bangor; this 24-month project started 1/5/18). Being ESRC funded, both projects are socio-economic research. The disciplinary areas of focus are: human geography, development studies, environmental planning, and social statistics, methods and computing. MobilES aims to understand who is using natural resources and where in Cambodia. RUST investigates how sanitation services vary across a rural-urban transect in India. Both projects use Open Data Kit (ODK), a cutting-edge method of social science data collection being validated against more traditional methods as part of MobilES. Alliance Earth benefitted from exposure to this technology. Throughout the KE Fellowship, Mr Barbee learnt a great deal from these projects (i.e. the scale of sanitation problems in India, how smartphone technology can help collect data on the impacts of climate change etc; see video diaries for evidence). Additionally, Dr Willcock gained a deeper understanding of the processes involved in scientific journalism. Willcock learned how to better explain his work to a lay audience and how to capture images useful for the media

Impact Summary for the General Public

These activities encouraged scientists to work closely with journalists. As a results, journalists were able to report science more accurately, and scientists were able to communicate more clearly, in a readily understandable way.

Description of the underpinning research

This impact activity builds on this, linking to two existing Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded projects: MobilES - Using mobile-phone technology to capture ecosystem service information (ES/R009279/1; I am PI of this project, Dr Wynne-Jones and Dr Amy Lewis [both Bangor University] are also involved in this project as Co-I and PDRA respectively; this 18-month project started 1/10/18), and RUST - Rurality as a vehicle for Urban Sanitation Transformation (ES/R006865/1; Dr Hutchings [Cranfield University] is PI of this project; I am Co-I and have a PDRA [Dr Welivita] at Bangor; this 24-month project started 1/5/18). Being ESRC funded, both projects are socio-economic research.

Beneficiaries and reach of impact

ScienceAlliance was designed to facilitate a two-way knowledge exchange between Bangor University and Alliance Earth. These activities will focus on Dr Willcock (PI and Co-I of the underpinning research) and Mr Barbee (Director of Alliance Earth), and was broken down into two parts: 1) Knowledge exchange at Bangor University – Mr Barbee visitted Bangor University for two days (January 24th-25th, 2019). Dr Willcock introduced Mr Barbee to the cutting-edge underpinning research (e.g. how social science can benefit from mobile phone technology). Mr Barbee led a scientific communication workshop for Bangor University staff to enhance our impact with non-scientific audiences. This activity was very successful and generate lots of interest among Bangor University staff. Impact captured via post-workshop feedback forms (see Appendix 1). 2) Knowledge exchange in the field – Together, Dr Willcock and Mr Barbee visited the RUST and MobilES study sites in India (February 4th-8th) and Cambodia (February 11th-15th). This first-hand experience deepened Mr Barbee’s understanding of the cutting-edge methods developed in these projects, enhancing the ability of Alliance Earth to carry out scientific and environmental reporting about these technological innovations. Additionally, Dr Willcock gained a deeper understanding of the processes involved in scientific journalism. Willcock learned how to better explain his work to a lay audience and how to capture images useful for the media (see Appendix 2)

Impact status	Ongoing
Impact date	1 Jan 2019 → 28 Feb 2019
Category of impact	Societal