Chang Heejun, Roe Brian, Erkoc Murat, Heyman Josiah, Foo Katherine, Sanyal Debankur, Banerjee Debjyoti, Rushforth Richard, Srinivasan Jaishri
Department of Geography, Portland State University, Portland, OR, USA.
Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
iScience. 2025 Jul 22;28(8):113104. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2025.113104. eCollection 2025 Aug 15.
Convergence research addresses societal and environmental challenges by co-creating knowledge across disciplinary boundaries, often in deep collaboration with extra-academic parties to ensure that the research process is solution-focused, actionable, and just. As part of National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded research projects on sustainable regional systems, we present multiple perspectives on conducting convergence research within the coupled social-ecological-technological systems framework. These projects explicitly engage extra-academic parties to co-design and co-produce knowledge throughout all stages of this participatory research. We introduce the 3 C's model as a framework that links a research team's Communication, Collaboration, and Creation decisions to the likely degree of convergence and societal change achieved. This model assesses the degree of integration among different social sciences, biophysical sciences, engineering, and other scientific disciplines, as well as extra-academic partners ranging from governmental agencies and industries to non-profit organizations and tribal communities. Integration in this context is assessed by its ability to situate local problems within broader systemic lenses, resolve conflicts among the priorities of partners, and conduct cutting-edge research that addresses real-world needs with actionable sustainability solutions. By synthesizing inclusive and just practices of conducting convergent research across a selection of research teams, we provide recommendations for academic researchers and administrators to encourage and advance convergence research in solving challenging sustainability issues.
跨学科融合研究通过跨学科边界共同创造知识来应对社会和环境挑战，通常与学术界以外的各方深入合作，以确保研究过程以解决方案为导向、具有可操作性且公正合理。作为美国国家科学基金会（NSF）资助的关于可持续区域系统的研究项目的一部分，我们展示了在社会 - 生态 - 技术耦合系统框架内开展跨学科融合研究的多种视角。这些项目在整个参与式研究的所有阶段都明确邀请学术界以外的各方共同设计和共同生成知识。我们引入“3C”模型作为一个框架，将研究团队的沟通、协作和创新决策与可能实现的融合程度和社会变革联系起来。该模型评估不同社会科学、生物物理科学、工程学和其他科学学科之间，以及从政府机构、行业到非营利组织和部落社区等学术界以外的合作伙伴之间的整合程度。在这种情况下，整合程度通过以下能力来评估：将局部问题置于更广泛的系统视角中、解决合作伙伴优先事项之间的冲突，以及开展前沿研究并用可行的可持续发展解决方案解决现实世界的需求。通过综合一系列研究团队开展跨学科融合研究的包容性和公正性实践，我们为学术研究人员和管理人员提供建议，以鼓励和推进跨学科融合研究，解决具有挑战性的可持续发展问题。
