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The term stakeholders includes academia, research, business, sociological, and
political sectors: all are essential to interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary research.
The inclusion of diverse skillsets, expertise, and experience help in addressing complex problems such as equitable access to food, water, and energy. Knowledge
enhances action that can move beyond analysis toward implementation; knowledge
should increase validity, accountability, and responsibility for solution options
(Lang et al. 2012). Essentially the spread of the community skills and interest and
the spectrum they cover from knowledge to action defines these communities and
differentiates them from disciplinary professional societies.
A Community of Science and Practice (CoSiP) is a group of individuals sharing
an interest in and knowledge of a craft or profession, and who can offer a means to
learn about and share knowledge and practices regarding a specific set of issues, in
our case, the FEW Nexus. Wenger (2011) defined the Community of Practice as
people who share a domain of interest and learn to improve action regarding that
interest through regular interaction: sharing and generating new knowledge (Wenger
and Snyder 2000). The activities of a Community of Practice include solving problems through brainstorming, seeking or sharing information, experiences, coordination, and synergies, providing feedback to ideas, and mapping knowledge and
knowledge gaps (Wenger 2011).
Such a Community also contributes to integrating personal growth and empowerment with the broader goals of the community (Li et al. 2009). For example, the
WEF Nexus CoSiP is developing a global science-policy platform that will allow
the sharing of data, knowledge, and best practices through identifying the data gaps
and developing a common accounting framework. Actively involving stakeholders
in this process can be critical to a policy-relevant outcome. FEW Nexus Communities
of Practice are immature at this time but emerging and evolving.
One existing example of such a working community is the Sustainable Water–
energy–food Nexus Working Group of Water Future. This group is part of the
Sustainable Water Future Programme (Water Future) of Future Earth and provides
a global platform facilitating international scientific collaboration to drive solutions to the world’s water problems. The objectives of the Working Group include
drawing on expertise from researchers with a wide range of scientific backgrounds
and representing different regions of study to bring together the ongoing initiatives and research groups to advance and exchange cutting edge “Nexus” research,
apply it in pilot regions in close cooperation with stakeholders, and disseminate
findings to the scientific community and decision-makers (Water Future 2017).
Numerous other examples exist, some of which are described in Mohtar and
Lawford (2016).
The regional and thematic nature of FEW nexus issues attests to the value in
developing these communities at local and national levels focusing on regional specific Nexus Hotspots (Mohtar and Daher 2016). Hotspots are critical thematic topics
or threatened locations for which the nexus approach has the potential for strong
societal impact. Guiding principles for building and maintaining a thriving scientific
E. Eftelioglu et al.
The term stakeholders includes academia, research, business, sociological, and
political sectors: all are essential to interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary research.
The inclusion of diverse skillsets, expertise, and experience help in addressing complex problems such as equitable access to food, water, and energy. Knowledge
enhances action that can move beyond analysis toward implementation; knowledge
should increase validity, accountability, and responsibility for solution options
(Lang et al. 2012). Essentially the spread of the community skills and interest and
the spectrum they cover from knowledge to action defines these communities and
differentiates them from disciplinary professional societies.
A Community of Science and Practice (CoSiP) is a group of individuals sharing
an interest in and knowledge of a craft or profession, and who can offer a means to
learn about and share knowledge and practices regarding a specific set of issues, in
our case, the FEW Nexus. Wenger (2011) defined the Community of Practice as
people who share a domain of interest and learn to improve action regarding that
interest through regular interaction: sharing and generating new knowledge (Wenger
and Snyder 2000). The activities of a Community of Practice include solving problems through brainstorming, seeking or sharing information, experiences, coordination, and synergies, providing feedback to ideas, and mapping knowledge and
knowledge gaps (Wenger 2011).
Such a Community also contributes to integrating personal growth and empowerment with the broader goals of the community (Li et al. 2009). For example, the
WEF Nexus CoSiP is developing a global science-policy platform that will allow
the sharing of data, knowledge, and best practices through identifying the data gaps
and developing a common accounting framework. Actively involving stakeholders
in this process can be critical to a policy-relevant outcome. FEW Nexus Communities
of Practice are immature at this time but emerging and evolving.
One existing example of such a working community is the Sustainable Water–
energy–food Nexus Working Group of Water Future. This group is part of the
Sustainable Water Future Programme (Water Future) of Future Earth and provides
a global platform facilitating international scientific collaboration to drive solutions to the world’s water problems. The objectives of the Working Group include
drawing on expertise from researchers with a wide range of scientific backgrounds
and representing different regions of study to bring together the ongoing initiatives and research groups to advance and exchange cutting edge “Nexus” research,
apply it in pilot regions in close cooperation with stakeholders, and disseminate
findings to the scientific community and decision-makers (Water Future 2017).
Numerous other examples exist, some of which are described in Mohtar and
Lawford (2016).
The regional and thematic nature of FEW nexus issues attests to the value in
developing these communities at local and national levels focusing on regional specific Nexus Hotspots (Mohtar and Daher 2016). Hotspots are critical thematic topics
or threatened locations for which the nexus approach has the potential for strong
societal impact. Guiding principles for building and maintaining a thriving scientific
E. Eftelioglu et al.