Chapter 13
Transcending the Loading Dock
Paradigm—Rethinking Science-Practice
Transfer and Implementation
in Sustainable Land Management
Sebastian Rogga
Abstract Modern science is increasingly called on to produce societally relevant
and usable knowledge to tackle global challenges. Academics respond by conducting
research projects that transcend the boundaries of single disciplines and institutions
by actively engaging with non-academic actors. Such institutional arrangements open
up entirely new perspectives for science communication and the problem-solving
of real-world issues. However, they also call for elaborate management tasks and
demand learning processes on the part of all those involved. This chapter introduces
transfer and implementation (T&I) as a conceptual pair of terms to grasp the challenges, without compromising the opportunities of this new research mode. In doing
so, this chapter discusses contemporary approaches of science knowledge transfer,
and promotes a notion that prioritises knowledge transfer over information transfer
through artefacts. After reframing T&I as a management area in research projects, I
present three strategic policy pathways for sustainable land management.
Keywords Transfer · Implementation · Science-practice collaboration ·
Transdisciplinarity · Sustainable land management · Societal impact · Conceptual
framework · Strategy
13.1 Introduction
After the discovery of the “ozone hole”, it took policymakers five years to adopt
effective measures to reduce ozone-depleting substances induced by humans on a
global scale. What appears to be a long haul is actually a spectacularly short time
scale if the cause of the discovery—a scientific study by Joe Farman et al. published
in Nature magazine in May 1985—is placed in relation to the action—a global ban
on the production of ozone-depleting substances in June 1990. In fact, the Farman
report is a rare, yet outstanding example of scientific knowledge being transferred
S. Rogga (B)
Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research, Eberswalder Str. 84, 15374 Müncheberg,
Germany
e-mail: sebastian.rogga@zalf.de
© The Author(s) 2021
T. Weith et al. (eds.), Sustainable Land Management in a European Context,
Human-Environment Interactions 8, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50841-8_13
249
Transcending the Loading Dock
Paradigm—Rethinking Science-Practice
Transfer and Implementation
in Sustainable Land Management
Sebastian Rogga
Abstract Modern science is increasingly called on to produce societally relevant
and usable knowledge to tackle global challenges. Academics respond by conducting
research projects that transcend the boundaries of single disciplines and institutions
by actively engaging with non-academic actors. Such institutional arrangements open
up entirely new perspectives for science communication and the problem-solving
of real-world issues. However, they also call for elaborate management tasks and
demand learning processes on the part of all those involved. This chapter introduces
transfer and implementation (T&I) as a conceptual pair of terms to grasp the challenges, without compromising the opportunities of this new research mode. In doing
so, this chapter discusses contemporary approaches of science knowledge transfer,
and promotes a notion that prioritises knowledge transfer over information transfer
through artefacts. After reframing T&I as a management area in research projects, I
present three strategic policy pathways for sustainable land management.
Keywords Transfer · Implementation · Science-practice collaboration ·
Transdisciplinarity · Sustainable land management · Societal impact · Conceptual
framework · Strategy
13.1 Introduction
After the discovery of the “ozone hole”, it took policymakers five years to adopt
effective measures to reduce ozone-depleting substances induced by humans on a
global scale. What appears to be a long haul is actually a spectacularly short time
scale if the cause of the discovery—a scientific study by Joe Farman et al. published
in Nature magazine in May 1985—is placed in relation to the action—a global ban
on the production of ozone-depleting substances in June 1990. In fact, the Farman
report is a rare, yet outstanding example of scientific knowledge being transferred
S. Rogga (B)
Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research, Eberswalder Str. 84, 15374 Müncheberg,
Germany
e-mail: sebastian.rogga@zalf.de
© The Author(s) 2021
T. Weith et al. (eds.), Sustainable Land Management in a European Context,
Human-Environment Interactions 8, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50841-8_13
249