Rose – Professor in Sustainable Ecosystem Restoration at the University of
Maryland Center for Environmental Science’s Horn Point Laboratory – got the 2017 ICES Annual Science Conference
(ASC) underway by
focusing on what he considers to be two under-represented characteristics of human-natural systems: multidisciplinary science, particularly individual relationships, and trust between experts and stakeholders.
He began by
looking at the increasing team-based and multidisciplinary nature of fisheries and marine science,
and how a lot of work is done to understand who is working with who in team
science, particularly in terms of output such as network analyses. This
cooperative aspect also relates to a second trend: greater stakeholder
participation.
For Rose,
this is all goes back to trust between scientists and stakeholders, something
which is currently under threat, notably in the US. This is for a host of
reasons, from a dysfunctional scientific process to conflicts of interest and
retractions, coupled with an atmosphere where emotions have held sway over
objective fact. Lost trust can result confusion and inequity; for fisheries,
this can mean not achieving the optimal solution, potentially leading to a compromise,
where the resource takes a disproportionate impact.
To this
backdrop of growing distrust, the focus should be shifted from the concept of
network analyses in team science towards a more human approach. We should look
at the people we deal with as individuals, watching and reflecting on our
behaviour, how we treat others and how we present ourselves every step of the
way. These thoughtful interactions accumulate and should grow into an effect
greater than the sum of its parts. This is the root of establishing trust.
Rose
highlighted some ways in which team science if being advanced in this way, including
student training, room and building design, and institutional changes. Finally he
called for self-reflection and keeping track of decisions, before commenting on
how socializing can help build trust.
“We do a lot
of network analysis, for example, which is great. But it’s the one-on-one
individual interactions that add up and accumulate to interactions among
people, which determine whether things will be successful. Either in making
decisions or team science. I don’t think we emphasize that enough,” said Rose.
“Part of it
is how do you respect others, and that’s critical. Those two components:
yourself and your respect of others that enables teams to be effective and to
have trust – and stakeholders to become part of the solution.”
