Graduate students in conservation biology: Bridging the research–implementation gap

Abstract

There is a growing consensus that a gap exists between research conducted at academic institutions and information available to practitioners that implement research into conservation policy and practice. Here, I review common recommendations for bridging the Research–Implementation Gap in conservation biology, highlight the unique abilities of graduate students to contribute solutions to this problem, and propose ways research institutions and professionals can encourage graduate students to participate in this process. While some appropriately point out that the main purpose of graduate school is to focus on research, I argue that being exposed early to the broader issues of research and implementation enhances the graduate research experience, helps train students to become leaders in conservation science, and contributes both immediate and long-term solutions to the research–implementation problem.

Introduction

‘Conservation biology’ is a relatively young discipline that has grown quickly in popularity since its inception in the mid-1980s (Soule 1985). According to the Society for Conservation Biology (http://www.conbio.org/resources/Programs; website updated August 2011), there are currently 521 colleges and universities that offer academic programs in conservation; many of which offer graduate programs in diverse fields such as environmental science, ecology, forestry, wildlife, conservation genetics, geography, environmental planning, and public policy. In these programs, students learn basic and applied biology, become familiar with the socio-economic challenges of solving conservation problems, and develop skills using conservation modeling software.

While quickly growing in popularity, especially among students, the field of conservation biology has also faced many challenges. Recent articles in Conservation Biology (Knight et al., 2006a, Knight et al., 2008, Manolis et al., 2009) and BioTropica (Born et al., 2009, Sunderland et al., 2009) highlight a Research–Implementation Gap that exists in conservation biology, whereby conservation assessments are rarely translated into meaningful conservation action. Many facets of this problem have been identified, including a lack of knowledge-sharing between researchers and practitioners, a lack of access by practitioners to information, and a disconnect between conservation research and realistic implementation goals, given real-world management objectives and constraints (Knight et al. 2008).

Useful suggestions have been proposed to narrow the Research–Implementation Gap (Boreux et al., 2009, Sunderland et al., 2009). Most of these ‘calls for action,’ however, are directed toward research scientists and large research institutions (Knight et al. 2008). While these groups are certainly appropriate target audiences to consider, the role of graduate students in narrowing this gap has been largely overlooked (Duchelle et al. 2009).

Here, I review four common recommendations for bridging the Research–Implementation Gap and highlight the unique abilities of graduate students to participate in this process. I conclude by proposing three ways research institutions and professionals can encourage graduate students to participate in this endeavour.

Facilitate communication between researchers and practitioners in designing and developing conservation assessments (Born et al., 2009, Jacobson, 2009, Sunderland et al., 2009).

Goals and designs for conservation assessments often differ between researchers and practitioners. While some international conservation organisations (e.g. the Nature Conservancy, the International Union for Conservation of Nature) have active research programs and carry out implementation, the majority of “successful” conservation assessments published in highly respected journals are not designed or implemented by field practitioners (Knight et al. 2008). The importance of including practitioners in the developmental phase of a research project has been recognised (Jacobson 2009) and graduate students may be able to contribute by promoting communication between researchers and practitioners.

Within most graduate departments (e.g., Biological Sciences, Conservation Biology, Wildlife) there are students who intend to pursue careers in academia and basic research and students who intend to pursue careers in applied management. During graduate school, students who intend to pursue a career in basic research should present research at a meeting that focuses on applied issues in their field (e.g., a meeting of the Wildlife Society, the European Conservation Agriculture Federation, or the Association of Applied Biologists), and students who intend to pursue a career in applied disciplines should present research at a conference that focuses on basic science (e.g., a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science or the Animal Behavior Society). Many organisations (e.g., Society for Conservation Biology, Ecological Society of America) offer student registration rates and generous travel awards for students to attend meetings at reduced costs, especially students from developing countries. Developing patterns early in a graduate student's academic career of bridging the gap between basic and applied science may facilitate knowledge sharing between researchers and practitioners and foster relationships that continue throughout a student's career.

In many graduate programs, graduate committees oversee student progress. Some universities provide considerable flexibility for students to select committee members and students should think carefully when making this decision. By including both practitioners and academics on graduate committees, students become familiar with broad issues related to their study systems and comfortable discussing their research using different vocabulary (Jacobson and McDuff 1998). It is also possible that committee meetings could facilitate positive communication between diverse committee members (i.e., practitioners and research biologists within and between research institutions) that may lead to future collaborative efforts. At universities where graduate committees are non-existent or in cases when it is not possible to formally include a field practitioner on a committee (e.g., if a school requires all committee members to have earned a PhD), graduate students should consider sending copies of their research proposals to appropriate field practitioners for critique and review.

Expand the social dimension of conservation assessments and support conservation plans with transdisciplinary social learning institutions (Knight et al., 2006b, Knight et al., 2008, Sunderland et al., 2009).

Conservation research is unlikely to be implemented if it is not recognised as important by a variety of social institutions. Collaboration is often necessary among governmental agencies, city planners, legislators, citizens, and private-interest groups to implement and achieve desired conservation actions (Schindler et al., 2011, Shanley and López, 2009). It is critical that conservation assessments are designed to encompass social and economic issues relevant to citizens and stakeholders (Kainer et al. 2009).

Graduate students may be well-positioned to assist in this process. Typical general education requirements of most four-year colleges and universities include courses in a variety of disciplines, including economics, communication, political science, business, sociology, foreign language, and philosophy. Some undergraduate programs (e.g., environmental studies) are intentionally broad. Concepts learned from recent interdisciplinary coursework may be useful in communicating with people from a variety of institutions regarding the implementation of research findings (Jacobson, 1990, Jacobson and McDuff, 1998). Graduate students may also offer different perspectives on how to facilitate communication among parties, including the use of social networking tools (e.g., twitter, Facebook). An increasing number of graduate students in conservation biology are now including a chapter on the socio-economic impacts of their results in their dissertations (Duchelle et al. 2009).

Reward academics for societal engagement and implementation (Born et al., 2009, Gallo et al., 2009, Knight et al., 2008).

A third barrier to bridging the Research–Implementation Gap is that research scientists are given little positive incentive to educate landowners and management agencies about their findings. Most university promotion systems are built upon researchers obtaining grant funds and publishing articles in highly cited research journals, instead of measuring whether research is translated into meaningful conservation action (Chapron and Arlettaz 2008). While this system may offer an easy way to quantify research production, it largely overlooks and indirectly discourages knowledge sharing with practitioners as an important responsibility of a researcher (Born et al. 2009). In a recent study measuring conservation and implementation effectiveness in Greece and Bulgaria, even academic experts that regularly read and publish scientific papers reported rarely learning about conservation and implementation strategies from published literature, but rather from local management plans, unpublished reports, and local experts (Schindler et al. 2011). Finding time to communicate research results to practitioners and the general public is often difficult for faculty members, whose responsibilities also include teaching classes, supervising graduate students, writing grants, and serving on university committees.

Graduate students should recognise the demanding expectations placed on their advisors and be willing to assist them in the information dissemination process. This could mean speaking at a local Audubon, garden club, or farm meeting, representing a university at a community event, or helping plan training seminars for field practitioners (Kainer et al., 2009, Shackleton et al., 2009). Even helping with the logistics of a meeting (e.g., reserving a meeting place or advertising for a seminar) may make it easier for a faculty member to make time for community outreach. As a result of this process, graduate student research may even benefit from stakeholder feedback.

In addition, graduate student organisations should formally recognise outstanding efforts in education and outreach. For example, awards such as ‘Teacher of the Year Award’ or ‘Outstanding Community Achievement Award’ should be given regularly to deserving professors with notification sent to deans and appropriate university administrators. Graduate students (and graduate student organisations) may be in a unique position to encourage community organisations and field practitioners to notify university officials and local media outlets after receiving exceptional guidance or service from a university employee. While long-term changes in faculty incentive structure may occur gradually, drawing positive attention to valuable information sharing efforts could benefit this effort.

Increase the availability of information to practitioners (Born et al., 2009, Knight et al., 2008).

Information generated by researchers is not always readily available to practitioners. Results from conservation research conducted in developing countries are often published in English-language journals (Duchelle et al. 2009) that are difficult for local resource managers to access. In addition, high subscription costs may prohibit many practitioners (in both developing and developed countries) to learn about and implement relevant research findings (Sunderland et al. 2009).

Graduate students may help increase accessibility to information by supporting the development of open-access journals (Coloma and Harris, 2005, Schindler et al., 2011). Open-access journals are journals accessible online, worldwide, without a subscription fee (for example, see ‘Conservation Evidence’ www.conservationevidence.com or ‘PLoS Biology’ www.plosbiology.org). Publishing results and citing papers from open-access journals or encouraging home institutions to support articles published using the open-access option will help these journals increase in popularity. The demands and expectations of researchers (including graduate students) ultimately drive the publication of scientific journals. Expectations from graduate students have the potential to affect decisions made by publishers. Student opinions regarding open-access journals can be appropriately conveyed to journal publishers at ‘meet the editor’ sessions and other student forums that commonly occur during society meetings.