Bringing the arts into socio-ecological research: An analysis of the barriers and opportunities to collaboration across the divide

Abstract

Socio-ecological research collaborations between artists, natural and social scientists, and with the humanities more broadly, have increased significantly in recent years. This has been aided by increased investment by funding bodies such as UK Research and Innovation and others internationally in projects designed to encourage cross-disciplinary partnerships. Within socio-ecological research and beyond it, despite some success stories, there is still a lack of awareness in ‘the sciences’ regarding how ‘the arts’ undertake their own forms of enquiry into the world. Further, different terminology and language used by different disciplines can cause confusion and misunderstanding, potentially leading to a reluctance to work collaboratively. In this paper, we discuss diversity within the arts as a discipline and seek to clarify various terminologies being used in both the arts and sciences to characterise joint working in research projects. Drawing on a series of semi-structured interviews and a workshop with artists and natural and social scientists with experience of collaboration in socio-ecological research, we compare understandings and expectations and reflect on the implications for funding bodies, institutions, artists and scientists which are widely applicable across different research contexts. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.