About the Project
To address complex planetary challenges, such as climate change and sustainability, researchers, funders, and practitioners have come collectively to appreciate that the mere accumulation of knowledge and information is not enough (Fazey 2013). To advance the use of knowledge and evidence to inform decisions requires intentionality in research design, early identification of beneficiaries of that knowledge, plans for knowledge exchange, and pathways to impact. Against this backdrop, a new ‘science of actionable knowledge’ is emerging, an area of inquiry that aims to understand and catalyze transitions in scientific knowledge-making and use (Arnott 2020).
In 2022, in partnership with NASA, GCSE led a pilot program to support a cohort of researchers as they pursued applications-oriented work, to enhance user uptake and use in decision-making. GCSE helped researchers enhance the relevance of their work to stakeholders, and built community across the cohort of PIs participating in the augmentation process to share knowledge and experiences, develop new skills, and build capacity for sustained collaboration and engagement.
GCSE developed a series of engaging educational videos on how researchers can produce actionable knowledge. Christine Kirchhoff, Associate Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Penn State University, leads the audience through eight short education videos. Through real-world examples and advice from these experts, viewers will learn how to create actionable knowledge, the skills and attitudes needed for actionable knowledge, and tips for how to make research more diverse, inclusive, and culturally relevant.
The series is intended to serve as a resource for researchers, educators, students, and individuals who are motivated to produce knowledge that is relevant, useful, and impactful in their communities.
Cohort Projects:
- Development of an Incorporated Platform to Characterize Hydrology-Driven Landslide Hazards in Northwestern US
- Cross-Scale Impacts of SDG 15 Achievement in Kenya: Household Decisions, Ecosystem Change, and Atmospheric Water Recycling
- Development of Air Quality Products for Societal Applications Using Long-Term High Resolution Chemical Reanalysis Based on NASA Earth Observations
- Global Mapping of River Discharge
- Machine Learning for Rapid Magnitude and Hazard Characterization of Large Earthquakes with HR-GNSS
- Operational Forest Carbon Monitoring in Interior Alaska
- Pantropical Structure and Biomass Mapping Using the Fusion of GEDI and TanDEM-X Data for US Forest Service Applications
- Coupled Estimation of Evapotranspiration and Recharge from Remotely Sensed Land Surface Moisture and Temperature
- Dynamic Mapping of Tropical Wetlands and Inundations with CYGNSS
- Continued Development of a Robust Automated Algorithm to Quantify Submerged Aquatic Vegetation from High Resolution Satellite Imagery
- Development of a GRACE-Enhanced Flood Monitoring and Forecasting Tool Using a Five-Day GRACE Product and Physics-Based Data Analytics
Actionable Knowledge Program Contact Information
Global Council for Science and the Environment
1776 I Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20006
Funding was provided by the NASA Applied Sciences Program, Grant Number: 80NSSC21K1202. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.