Department Environmental Social Sciences
INSIGHTS – Lessons learned for engaging at science-society interfaces
Joint initiatives (JIs) are large-scale inter- and transdisciplinary projects funded by the ETH Board with the ambition to foster collaborations across the six research institutions of the ETH domain (ETHZ, EPFL, WSL, EAWAG, PSI, EMPA), and to strengthen collaborations between researchers and partners from policy and practice. Their expected significant long-term influence on Switzerland and beyond sets these JIs apart from traditional research projects. In 2022, four JIs have been selected for funding in the strategic area ‘Engagement and Dialogue with Society’, which all have the aim to foster a proactive and responsible dialogue with society on important societal challenges and discuss potential solutions. These four JIs include:
- Engage – Evidence-based dialogue on trade-offs in wicked societal problems
- Energy Science for Tomorrow
- Jurapark Aargau as Real-world Lab for Sustainable Development
- Translational Centre Biodiversity Conservation
The goal of the project INSIGHTS is to accompany these four Joint Initiatives between 2024 and 2026 in order to derive overarching lessons learned on how to engage with different societal actors at the science-practice and science-policy interface and thereby generate a broader empirical basis for strengthening these interfaces in the short-, medium- and long-term.