Partnerships to protect nature: a Community of Practice approach to human behaviour change research and practice

摘要: Biodiversity conservation is a socio-ecological problem that requires research spanning multiple disciplines. Transdisciplinary research partnerships between academia and government are a valuable mechanism for co-developing meaningful solutions to societal and environmental problems and addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including through applying human behaviour change science. However, transdisciplinary partnerships can include friction at disciplinary and cultural boundaries. Social learning theories, such as Communities of Practice (CoP), can help participants to work through and even benefit from friction, providing a platform for establishing transdisciplinary and cross-agency partnerships that benefit scientific research progress, policy need, and the professional development of CoP members. We developed a transdisciplinary CoP, grounded in collective impact principles, to explore questions about our shared goal of enhancing human-nature relationships, with a particular focus on environmental and behavioural psychology. We report on perceived barriers and recommend that these could be addressed by: