Seminar: Engaged Research and Societal Impact: Linking Research and Evaluation to Improve Practice and Outcomes

Abstract:
We have solid (and ever-growing) evidence that engaged research practices - when researchers and community members, practitioners, and/or policy makers work together to examine problems and generate research in support of solutions - generate research that is more likely to be useful, usable, and used to inform behavior, practice, and policy. We also know that engaged research requires skills, resources, and time that are often in short supply. Furthermore, when engagement is not undertaken ethically and appropriately, we can undermine even our best intentions and do further harm to communities and relationships of trust. In this talk, I'll discuss some of the principles of engaged research and how we can use evaluation practices as tools for reflecting and learning that will help us be more effective in our engagement practices and help generate more positive and long-lasting impacts for the people we work with.

Bio:
Alison M. Meadow is an Associate Research Professor in the Office of Societal Impact at University of Arizona. Dr. Meadow has a background in environmental anthropology, Indigenous studies, and urban planning. Her PhD is from the Resilience and Adaptation Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Dr. Meadow's research focuses on the process of linking scientists with decision makers to improve the usability of climate science, with a particular emphasis on the societal impacts of engaged climate and environmental research. She is a co-investigator with the Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS).

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