Search

Despite the recognized importance of transdisciplinarity, including art–science collaborations, for tackling the complex challenges of the Anthropocene, little is known about the internal mechanisms of such alliances. At its best, transdisciplinarity should involve social learning with transformative potential. However, we still need evidence on how this can be achieved, specifically regarding developing interpersonal interactions and group dynamics. Our study explored the social learning processes and outcomes of an art–science encounter, aiming to highlight such a collaboration’s internal barriers and enhancers. It took place within a science communication project for the European Performing Science Night 2021, which involved creating an immersive artistic installation through the collaboration of 28 artists and scientists. We analyzed the social learning processes and outcomes based on participants’ profiles, individual participation, group dynamics, and the workshop context using structured interviews and participatory observation during this two-week co-creation workshop. Our insights showed that inter-relational skills were among the most important outcomes, and social learning processes varied based on group dynamics. Moreover, we identified the presence of a delicate balance between driving egalitarian and self-regulated dynamics within inclusive, collaborative processes and the need to foster non-hierarchical structures and dismantle power dynamics between artists and scientists. We discuss these findings in light of three key elements: destabilization, immersion, and materialization, which can help overcome internal barriers and leverage strengths for facilitating transdisciplinary approaches that contribute to sustainability transformations.

The draft Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework commits to achievement of equity and justice outcomes and represents a “relational turn” in how we understand inclusive conservation. Although “inclusivity” is drawn on as a means to engage diverse stakeholders, widening the framing of inclusivity can create new tensions with regard to how to manage protected areas. We first offer a set of tensions that emerge in the light of the relational turn in biodiversity conservation. Drawing on global case examples applying multiple methods of inclusive conservation, we then demonstrate that, by actively engaging in the interdependent phases of recognizing hybridity, enabling conditions for reflexivity and partnership building, tensions can not only be acknowledged but softened and, in some cases, reframed when managing for biodiversity, equity, and justice goals. The results can improve stakeholder engagement in protected area management, ultimately supporting better implementation of global biodiversity targets.

In recent years, a profusion of methods, practices, and experiences has emerged in the interface between arts and sustainability science. Drawing from two strong currents within sustainability science, namely, the emphasis on transdisciplinary approaches and the need to move towards societal transformations, such hybrid approaches seemingly contribute with unique methods to sustainability research. Despite repeated claims from sustainability scientists about art’s role in sustainability transformations, joint analyses with artists and practitioners are still rare. We conveyed a collaborative and exploratory workshop with scientists, artists, and practitioners from the fields of education, public engagement, and activism to identify the potentials for arts-based sustainability research. Participants were invited to facilitate and trial various artistic practices from disciplines of performative, literary, narrative, audio-visual and plastic arts. In this paper, we present five key areas identified in the workshop, where arts-based methods can significantly contribute to sustainability research: embracing more-than-cognitive aspects of knowledge, improving communication, grappling with power dynamics, shifting relationships to nature, and facilitating futures visioning. Workshop participants also identified challenges related to power dynamics, tensions across paradigms, and implementation conditions, providing insights into how to leverage arts’ potential to respond to global environmental challenges while boosting societal transformations. We then discuss research questions identified that address challenges and limitations for arts-based research in sustainability. Overall, these results suggest there are yet untapped resources and experiences within the field of arts-based sustainability science. (Audio-visual abstract available on S1)

AbstractThis article analyzes the knowledge and attitudes of high school students regarding the temperate mountain forest of La Malinche National Park, Tlaxcala, Mexico, before and after the implementation of the science communication program called “Los Tesoros de La Malinche” (The Treasures of La Malinche). The assessment included drawings, open questions, closed questions and Likert scale, and it was applied to 56 high school students (36 girls and 20 boys) from an urban school (29) in Mexico City and a rural school (27) located at the village of Ixtenco, Tlaxcala. The results showed that the development of the “Los Tesoros de La Malinche” program increased students’ knowledge and awareness of biodiversity within the National Park. The program also reinforced positive attitudes toward biodiversity conservation at both local and global scales.