Tracking the Influence of Grey Literature in Public Policy Contexts: The Necessity and Benefit of Interdisciplinary Research Bertrum H. MacDonald, Elizabeth M. De Santo, Kevin Quigley, Suzuette S. Soomai, & Peter G. Wells Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada 14th International Conference on Grey Literature, Rome, Italy, November 2012

“Research now demonstrates that the continued functioning of the Earth system as it has supported the well-being of human civilization in recent centuries is at risk.”

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Environmental Toxicology Analytical Chemistry Organic Chemistry Biochemistry Molecular Gene tics Genomics Pharmicokinetics Physiology Microbiology Mathematical & Computer modeling Risk Assessment Biometrics Soil science Geology Meteorology Ecology Marine Biology and Oceanography Landscape Ecology Evolutionary Biology Population Biology Limnology Wildlife Biology Environmental Toxicology and Some of Its Components From Landis & Yu, 2004

Nongovernmental driven knowledge (Universities, nonprofits, corporations) Theory, methods, and data Government-driven knowledge (regulatory agencies, labs, managers) Theory, methods, and data Local knowledge, practice and experience All environmental knowledge – beliefs and practices regarding the standing of theories, methods, data and design approaches Usable environmental knowledge – beliefs and practices actually invoked and applied by practitioners, natural and social scientists, policy- makers and others Focusing of attention Issue agenda setting Environmental policy making – interests, decision routines, rule-making processes, legal processes Environmental Decision Making – environmental regulations, natural resource management doctrines, conservation and restoration practices Legal precedents, expectations and constraints Transmission - framing Policy Learning and generation of new knowledge Transmission - screening Professional biases Uncertainty Personal biases Generation, transmission, and use of environmental information Based on Ascher, Steelman, & Healey, 2010 Institutional constraints

 Greater capacity in determining core research questions.  Increased creativity in problem solving.  Larger suite of methodological expertise.  Greater capability in appreciating the roles of many types of stakeholders.  Increased understanding of different institutional cultures at the science-policy interface.  Increased credibility with funding sources and partner organizations. Benefits of Interdisciplinary Research and Knowledge  Integration of disciplinary perspectives becomes powerful in addressing big problems with many dimension.

S Steps in Learning in Interdisciplinary Process (Haapasaari, Kulmala, & Kuikka, 2011)

Acknowledgements Research conducted by the EIUI team is supported by  Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada  Research partner organizations  School of Information Management, Dalhousie University More Information at