Strategic Land Use: Crossing the Urban Rural Divide A RELU / SUE Workshop Interdisciplinary Research Practices Professor Chris Rogers University of Birmingham 27 th October 2010, London Sustainable Urban Environments: Research Dialogues Workshop

SUE’s Mission – a researcher’s perspective Vision and goals of the SUE Programme  There was a move from funding within disciplines to funding research themes  The drivers for SUE were quality of life, supporting sustainable development and meeting end-user needs – the ‘how to’ for sustainability  A managed programme was needed to bring very different disciplines together  Strengthen the capability of the UK research base in sustainability issues  Provide an identifiable source of multi-disciplinary academic excellence able to respond to the needs of end users (via) collaborative research  Develop and promote a strategic research agenda to address sustainability in the urban environment for the 21 st century and beyond … and the consortia were expected to consist of virtual centres of excellence, with the appropriate mix of academic and non-academic expertise SUE 1 consortia clustered around themes, SUE 2 / 3 consortia are more holistic, … and the holistic view was specifically stated to be “across the sectors” Sustainable Urban Environments: Research Dialogues Workshop

The Challenge Posed to Dialogues Workshop: “What have we got and where are we now?” SUE was ~ 5 years old, much research had been done yet no academic forum  We have been funded to create a capability – researchers who can work effectively across disciplinary boundaries and across sectors  We have grown the number of people and are training them in this way  We have been told to think bigger – truly ambitious grand challenges … and this requires large, multi-disciplinary consortia … that span the research council remits (EPSRC, ESRC, NERC, MRC …) … and the SUE managed programme is coming to an end  Our potential is enormous, but how can we realise it ? Sustainable Urban Environments: Research Dialogues Workshop

What have we got and where are we now? Where has EPSRC led us via SUE ?  What capabilities do we have now that we didn’t have before SUE ?  What is this capability that SUE has created – what is the beast ? … capability is “the sum of expertise and capacity” (Wikipedia)  Is it an ability to work in a transdisciplinary manner … with a deep understanding of the ‘principles of sustainability’ ?  For the really big grand challenges we need this capability, do we not ?  The acid test: If the UK needed a body of specialists to deal with challenge x to deliver a more sustainable urban environment... could SUE deliver this ?  Would you and yours be up for this ? Sustainable Urban Environments: Research Dialogues Workshop

The Dialogues Workshop The workshop structure:  The view from atop the four ‘pillars’ of sustainability  Who is SUE? (and what has SUE done ?)  SUE, a cohort or a community ?  What hasn’t SUE done? (What is the unfinished business ?)  Beyond the boundaries of SUE, what are our big ideas ?  When the SUE Programme ends, where will we find future funding ?  How do you want your research to be assessed for impact ?... and what is Impact !  Reflection by the keynote speakers Sustainable Urban Environments: Research Dialogues Workshop

Interdisciplinary Research Practices A view from Birmingham Eastside and Urban Futures  Assembling the team is all important (investigators and RFs)  RF proximity in a virtual world (‘face time’) – shared office facility  RF team meetings – weekly for 3 months, then perhaps monthly  RF team access to the PI (and CIs)  Understanding of how everyone works (language, methodology, culture, publication / dissemination philosophy... and their goals)... Myers Briggs or similar helps here  Two-day quarterly meetings of all investigators and RFs help... “we’re all in this together”  Overarching research and cross-WP brainstorming... building the need to work collectively into the bid is vital Sustainable Urban Environments: Research Dialogues Workshop

Concluding Remarks From my perspective, SUE has been an enormous success  I have been moved out of my comfort zone... and have even been accused of being a closet geographer  The challenges of interdisciplinary working are refreshing  I can see how my research interests impact elsewhere... local conditions and context are all important... impact from a discipline can be greatly improved by the translation of the findings into other arenas  The potential to address the Grand Challenges is huge  SUE has built a unique capacity  I truly feel we can make a real difference via interdisciplinary research Sustainable Urban Environments: Research Dialogues Workshop