By Valentine Seymour, Sarah Golding, Melissa Marselle.
Meet Melissa, Sarah and Valentine
Melissa Marselle is a Lecturer in Environmental Psychology at the University of Surrey, with expertise in the application of psychological theory and methods to biodiversity conservation questions.
Sarah Golding is a Knowledge Exchange Fellow at the University of Surrey. She is a health psychologist by training and her passions lie in applied health and environment research, centred on issues related to public and animal health, health inequalities, and how the interactions between humans and their environments influence health outcomes.
Valentine Seymour is a Lecturer in Sustainability at the University of Surrey with experience undertaking deliberative, systems thinking and policy evaluation, natural capital assessments, ecological citizen science and environmental social science research.
Why is combining multiple perspectives important to our ecological challenges?
In the face of climate change, biodiversity loss and resource depletion, ecological challenges have never been more urgent—or more complex. Yet, while ecological science has advanced by leaps and bounds, many of the solutions we need appear to remain elusive. Why? Because ecological problems don’t exist in a vacuum. They’re tangled uptangled up with human behaviors, values, systems, and societies.
Solving these challenges therefore requires integration of multiple perspectives, including from the social sciences and from communities. This is where knowledge exchange steps in—not just as a buzzword, but as a transformative process that holds the key to real-world impact.
What is Knowledge Exchange?
Knowledge exchange involves two-way engagement between researchers and non-academic stakeholders—communities, policymakers, NGOs, businesses, and more.
A wide range of activities can be considered knowledge exchange, including public engagement events, workshops with policymakers and citizen science. In this way, knowledge exchange is more than dissemination; it is an essential ingredient in the process of transforming research findings from ‘words on a page’ into practical, actionable insights—and, ultimately, into impact.
Impact: The Why Behind Knowledge Exchange
Impact is the benefit research brings to society. It goes beyond journal citations and media coverage. It’s about real-world changereal-world change—policies influenced, behaviors altered, ecosystems restored, and communities empowered.
And here’s the catch: Knowledge exchange is often the critical steppingstone to that impact. Simply sharing findings in academic journals and at conferences means potentially useful evidence will not reach policymakers, and people in the communities and organizations who have responsibility for ecosystems and policies that affect them. Ecologists need to engage in knowledge exchange to help drive impact.
Knowledge exchange facilitates understanding between disciplines and sectors, aligning research outcomes with societal needs. For instance, engaging with policymakers early in a research project can ensure findings are not only heard but actually used to shape policy. Similarly, collaborating with local communities can lead to more inclusive, equitable solutions—especially crucial in environmental justiceenvironmental justice contexts.
Why this matters for ecologists?
Ecology has always been interdisciplinary at its core—spanning biology, climate science, geology, and more. But increasingly, it must embrace environmental social scienceenvironmental social science: the study of interactions between people, social environments, and non-human environments. This shift acknowledges that human behavior is often the driver—and potential solution to— ecological crises.
As the British Ecological Society and the ACCESS project argue, the big environmental challenges cannot be solved by ecologists alone. Tackling complex problems like sustainable food systems or biodiversity loss demands social science insights from economics, sociology, psychology, and beyond. Knowledge exchange is the mechanism through which these diverse perspectives can meet—and more importantly, work together.
Building Bridges: The Skills Ecologists Need
To engage in effective knowledge exchange, ecologists must expand their skillset. This doesn’t mean becoming an expert in policy or environmental social science, but it does mean cultivating interpersonal, communication, and collaborative skills that might traditionally have been seen outside the scientific remit.
During the British Ecological Society’s Annual Meeting 2024, we facilitated a workshop exploring different aspects of knowledge exchange on behalf of the ACCESS project. Here are a few key principles for engaging with others on knowledge exchange activities:
- Act with Respect and Openness: Value different disciplines and perspectives; recognize there are different ways of knowing.
- Invest Time and Patience: Take time to get to know each other; building trusted relationships and understanding is vital for knowledge exchange but takes time.
- Develop a Shared Language: Avoid jargon; check understandings; strive for clarity and accessibility.
- Flex and Adapt: Listen and be open to new ideas; be willing to shift your approach based on feedback.
- Promote Inclusivity: Ensure underrepresented and traditionally marginalised voices are invited, welcomed and valued.
These ‘soft’ skills are increasingly recognised as core competencies in the ecology sector—especially those working on applied, interdisciplinary, or policy-relevant projects.
Real-World Examples: What Does knowledge exchange Look Like?
Knowledge exchange can take many forms – and you can focus your efforts (you don’t need to engage in knowledge exchange with everyone!). The key is intentionality—focusing on relevance, relationship-building, and mutual benefit. Some impactful examples from the environmental sector include:
Citizen science projects like Freshwater Watch, which engage the public directly in ecological monitoring and data collection.
Policy workshops where scientists and decision-makers discuss evidence and evidence needsevidence needs in real-time.
Visual storytelling—short films, animations, infographics—that make complex ecological datacomplex ecological data accessible to wider audiences or use visual methods to engage audiences.
Data hubs and online platforms that share open access environmental datasets.
Creative engagement events like PintPint of Science or the Festival of Social Science.
What unites all these examples is their potential to build bridges between knowledge and action—and to ensure that ecological research leads to tangible, positive change.
Opportunities and Challenges in the Ecology Sector
Ecologists are increasingly being called upon to engage with broader audiences. Funders now routinely ask for impact plans and stakeholder engagement strategies. This is an opportunity—but also a challenge.
The potential barriers are real: lack of time, training, institutional support, or confidence. Engaging with non-academic audiences requires a shift in mindset. But it is a worthwhile investment.
Meaningful knowledge exchange takes time and resources. It requires careful planning, collaborative relationship-building, and thoughtful evaluation of outcomes. But the payoff is significant: more inclusive, impactful research and a stronger role for ecology in shaping the future.
Conclusion: From knowledge to action
The ecology sector stands at a crossroads. We can continue to generate valuable scientific insights, or we can go further connecting those insights to the people, systems, and decisions that shape our world.
Knowledge exchange is the bridge from knowing to doing. It empowers ecologists to become not just observers of change, but agents of it.
And in a world facing overlapping environmental crisesenvironmental crises, that might be the most impactful contribution of all.
