We are looking forward to our colloquium “Participation as a driver for solving complex
environmental policy problems?” on March 11th at 13:00 (German time).
Environmental problems such as biodiversity loss, water pollution, and climate change are often perceived as complex or “wicked” problems. This complexity makes it difficult to take political action to address these problems at various regional levels. Against this background, science, politics and society are increasingly looking for new strategies to deal with complex problems. Respective debates often center on the possibilities and limitations of various participatory approaches at the interface between science, politics and society, such as participatory science communication, participatory science and participatory governance. However, it remains unclear what effects these various participatory approaches have on addressing complex environmental problems. To address this topic Dr. Sabrina Kirschke provides an overview of the ongoing debate and offers insights into theoretical assumptions and empirical findings. The presentation discusses how complex or so-called wicked problems are defined and operationalized and what challenges arise from this complexity for political action. In addition various participatory approaches are also being discussed and their specific relevance for meeting these challenges will be explored. Empirical examples will be drawn primarily from the context of natural resource management in Germany and internationally.
Dr Sabrina Kirschke heads the public policy research group at Museum für Naturkunde Berlin – Leibniz-Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science. As a political scientist, her research focuses on the role of participation in addressing complex environmental policy problems. She investigates the design and effects of various participatory approaches at the science-policy interface, such as participatory policy design, transdisciplinary research, citizen science, and participatory science communication. Before joining the Museum für Naturkunde, she worked as a research associate at the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research and the United Nations University.
More information on each colloquium will be sent to our mailing list as the dates approach.
You can register for the meeting with the following link: https://lmu-munich.zoom-x.de/meeting/register/fwHNHHQUTeqLgBNmor_XaA