MIT Science Impact Collaborative

MIT established the Science Impact Collaborative in 2003 to test new ways of incorporating science into environmental decision making. With initial support from the United States Geological Survey, the Science Impact Collaborative began testing tools and strategies of adaptive management, "joint fact finding", scenario planning and collaborative decision-making in resource management.

Many scientists and science organizations believe that by doing more and better science, policy makers will come to value and use their work. We believe that there needs to be a fundamental realignment in the process by which science is produced and used in the context of public policymaking. Without this realignment, new tools and products developed to support decision-making will continue to be marginalized in practice.

Focus is on testing the effectiveness of a range of collaborative planning and decision-making techniques. We believe that decision support tools (GIS, models, role play simulations, maps, cost-benefit analysis, etc.) are aids to the conversation that must occur among stakeholders. It is the process in which these tools and other boundary objects are used that will make them more effective for bridging the gaps between science, policy, and management. As the National Academy of Sciences report (2008), “Public Participation in Environmental Assessment and Decision Making,” indicates -- unless stakeholders are intimately involved in policy formulation and implementation, they are likely to resist any change in the status quo. We are working to integrate the results of our action research (reflecting on the results of our interventions in the world-at-large) into theory building that will develop a rationale for the fundamental realignment that is needed.

Currently, five students enrolled in the two-year Masters of City Planning (MCP) program at MIT are interns supported by the Science Impact Collaborative. MIT matches the financial support provided by government agencies. There are also six doctoral students supported by MIT (with help from TNO, the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research). Science Impact Collaborative interns engage in action-research and the doctoral researchers are focused on field-based interventions aimed at providing direct assistance to stakeholders in decision-making situations and how these work. Projects have included:

(*) Addressing the challenge of climate change through strategic habitat conservation in the Everglades;

(*) Assessing ecosystem sustainability and vulnerability to climate change in the Lower Mississippi Valley;

(*) A collaborative simulation process and toolkit for building "coast-smart" communities in Maryland;

(*) Guidance tools for planning and management of urban drainage systems under a changing climate;

(*) Building adaptive capacity in nearshore ecosystems in Maine;

(*) Adaptive strategies to achieve sustainable energy in the dace of changing climate through the use of offshore wind farms.

The interns, with guidance from MIT faculty and agency staff, produce reports, models, role play simulations and other other materials showing how joint fact finding and collaborative processes can be used to meet stakeholder and agency objectives.