Relevant to: Research
Sector: Climate Change
Summary:
This study draws on interviews with climate scientists, boundary workers, and government officials involved in the UK Climate Projections 2009 (UKCP09) to better understand how climate scientists perceive users of climate information and respond to their needs when deliberately co-producing knowledge, as they are increasingly being asked to do.

In this article, Porter and Dessai explore how climate scientists perceive users of climate information and respond to their needs when deliberately co-producing knowledge, as they are increasingly being asked to do. The authors draw on interviews with climate scientists, boundary workers, and government officials involved in the UK Climate Projections 2009 (UKCP09). The authors problematise the tacit assumptions involved in deliberately co-producing climate knowledge by exploring how climate scientists’ perceptions of users and their informational needs are constructed and the constraints faced in meeting user needs. The research shows that many climate scientists struggle to listen, understand and respond to users of climate information, other than a small group of actors (mini-me’s) who are highly technical and numerate like themselves. The authors explore a range of factors that have influenced scientists’ responses to users and their needs and conclude that scientists need more social and institutional support to successfully co-produce climate information with users. This article demonstrates that co-producing knowledge is complex and carries risks that if not appropriately addressed could add further problems to the use of knowledge rather than resolve them.

This article was developed from the following paper:
Porter, J.J. and Dessai, S. (2017) Mini-me: why do climate scientists misunderstand users and their needs? Environmental Science and Policy Vol 77: 9-14.