DOI
10.1016/j.ecolind.2017

Summary
Socio-ecological research, as conducted within the Long Term Ecological Research network in Europe (eLTER), is a relatively young field that studies coupled ecological and social systems to advance solutions for contemporary challenges in human-nature interactions. While many research and applied projects have been launched using a socio-ecological conceptual framework, there are few tested protocols to evaluate the effectiveness of such efforts at meeting their goals, e.g., goals relating to knowledge integration and influence on policy and practice, which distinguish this type of research. We suggest that such socio-ecological research may be conceptualized as an expression of the broader trend in science favoring transdisciplinarity, an approach that calls for research that fuses knowledge and methods from academia, practice, and broader society, with the goal of addressing shared public problems.

Relevance for Complex Systems Knowledge
Since tools to evaluate transdisciplinary studies on nature-society interactions are so scarce, the authors deemed it appropriate to borrow approaches designed for the evaluation of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary nature-society research and apply it to the type of socio-ecological research. This article reviews approaches relevant for evaluating socio-ecological research, synthesizes these approaches into an original framework for the evaluation of socio-ecological research, and implements the first two stages of the approach. This approach aims to: build “self-awareness” around key aspects of socio-ecological work; identify strengths and weak spots regarding program management, understand the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary nature of collaborations, and which of these may constitute effective or ineffective work; align research priorities with the issues perceived as important to stakeholders besides the academic researchers; and − of course − emphasize problem-solving in the socio-ecological system. While the qualitative and quantitative stages of the evaluation primarily examine the status quo, these data are used to create prompts that can be used to solicit insightful comments from focus groups. The assumption is that suggestions for adapting the research process will be viewed more favorably and may be more likely to be adopted if they originate from the stakeholders themselves.

Point of Strength
This article can be very useful for students who are considering a transdisciplinary approach to study on couple socio-ecological systems.