The Nature of Transformative Change: Connecting Research and Practice

The deterioration of nature, including ecosystem functions and services, is contributing to a rapid loss of biodiversity across the planet. Without transformative responses, research-based predictions point to a “ghastly future”. However, lack of results strongly indicate that current responses remain inadequate. Researchers and practitioners are increasingly expected to generate impacts for people and the planet. Although there is a rapidly-increasing body of knowledge on what needs to be done to change the climate and biodiversity crises and address social inequity, the gap between research and practice remains wide. We invite researchers, research-related professionals, and businesses and practitioners working closely with research to address gap between knowledge and action and what we can do about it in The Nature of Transformative Change: Connecting Research and Practice – an innovative event that will take place in Bergen on April 12, 2024, just prior to Ocean Week. Participants will be introduced to an innovative “framework for actions” for transformations to sustainability and tools where participants can explore their own capacities and collaborative power and ways of engaging differently with sustainability. In addition cutting-edge examples of how research has been integrated and put into practice in specific sectors and contexts will be presented by invited researchers and practitioners. The event is organized by cCHANGE in collaboration with by Dr. Monica Sharma, award winning author of Radical Transformational Leadership: Strategic Action for Change Agents, Professor Karen O’Brien of the University of Oslo and cCHANGE and in partnership with leading institutions in academia, public sector and business.

Research and researchers are increasingly expected to generate transformative impacts for people and the planet. Although there is a rapidly-increasing body of knowledge on what needs to be done to transform the climate and biodiversity crises and address social inequity, which is currently being assessed by the IPBES nexus and transformative change assessments, the gap between research and practice remains wide. This draws attention to multiple questions: how can researchers and research-related professionals do better in connecting knowledge and action? How can they contribute to narrowing this gap in a transformative way that generate measurable impacts? What tools and capacities can enhance the collaborative power of both scientists and stakeholders? These questions will be addressed through an innovative event called “The Nature of Transformative Change: Connecting Research and Practice.” This event will take place in Bergen on April 12, 2024, just prior to Ocean Week. The event will be open to researchers at all career stages, and research-related professionals. The event will be framed and facilitated by Dr. Monica Sharma, author of Radical Transformational Leadership: Strategic Action for Change Agents, together with Professor Karen O’Brien of the University of Oslo and cCHANGE. Cutting-edge examples of how research has been integrated and put into practice in specific sectors and contexts will be presented by invited researchers and research-professionals. During the event, participants will be introduced to powerful tools to strengthen their collaborative power to address the nature crisis and design projects for impact to the bridge the gap between knowledge and action.