SCIENCE&SOCIETY@UCI
How does scientific knowledge move from the academic environment to the forum of public opinion and policy making? Join us to learn about UCI research that studies the relationship between science and action.

Increasing the relevance and social impact of climate research at UC Irvine

Wednesday, February 13, 2019
3:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Newkirk Alumni Center

Speakers:

Valerie Olson
UCI Department of Anthropology

Steven D. Allison
UCI Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

UC Irvine is a global hub for research on climate science in fields ranging from ecology to atmospheric chemistry. Still the benefits of climate science for society remain limited, and current policies are insufficient to address the problem of climate change. Our study aims to identify the barriers to greater social impact of climate science, particularly at UC Irvine. We hypothesize that scientific researchers are isolated from other disciplines and communities, limiting the impact of research advances on climate change. We analyzed the connections among scientific and other fields on campus using survey and interview techniques. Results from these instruments reveal that many faculty members value interdisciplinary climate research but find obstacles to effective implementation. Also, most faculty members reported they don’t have a strong or clear sense of UCI research social (non-academic) impact other than what appears in news feeds.