ID Artigo: 941
Titulo: RESEARCH: SOCIAL LEARNING IN POLICY & PRACTICE FOR SUSTAINABILITY
Resumo: The objective of the South African National Research Foundation (NRF) is "to support and promote research through funding, human capacity development and the provision of the necessary research facilities, in order to facilitate the creation of knowledge, innovation and development in all fields of the natural and social sciences, humanities and technology, including indigenous knowledge systems". Within the NRF, the Applied Research and Innovation (ARI) directorate takes responsibility for ensuring research reaches implementation and is used to the benefit of South Africans. Currently, the most developed applied research programme supports the competitiveness and development of South African industry, and the ARI goal is to extend this focus to applied research supporting public good - including the sustainable management of natural resources. In order to accelerate this goal, ARI has developed the Akili Complexity and Integration initiative that aims to develop the capacity of researchers and communities of practice to acknowledge and take account of the complexity of the contexts within which research is applied. Akili focuses on building both knowledge about complexity and integration and the practice of action research and contextual learning, where research is an integral part of research process, outcome and use. In the first three years the Akili focus will be on the nexus between land water and energy, with the catchment as the primary biophysical and social-ecological frame. The Akili initiative is used as an example of using research as social learning policy and practice tool for expanding sustainability.
Palavras Chave: Research as social