Investigating the challenges and opportunities of a bilingual equity knowledge brokering network: A critical and reflective perspective from university partners

2021 ◽  
pp. 147821032110414
Author(s):  
Nathalie Bélanger ◽  
Eliane Dulude
Keyword(s):  
Policy Implementation ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Knowledge Brokering ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Knowledge Brokers ◽  
Equity And Inclusion

Public education systems are often large, diverse, fragmented, and historically very hard to change. While previous reforms targeted primarily school staff, large-scale policies now include a broader audience including non-system organizations (e.g., knowledge brokering organizations) that may influence directly or indirectly policy implementation. Arguing that knowledge brokering organizations can contribute to policy implementation by bridging equity policy and research and practice at the local level, we put forward that their networks and relationships with districts, schools, and community organizations can bring about substantial changes to the organization and practices of schools on equity issues, even though they may face obstacles in implementing change due to particular contexts. We aim to better understand the role of knowledge brokering networks and of the university partners who act as knowledge brokers to bridge Ontario Ministry of Education policy goals with equity research and practice. As knowledge brokers working in a bilingual province-wide equity knowledge brokering network, we use our experiences as a particular case of a non-system role in system-wide reforms. We build on these experiences to question and self-reflect on our role as knowledge brokers who accompanied practitioners and community coalition leaders towards equity and inclusion over a 2-year period. By analyzing knowledge brokering functions, we show the challenges and opportunities we faced as knowledge brokers in guiding local equity and inclusion initiatives: 1) the roles we carried out during interactions and practices that could take on different meanings as knowledge producers and mobilizers; 2) we point out how and why these knowledge brokering functions and our roles within a bilingual province-wide network needed to adapt to local realities by providing for a more flexible planning process that allowed for sufficient time to identify local needs and to produce, if necessary, the knowledge that incorporated cultural context considerations or particularities.

Understanding knowledge brokerage and its transformative potential: a Bourdieusian perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Chew ◽  
Natalie Armstrong ◽  
Graham P. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Healthcare Research ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Knowledge Brokering ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
Transformative Potential ◽  
Knowledge Brokerage ◽  
Knowledge Brokers ◽  
Institutional Boundaries

Background: Knowledge brokering is promoted as a means of enabling exchange between fields and closer collaboration across institutional boundaries. Yet examples of its success in fostering collaboration and reconfiguring boundaries remain few.Aims and objectives: We consider the introduction of a dedicated knowledge-brokering role in a partnership across healthcare research and practice, with a view to examining the interaction between knowledge brokers’ location and attributes and the characteristics of the fields across which they work.Methods: We use qualitative data from a four-year ethnographic study, including observations, interviews, focus groups, reflective diaries and other documentary sources. Our analysis draws on Pierre Bourdieu’s conceptual framework.Findings: In efforts to transform the boundaries between related but disjointed fields, a feature posited as advantageous – knowledge brokers’ liminality – may in practice work to their disadvantage. An unequal partnership between two fields, where the capitals (the resources, relationships, markers of prestige and forms of knowledge) valued in one are privileged over the other, left knowledge brokers without a prior affiliation to either field adrift between the two.Discussion and conclusions: Lacking legitimacy to act across fields and bridge the gap between them, knowledge brokers are likely to seek to develop their skills on one side of the boundary, focusing on more limited and conservative activities, rather than advance the value of a distinctive array of capitals in mediating between fields. We identify implications for the construction and deployment of knowledge-brokering interventions towards collaborative objectives.<br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>Knowledge brokers are vaunted as a means of translating knowledge and removing barriers between fields;</li><br /><li>Their position ‘in between’ fields is important, but their influence in those fields may be limited;</li><br /><li>Lacking the resources and relationships to work across fields, they may align with only one;</li><br /><li>Both the structure of fields and the prior knowledge and habitus of brokers will influence knowledge brokerage’s success.</li></ul>

Territorial Governance of EU Cross-Border Renewable Energy Cooperation: A Soluble or Turbulent Model in the Current Framework?

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-97
Author(s):  
Melis Aras
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Development Planning ◽  
Cross Border

The energy transition in Europe requires not only the implementation of technological innovations to reduce carbon emissions but also the decentralised extension of these innovations throughout the continent, as demonstrated by the ‘Clean Energy for All Europeans’ package. However, decentralised energy generation, and specifically electricity generation, as it gives rise to new players and interactions, also requires a review of the energy planning process. In this sense, governance becomes the key concept for understanding the implementation of the energy transition in a territory. This is particularly visible in a cross-border setting, especially considering cross-border cooperation in the development of renewable energy sources (RES) provides the necessary elements to determine the criteria of local regulation between the different levels of governance. In light of the current legal framework in France, this paper presents the institutional framework of the multi-level governance of the RES development planning process. It concludes that it is quite conceivable for the rationales of governance at the local level (decentralisation) and the large-scale operation of a large interconnected network (Europeanisation) to coexist.

Compliance and Conflict of Value in Public Policy Implementation: Comparison between the New Order and the Reformation Era

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dwiyanto Indiahono ◽  
Erwan Purwanto ◽  
Agus Pramusinto
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Policy Implementation ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
New Order ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Public Policy Implementation ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Conflict Of Value ◽  
The Relationship

This research aims to examine differences in the relationship of bureaucratic and political officials during the New Order (Soeharto’s era) and the Reformation (post-Soeharto) era within the arena of public policy implementation. This is a matter of importance given that there is a change in relations between the two from integration in the New Order to bureaucratic impartiality in the Reformation Era. This study attempts to answer the question: How were the relations of bureaucratic and political officials in the implementation of local level public policy during the New Order and the Reformation Era? A qualitative research has been conducted in Tegal Municipality using the following data collection techniques: interview, focus group discussion, documentation, and observation. Tegal Municipality was selected as the study location because of the unique relationship shown between the mayor and the bureaucracy. Its uniqueness lies in the emergence of bureaucratic officials who dare to oppose political officials, based on their convictions that bureaucratic/public values should be maintained even if it means having to be in direct conflict with political officials. This research indicates that the relationship between bureaucratic and political officials in the arena of local level policy implementation during the New Order was characterized as being full of pressure and compliance, whereas during the Reformation Era bureaucrats have the audacity to hinder policy implementation. Such audacity to thwart policies is considered to have developed from a stance that aims to protect public budget and values in policies. The occurring conflict of values here demonstrates a dichotomy of political and bureaucratic officials that is different from the prevailing definition of politics-administration dichotomy introduced at the onset of Public Administration studies.

Characterization of seawater reverse osmosis fouled membranes from large scale commercial desalination plant

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chem Int
Keyword(s):  
Reverse Osmosis ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Retention Rate ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Microscopic Analysis ◽  
Transmembrane Pressure ◽  
Hydraulic Permeability ◽  
Seawater Reverse Osmosis ◽  
A Chain

The objective of this work is to study the ageing state of a used reverse osmosis (RO) membrane taken in Algeria from the Benisaf Water Company seawater desalination unit. The study consists of an autopsy procedure used to perform a chain of analyses on a membrane sheet. Wear of the membrane is characterized by a degradation of its performance due to a significant increase in hydraulic permeability (25%) and pressure drop as well as a decrease in salt retention (10% to 30%). In most cases the effects of ageing are little or poorly known at the local level and global measurements such as (flux, transmembrane pressure, permeate flow, retention rate, etc.) do not allow characterization. Therefore, a used RO (reverse osmosis) membrane was selected at the site to perform the membrane autopsy tests. These tests make it possible to analyze and identify the cause as well as to understand the links between performance degradation observed at the macroscopic scale and at the scale at which ageing takes place. External and internal visual observations allow seeing the state of degradation. Microscopic analysis of the used membranes surface shows the importance of fouling. In addition, quantification and identification analyses determine a high fouling rate in the used membrane whose foulants is of inorganic and organic nature. Moreover, the analyses proved the presence of a biofilm composed of protein.

scholarly journals Remote Sensing Methods for the Biophysical Characterization of Protected Areas Globally: Challenges and Opportunities

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 384
Author(s):  
Javier Martínez-López ◽  
Bastian Bertzky ◽  
Simon Willcock ◽  
Marine Robuchon ◽  
María Almagro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Area Network ◽  
Biophysical Characterization ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Scale Characterization

Protected areas (PAs) are a key strategy to reverse global biodiversity declines, but they are under increasing pressure from anthropogenic activities and concomitant effects. Thus, the heterogeneous landscapes within PAs, containing a number of different habitats and ecosystem types, are in various degrees of disturbance. Characterizing habitats and ecosystems within the global protected area network requires large-scale monitoring over long time scales. This study reviews methods for the biophysical characterization of terrestrial PAs at a global scale by means of remote sensing (RS) and provides further recommendations. To this end, we first discuss the importance of taking into account the structural and functional attributes, as well as integrating a broad spectrum of variables, to account for the different ecosystem and habitat types within PAs, considering examples at local and regional scales. We then discuss potential variables, challenges and limitations of existing global environmental stratifications, as well as the biophysical characterization of PAs, and finally offer some recommendations. Computational and interoperability issues are also discussed, as well as the potential of cloud-based platforms linked to earth observations to support large-scale characterization of PAs. Using RS to characterize PAs globally is a crucial approach to help ensure sustainable development, but it requires further work before such studies are able to inform large-scale conservation actions. This study proposes 14 recommendations in order to improve existing initiatives to biophysically characterize PAs at a global scale.

Large-scale Data Integration for Facilities Analytics: Challenges and Opportunities

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Balaje T. Thumati ◽  
Halasya Siva Subramania ◽  
Rajeev Shastri ◽  
Karthik Kalyana Kumar ◽  
Nicole Hessner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Integration ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Large Scale Data ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Scale Data

scholarly journals Urban and Spatial Planning: Pragmatic Considerations for Plan Implementation Improvements (A Case Study of the City of Bor)

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 215824402199455
Author(s):  
Dragana S. Nikolić ◽  
Marijana D. Pantić ◽  
Vesna T. Jokić
Keyword(s):  
Planning Process ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Main Task ◽  
Territorial Development ◽  
Plan Implementation ◽  
Implementation Phase ◽  
Legislative Framework ◽  
The Government ◽  
Local Government Budget

The main task of planning documents is to achieve maximal rationality in the use of space, spatial resources, and balanced territorial development. The preparation of plans is regulated by a legislative framework, which embraces multiple phases and stakeholders. In a perfect planning process, it would be expected that all the elements are well coordinated and brought to common understanding, but in reality, obstacles and challenges can occur in any of these steps, especially in the implementation phase. Although a plan is fully prepared to be practiced, its implementation might be omitted. Therefore, this article analyzes the full process of spatial and urban planning from the perspective of plan implementation. The methodology is based on a combination of different data collection methods (interviews, fieldwork, direct observation) with the analysis of plans and the particular mention of those plans that picture the implementation issues the most. Also, legislative acts and semi-annual and annual reports on the achievements of the local government budget are analyzed. The approach indicates that plan implementation depends the most on the willingness of the government to perform changes in the system and to peruse punitive policy comprehensively. Although it is about implementation at the local level, the success primarily depends on clear definitions given in the legislative acts, freedom of the local communities to make their own decisions, and financial decentralization, side by side with the regional and local circumstances, institutional technical and staff capacities, and application of participatory planning that involves actors from various sectors.

scholarly journals Coopetitive Nature of Energy Communities—The Energy Transition Context

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 931
Author(s):  
Karolina Mucha-Kuś ◽  
Maciej Sołtysik ◽  
Krzysztof Zamasz ◽  
Katarzyna Szczepańska-Woszczyna
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Building Energy ◽  
Energy Sector ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Energy Transformation ◽  
Pilot Projects ◽  
Economic Dimension ◽  
Self Sufficiency

The decentralization of the large-scale energy sector, its replacement with pro-ecological, dispersed production sources and building a citizen dimension of the energy sector are the directional objectives of the energy transformation in the European Union. Building energy self-sufficiency at a local level is possible, based on the so-called Energy Communities, which include energy clusters and energy cooperatives. Several dozen pilot projects for energy clusters have been implemented in Poland, while energy cooperatives, despite being legally sanctioned and potentially a simpler formula of operation, have not functioned in practice. This article presents the coopetitive nature of Energy Communities. The authors analysed the principles and benefits of creating Energy Communities from a regulatory and practical side. An important element of the analysis is to indicate the managerial, coopetitive nature of the strategies implemented within the Energy Communities. Their members, while operating in a competitive environment, simultaneously cooperate to achieve common benefits. On the basis of the actual data of recipients and producers, the results of simulations of benefits in the economic dimension will be presented, proving the thesis of the legitimacy of creating coopetitive structures of Energy Communities.

scholarly journals The Relationships among Self-Worth Contingency on Others’ Approval, Appearance Comparisons on Facebook, and Adolescent Girls’ Body Esteem: A Cross-Cultural Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 901 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Prieler ◽  
Jounghwa Choi ◽  
Hye Eun Lee
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Body Esteem ◽  
Asian Country ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Self Worth ◽  
Appearance Comparison

The present study examined the relationship between appearance-related social comparison on social networking services (SNSs) and body esteem in a cross-cultural context (three European countries, i.e., Austria, Belgium, and Spain, versus one Asian country, i.e., South Korea). The role of self-worth contingency on others’ approval was considered to be a psychological and cultural factor. Utilizing a large-scale cross-national survey of early and middle adolescents in 2017, the responses of female adolescents (N = 981) were analyzed. The results generally support the findings from previous studies but also reveal cultural differences. Appearance comparison on Facebook negatively influenced girls’ body esteem in all European countries, but not in South Korea. Self-worth contingency on others’ approval negatively influenced girls’ body esteem across all four countries. Finally, a positive relationship between self-worth contingency on others’ approval and appearance comparison on Facebook was found in all European countries, but not among Korean girls. These findings suggest the importance of self-worth contingency on others’ approval and cultural contexts can be used to study the effects of body image-related SNS use.

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