The KIN has developed the ‘Knowledge-in-Action’ programme line to bring science and practice together in a joint effort towards just climate transitions. The guiding principle is: learning by doing and doing whilst learning. Knowledge-in-Action programmes are organised thematically and feature a co-created agenda setting out identified barriers to transition, learning objectives and research questions.
Connecting social pioneers and researchers
Entrepreneurs, enterprising citizens, creative professionals, action researchers and enterprising civil servants all play a crucial role in the desired societal transitions. These pioneers are often already experimenting on a small scale with desirable alternatives and possess a wealth of experiential knowledge. Connecting them with researchers creates powerful combinations of practical knowledge and scientific methods. Furthermore, science can help to legitimise and underpin transition practices.
To enable transformative projects to get off the ground more quickly, KIN has developed the Knowledge-in-Action grant. The aim of the Knowledge-in-Action grant is to foster collaboration between science and practice and to take joint, research-based steps that can accelerate just climate transitions. This grant facilitates and funds both researchers and civil society actors who are working together on just climate transitions. As it is not clear in advance, with such complex issues, whether interventions will work or not – and why – the Knowledge-in-Action grant provides scope for experimentation with a focus on action: a cyclical and learning-based process of trialling, investigating and adjusting.
Knowledge institutions and civil society organisations can jointly submit proposals for transformative, experimental projects within the various themes. In these projects, we investigate which potential solutions, research questions and transition learning objectives can accelerate the desired transition. Proposals may take the questions from the agenda as a starting point, or formulate their own research questions and related hypotheses and learning objectives that align with the sub-themes. The most important thing is that they advance the practical implementation of the desired transition within a specific theme and, in the process, develop and disseminate knowledge and insight.
Transition interventions as a research method
The KIN is committed to supporting research in and for (transition) practice. We therefore place the emphasis on action: by taking targeted action, we create impact and gain insight. We seek out ‘transition interventions’. These are transdisciplinary or transformative research projects in which research questions are posed by people who are working together to find a path towards a fundamentally better, fairer or more sustainable future.
It is therefore not about ‘just doing things’, but about learning by doing and doing whilst learning. This requires a comprehensive analysis of persistent problems and entrenched systems, a set of guiding principles and values, well-founded theories and learning objectives regarding the desired transition, a transparent and robust methodological approach, and a plan for facilitating co-creation and learning.
A transition intervention can take many forms: (trans)disciplinary, visual, design-based, entrepreneurial, or, conversely, highly process-oriented, reflective or activist. As long as it involves a joining of forces from practice and research, aimed at advancing the desired transition.
