Increasing the impact of NERC science in Environmental Monitoring by accelerating research outputs and informing future science direction and funding.
Lead Research Organisation:
NERC CEH (Up to 30.11.2019)
Department Name: Parr
Abstract
Communication is a two way process, built around dialogue – expressing and
listening. The importance of the latter is often underplayed; when I worked as
an outdoor pursuits instructor I was trained in active listening to assist in
personal development. These skills I still find valuable as they not only
produce fruitful conversations, but they also help me pitch information I want to
pass on in the most appropriate way.
I have also had considerable training in presentation; I am a qualified school
teacher and was a full time university lecturer (I still teach modules in MSc
courses to engineers and informatics students at Lancaster University). I have
made countless presentations at conferences and meetings, including invited
and sponsored lectures such as the Stapledon lecture (see CV). I am
comfortable speaking to groups of different sizes from a large lecture theatre
down to discussions with individuals.
Of course not all communication is verbal and I have a range of skills
necessary for KE including writing (in both academic literature and more
popular journals), electronic output (e-mail, web pages and wiki) and film (for television and the web). I understand the importance of matching the form and
quality of presentation to the audience in order to achieve a desired objective.
Although my work has been predominantly with academics and people from
government departments and agencies I have lead projects with individuals
from SME (e.g. linking environmental Input Output statistics to carbon
footprinting with Smallworld Consulting) to chairing a review panel for the
International Atomic Energy Agency of the United Nations.
I am involved in a number of networks and special interest groups, being a
founder member of the Northwest Tidal Energy Group (NWTEG) and active in
the early stages of the National Energy Research Network (NERN) and Joule Forum. I find these valuable in meeting a broad range of stakeholders and eliciting different perspectives. Contacts vary between national and multinational
companies such as Shell and Peel Holdings down to individuals and
members of SME. I have links to a number of Government departments and
Page 4 of 8 agencies including DEFRA, DECC, BIS, JNCC, NE, EA, SNH, CCW, etc.
Since the 1980s I have been involved in organising meetings and conferences
and I am aware of the administrative support needed for success. I have
chaired and presented at a number of meetings.
Finally, I have worked on a number of EC funded projects (such as ExternE)
which have involved both different disciplines and nationalities.
Communication is not always easy and misunderstandings can arise from the silliest of causes, but with effort the rewards are enormous.
listening. The importance of the latter is often underplayed; when I worked as
an outdoor pursuits instructor I was trained in active listening to assist in
personal development. These skills I still find valuable as they not only
produce fruitful conversations, but they also help me pitch information I want to
pass on in the most appropriate way.
I have also had considerable training in presentation; I am a qualified school
teacher and was a full time university lecturer (I still teach modules in MSc
courses to engineers and informatics students at Lancaster University). I have
made countless presentations at conferences and meetings, including invited
and sponsored lectures such as the Stapledon lecture (see CV). I am
comfortable speaking to groups of different sizes from a large lecture theatre
down to discussions with individuals.
Of course not all communication is verbal and I have a range of skills
necessary for KE including writing (in both academic literature and more
popular journals), electronic output (e-mail, web pages and wiki) and film (for television and the web). I understand the importance of matching the form and
quality of presentation to the audience in order to achieve a desired objective.
Although my work has been predominantly with academics and people from
government departments and agencies I have lead projects with individuals
from SME (e.g. linking environmental Input Output statistics to carbon
footprinting with Smallworld Consulting) to chairing a review panel for the
International Atomic Energy Agency of the United Nations.
I am involved in a number of networks and special interest groups, being a
founder member of the Northwest Tidal Energy Group (NWTEG) and active in
the early stages of the National Energy Research Network (NERN) and Joule Forum. I find these valuable in meeting a broad range of stakeholders and eliciting different perspectives. Contacts vary between national and multinational
companies such as Shell and Peel Holdings down to individuals and
members of SME. I have links to a number of Government departments and
Page 4 of 8 agencies including DEFRA, DECC, BIS, JNCC, NE, EA, SNH, CCW, etc.
Since the 1980s I have been involved in organising meetings and conferences
and I am aware of the administrative support needed for success. I have
chaired and presented at a number of meetings.
Finally, I have worked on a number of EC funded projects (such as ExternE)
which have involved both different disciplines and nationalities.
Communication is not always easy and misunderstandings can arise from the silliest of causes, but with effort the rewards are enormous.
People |
ORCID iD |
| David Howard (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
| Description | Knowledge exchange (KE) is the dialogue between academic science and policy or business development. The interaction should improve the understanding of both sides and lead to more fruitful and valuable research. As a KE fellow my role was to initially broker and then lubricate the relationship. There are several stages in successful KE and I have developed approaches and taken training to acquire specific skills. Initially the issue is identifying the participants and refining the research question. Business and policy people usually have a good idea of the research they think needs to be done, but this may not reflect current research vogue or available facilities. Using text analysis (with data from a variety of sources including electronic journals and grant databases) it is possible to characterise current research and identify the research networks involved. Bringing the parties together is usually not a problem, but managing expectations can be, skills in communication, facillitation and active listening need to be applied with diligence; my goal is that the parties do not realise that I am there. Finally, the interaction may need assistance in acquiring funding or additional resources. I have attempted to keep abreast of funding calls and acted pragmatically in assisting to complete application forms. My failures have usually involved me being included within a grant application to develop new science - in many ways I am happy with that outcome as the science is fascinating. Working in KE has confirmed my appreciation of the surprising skillsets and knowledge different people have combined with sometimes significant gaps and misunderstanding. |
| Exploitation Route | I have presented material at KE Network meetings and drafted guidelines on different tasks (e.g. text analysis). I feel that KE should not be confined to specialists and so I have been trying to share my skills with colleagues at CEH and introducing my PhD student to text analysis. |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Energy,Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Description | My KE activities are continuing to deliver benefits to both business and researchers. Examples of these include: 1. Solway and Morecambe Bay Gateways (with Arup) where I am liasing between tidal gateway developers and environmental regulators and researchers to establish appropriate environmental monitoring and valuation of stock at risk. 2. NW Energy² who I assisted to develop a model of NW energy for the Liverpool International Festival of Business, interacting with POL and Liverpool University. 3. I have worked along with a newly formed SME LIFE (Low Impact Food & Energy), helping them formulate a bid to the EU 8th Framework to support the development of a business case and linking them with University of Leeds who are seeking funding from the Yorkshire Innovation Fund to develop an aquaponics system on marginal agricultural land that will produce vegetables and fish supported by renewable energy sources. 4. Offshoots is a permaculture centre in Burnley. Through interactions with me and Lancaster University they are now following an ecosystem services approach to develop their apiaries and bee hive deployment. They unsuccessfully applied for NERCfunding, but have since successfully gained EU funding. 5. Irish Sea Rim Group. The NW Development Agency used to support a group of researchers and businesses to discuss tidal energy. With the demise of the Rural Development Agencies this group disappeared. Recently I have been involved in establishing a replacement group (Irish Sea Rim Group) that is attracting increasing interest (it was mentioned by Alex Salmond in one of his election speaches as an example of how cross border collaboration would continue if Scotland devolved). |
| First Year Of Impact | 2012 |
| Sector | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Energy,Environment |
| Impact Types | Economic |