Guiding principles for hydrologists conducting interdisciplinary research and fieldwork with participants

Sally Rangecroft*, Melanie Rohse, Eddie W. Banks, Rosie Day, Giuliano Di Baldassarre, Theresa Frommen, Yasunori Hayashi, Britta Höllermann, Karen Lebek, Elena Mondino, Maria Rusca, Marthe Wens, Anne F. Van Loon

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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Abstract

To explore and address complex water-related issues, true collaborative, interdisciplinary research at the interface of hydrology and social science is necessary. Accordingly, hydrologists are increasingly working with social sciences and becoming involved in fieldwork with participants. With the overarching aim of facilitating collaboration and interdisciplinary water research, here we discuss important considerations and guiding principles for hydrologists, both those new to and those already familiar with interdisciplinary research, who are: (i) involved in fieldwork with participants; and (ii) working more collaboratively with social scientists. Drawing on first-hand experiences, this paper combines theory and experience from hydrologists and social scientists from their various interdisciplinary research projects to better understand key ethical, theoretical and practical considerations when working with participants. Complementary to this, we discuss the barriers and opportunities in collaborative interdisciplinary research. Facilitating these practices and understandings for hydrologists is essential to strengthen collaboration and to develop more holistic, successful research.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)214-225
Number of pages12
JournalHydrological Sciences Journal
Volume66
Issue number2
Early online date10 Dec 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge all of the research opportunities that they have been part of throughout their varying careers to gain the insights for this paper. A number of interdisciplinary projects have helped the co-authors to gain these experiences and perspectives. We acknowledge some of the main ones here: “CreativeDrought,” a Grand Challenges Research Fund Building Resilience project funded by NERC, ESRC and AHRC (grant number NE/P016049/1); “Women’s Action towards Climate Resilience for Urban Poor in South Asia,” a Global Resilience Partnership funded by The Rockefeller Foundation, USAID and Sida; Collaborative Research Centre Future Rural Africa, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (328966760); The German Excellence Initiative; and Australian Research Council Linkage Project LP150100588. The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. Finally, the authors thank all the project partners and participants who they have met along the way to producing this opinion piece.

FundersFunder number
Collaborative Research Centre Future Rural Africa
German Excellence Initiative
United States Agency for International Development
Rockefeller Foundation
Styrelsen för Internationellt Utvecklingssamarbete
Arts and Humanities Research CouncilNE/P016049/1
Economic and Social Research Council
Natural Environment Research Council
Australian Research CouncilLP150100588
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft328966760

    Keywords

    • collaborative
    • fieldwork
    • hydrology
    • interdisciplinary
    • social sciences

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