Abstract
The educational experimental project ‘Bridge to the Future’, which took place between 2002 and 2007, aimed primarily at supporting the regional development process by action- oriented student research. The second aim was to develop students’ roles as boundary workers in the co-creation of knowledge in a regional setting. Our basic assumption, like Gaventa and Cornwall (2001), is that collaborative research is empowering and innovative because it links science and society in such a way that it involves peoples’ own critical reflection and learning. Actors’ roles need to be redefined during this process. This causes uncertainty which needs coaching and facilitation. The ‘Bridge to the Future’ project started with a kick-off meeting in the area with regional stakeholders, students, supervisors and a project leader. The integrated research question developed there represented the complexity of the regional issues and provided an interdisciplinary starting point for the students who had to conduct their thesis-research in the framework of the collaborative project. As such the research question became a boundary object, which created possibilities for communication, interaction, learning and reflection. During monthly meetings different viewpoints were exchanged and discussed in a multi-stakeholder setting, which slowly developed into a learning community, providing a base and network for regional actors to develop plans collaboratively. As boundary workers the students and their research empowered the people from the area and provided a stronger sense of identity. Important impact of the project in the area is a LEADER network, rural art and rural tourism projects, international exchange visits and the actual development of biomass installations. We conclude that collaborative landscape research can be valuable if actors learn to take on new roles, are supported in creating boundary objects, organise reflection and are able to develop new knowledge, for sustainable development and the management of landscapes.
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Notes
- 1.
A collaboration between Wageningen University and the agricultural colleges Van Hall and Larenstein in the Netherlands.
- 2.
One of the supervisors and the project leader are authors of this chapter.
- 3.
WSI is a rural regional platform foundation, consisting of a broad range of regional stakeholders.
- 4.
LAG=Local Action Group, consisting of max 50% formal representation, and at least 50% informal local representation. The LAG formulates policy advice considering rural regional policy and is financed for 50% by EU rural LEADER policy.
- 5.
ENLDT: European Network for Local Development Teams.
- 6.
For example, research on the small-scale water storage in the area, and other water management issues.
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Acknowledgements
The research activities were conducted in the context of the educational innovation project called ‘Bridge to the Future’ in the period 2002-2007. The project was implemented by a project team consisting of lecturers from van Hall-Larenstein, Wageningen University and an external project leader. The project was financed by a one-year innovation fund from Wageningen University. It was then extended for a further three years. The experience, the results and the reflection on the process led to this paper.
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Sol, J., Beers, P.J., Oosting, S., Geerling-Eiff, F. (2011). Action research in a regional development setting: students as boundary workers in a learning multi-actor network. In: van Paassen, A., van den Berg, J., Steingröver, E., Werkman, R., Pedroli, B. (eds) Knowledge in action. Mansholt Publication Series, vol 11. Wageningen Academic Publishers, Wageningen. https://doi.org/10.3920/978-90-8686-724-0_6
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