Using science and stories as stimulus in decision-making: scenario-ing through ‘bite size’ drought science and storyboarding water practices by Liz Roberts

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Using science and stories as stimulus in decision-making: scenario-ing through ‘bite size’ drought science and storyboarding water practices by Liz Roberts

This presentation outlines the successes and challenges of using a ‘science-narrative’ approach to engage communities around drought risk in the UK. Storytelling approaches are increasingly called upon in the UK to bring about more meaningful forms of participation and as part of public engagement processes to make research more accessible and interesting to wider, non-academic audiences. This is set alongside a call to democratise scientific knowledge and rethink the way that knowledge is produced, incorporating models of co-production.

The ‘Drought Risk and You’ (DRY) project developed a suite of creative methods to bring local, lay, experiential knowledge into the techno-scientific dominated sphere of UK drought risk management. This took place through ongoing stakeholder engagement over four years at river catchment-level, where stories were brought into the same space as different forms of drought science. Hydrological modelling, incorporating land use, catchment management and climate changes produced future drought scenarios. Drought conditions were simulated through mesocosm-scale experiments on UK grasslands at three field sites, and monitored by citizen scientists, and on drought tolerant crops such as lucerne and quinoa compared with more commonly grown UK crops.

The presentation will outline how drought science and stories were exchanged to increase preparedness and resilience in UK drought risk. Unless otherwise stated, all PLACE research seminars take place from 12pm - 1pm in room 0.01, 33 Park Place. Seminars are free to attend and open to all.