Study title

United Kingdom, Thailand, Netherlands, Denmark

Individual

Organization

Event/process

Group

Object

Other

The methodology of the project as a whole was explicitly interdisciplinary, in its ambition to contribute to the development of conceptual as well as methodological approaches for rethinking the role of globalising experts and expertise in dealing with complex and dynamic nature/cultures and related uncertainties. The project favoured a creative research design with multiple methods of inquiry, each able to capture different aspects of the cases studied. Together these helped to make explicit and interrogate existing, and formulate new, proposals for developing knowledge suitable for dealing with environmental uncertainties. Methodologies included network analysis, case studies of circulation of technologies and knowledge artefacts, professional life histories, and participatory modelling. In our methodological approach, we acknowledge that the researchers’ (that is, our own) contexts matter too. Hence, the research methods employed were not considered simply to represent reality ‘out there’. The research team represented an exciting mix of disciplinary backgrounds, and we intended to make use of this in the overall project. The integration of the results was ensured by sharing similar (but not identical) theoretical starting points, by focusing on a similar ‘web’ of study objects (people, discourses/ideas, models/technologies, land and water management practices) and by collaborating in all work packages. The joint focus on four deltas – and having part of our team there on the ground – allowed for a systematic comparison between them, while also contributing to a high level of integration.The Sample size was limited on the basis of two criteria: understanding and feasibility. First, the researchers expected elucidation on the topic he/she/they researched in this period to have decreasing pay-offs; the claims involved none that require a large-n study. Second, the researchers expected it infeasible, even if it were useful, in setting more interviews, transcribing the results and obtaining novel questions from these results. All respondents were professional experts representing their organisation. The recruitment process followed a snowball method. The researchers used an entry-point and then asked the experts for other relevant contacts, who were subsequently contacted via email. For example, the Met Office was contacted to develop a Climate Model of interest. The Met Office then offered two experts to speak about the model. These experts will then be asked who else is relevant as a participant in the study during the interview. In the email, the researchers introduced themselves as members of a larger team involved in studying the travel of expertise from Europe to SE-Asia. A formal interview request was made, which could be declined or accepted. If accepted, a follow-up mail was sent to settle whether the interview was to take place: in person or via phone, to determine the date and the time. The applicant researcher will begin any agreed to interview with the statement that the respondent can stop the interview at any point if so wished.