Using researcher and stakeholder perspectives to develop promising practices to improve stakeholder engagement in the solutions-driven research process

Translational approaches to science have the potential to produce research that better meets the needs of community stakeholders and advances scientific understanding. Researchers involved in translational research make committed efforts to increased engagement and communication with stakeholders throughout the research process, from planning through implementation and evaluation. Referred to as solutions-driven research within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Research Development, this approach is being piloted on Cape Cod (Barnstable County), Massachusetts. EPA researchers are working in close coordination with community partners on the Cape to better understand and address challenges with managing nonpoint source nitrogen. The pilot also aims to assess the usefulness of solutions-driven research approaches for application in future EPA research efforts. Using semi-structured interviews with researchers and other stakeholders, we examined researchers’ and stakeholders’ perspectives on the impacts of intentional and intensive stakeholder engagement on research efforts to improve coastal water quality. This study provides a reflexive assessment of the perceived benefits and drawbacks for researchers and other stakeholders when there is an institutional expectation of an increased focus on engagement. We found that engagement has been truly intertwined with research in the pilot, participants perceived an improvement in research usefulness through developing valuable collaborative relationships, and that these relationships required significant time commitments to maintain. We also identified a need for an efficient infrastructure for developing and distributing communication materials for continued engagement with diverse stakeholders throughout the research process. The paper provides transferable practices for researchers seeking to use a solutions-driven research approach based on lessons learned thus far in how to support researchers and research planning in simultaneously prioritizing effective engagement and sound collaborative environmental science research to address a localized environmental challenge. This is an innovative approach in that interviews occurred as the implementation phase of the project began, with the goal of implementing the lessons learned outlined here in the ongoing project. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42532-022-00119-5.