Transitioning Social Science Research to Expert Workplaces: Workshop Findings and Future Needs

Identifying place-based ways to transition knowledge from basic research about weather hazards to different expert workplaces is important to creating useful and usable science. This type of effort may include frameworks such as the coproduction of knowledge, policy-relevant research, use-inspired R&D, and actionable science, among others. These often require trusted relationships with end users and long-term, two-way collaboration on ideas and activities. Within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), mechanisms for successful knowledge transition have been refined for decades, specifically focusing on the research-to-applications (R2X) model for physical and technical sciences (e.g. R2O, O2R2O, R2A), and more recently, the social sciences—though social science and physical science transitions can be markedly different in terms of methods, data and outputs. While NOAA has developed a set of readiness levels and attendant pipelines (e.g. testbeds and transition plans) to facilitate and track research transformations for NOAA and National Weather Service (NWS) operational contexts, less is understood about how best to transition knowledge to workspaces for NWS partners, such as those in broadcast meteorology and emergency management. This gap in understanding is especially true for pathways to transition social science findings that are relevant to partners. In June 2023, as part of a NOAA-funded grant examining NWS partner challenges with compound wind and water hazards during landfalling tropical cyclones, our research team held a virtual workshop with NWS, broadcast meteorology, and emergency management partners to identify barriers and opportunities for transitioning research to both NWS and partner workplaces. This presentation briefly highlights successful case studies of social science research transitions and the findings from the workshop more broadly, including both ad hoc and formal processes and pipelines suggested by participants. We invite audience members to posit additional suggestions from their own experience for how best to capture current ways that knowledge is made useful by different expert groups.