dc.contributor.advisor |
Brierley, G |
en |
dc.contributor.advisor |
Owen, S |
en |
dc.contributor.advisor |
Smith, W |
en |
dc.contributor.author |
McEntee, Marie |
en |
dc.date.accessioned |
2016-02-29T21:26:11Z |
en |
dc.date.issued |
2015 |
en |
dc.identifier.citation |
2015 |
en |
dc.identifier.uri |
http://hdl.handle.net/2292/28327 |
en |
dc.description.abstract |
Participatory research is advocated for fostering multi-stakeholder engagement and learning towards sustainability. Using multiple sources of evidence from stakeholder interviews, participant observations and review of project documentation from six micro-level agricultural innovation projects in New Zealand, this work examines how effectively participatory research is utilised to advance agricultural sustainability. Project partnerships are shown to be a dynamic union between farming, science and funding partners and their formal and informal institutions. The empirical evidence shows the inter-relatedness between institutions, partner relationships and collaborative learning. Institutions which shape actors’ engagement in participatory research lead to wide variation between actor groups. Participatory research is undermined by formal and informal institutions that inhibit collaboration and favour prescriptive outputs. To provide an enabling environment for collaborative learning, partnerships should foster relationships to align partner priorities, engender shared visions and stimulate knowledge co-production. The research conceptualises partnership as a relationship between actors that goes beyond a principal focus on it as a contractual entity. Changes in farming practice are dependent on the depth of farming partner involvement and engagement with project design and implementation, along with the strength of feedback loops with the communities of practice and the farming group’s capability to sustain learning beyond a project’s funded period. Building on these findings, a model is presented that conceptualises a variable collaborative learning space that emerges from the project partnership. Collaborative learning is shown to be influenced by the strength of partner relationships within and beyond the project partnership and institutions that together act to enlarge or constrain the collaborative learning space and enable or deter learning. The thesis concludes by reframing participatory research in production agriculture to create transdisciplinary partnerships and foster systems thinking to facilitate a questioning of the assumptions and values that drive current practice. This appropriately frames participatory research for sustainability as a means to an end and not an end in itself. Such framings recognise sustainability as a multi-dimensional, interconnected and complex concept. Conceptualising participatory research projects as a collaborative learning space provides the opportunity for knowledge to be co-developed where learning is emergent, adaptive and dynamic. |
en |
dc.publisher |
ResearchSpace@Auckland |
en |
dc.relation.ispartof |
PhD Thesis - University of Auckland |
en |
dc.relation.isreferencedby |
UoA99264870312902091 |
en |
dc.rights |
Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated. Previously published items are made available in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. |
en |
dc.rights.uri |
https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm |
en |
dc.title |
An exploration of collaborative learning spaces in the quest for agricultural sustainability in New Zealand |
en |
dc.type |
Thesis |
en |
thesis.degree.discipline |
Environmental Science |
en |
thesis.degree.grantor |
The University of Auckland |
en |
thesis.degree.level |
Doctoral |
en |
thesis.degree.name |
PhD |
en |
dc.rights.holder |
Copyright: The Author |
en |
dc.rights.accessrights |
http://purl.org/eprint/accessRights/OpenAccess |
en |
pubs.elements-id |
523963 |
en |
pubs.org-id |
Science |
en |
pubs.org-id |
School of Environment |
en |
pubs.record-created-at-source-date |
2016-03-01 |
en |
dc.identifier.wikidata |
Q112909898 |
|