BES synthesis grant funds research into forest restoration biases

Could you help us understand what synthesis research is?

Sure! Synthesis research combines separate, often disparate, components into a coherent whole to gain new insights. These components could be different datasets, methods from different research fields, or different conceptual frameworks. Combining disparate elements means that synthesis research often involves teams that span a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds. Nice recent examples of this kind of work include research on using automation to speed up redlisting of endangered species, mapping the global distribution of earthworms, or the importance of feedback loops in ecological succession.

What drew you to synthesis research?

My motivation to be a scientist comes from an interest in how to help people make decisions that benefit nature whilst balancing this with the needs of humans. Collaborating with people from a wide variety of backgrounds to bring together multiple perspectives and diverse data is a powerful way to achieve this. I’m also naturally drawn to synthesis – I like taking complicated disparate information and combining it to try to reveal general answers insights that aren’t obvious without a holistic view.

Was there a reason why you applied for our synthesis grant in particular?

I appreciate the transparency with which the BES handles grant applications as well as the extensive feedback that you get from reviewers. This isn’t true of all funders – I have sometimes been given a single line of feedback for grants that took weeks and weeks to write. The grant was also a good fit for an idea that I’d been stewing over for a few years.

Can you tell us about this idea you’ve been stewing?

I don’t want to give too much away before we’ve actually done the work! However, our project aims to identify and analyse biases in forest restoration research that hinder our understanding of effectiveness. By addressing these biases, we hope to develop more robust recommendations for forest restoration practice. Stay tuned for our papers!

For a project to be eligible for the grant, we ask that the team has to include people from outside academia and from different career stages and backgrounds. How did you build your team?

This was probably the hardest part of putting together the application. Building a team with a balance of experience, perspectives, and from different regions of the world was really difficult. For this work, I wanted to make sure our team had good representation of people from the Global South and practitioners, but the lack of online visibility of researchers and practitioners in this region makes it hard to find people that fit the bill. To find good a mix of people I searched through recent relevant literature, contacted people in my network of collaborators to ask for useful contacts, and asked on social media for potential collaborators to get in touch with me. In the end more than half of the working group is made up of people from the Global South – but it took a lot of work to get there.

What would be your advice be to others who are considering synthesis research?

The best advice I can give is to read widely. The most interesting synthesis projects often come from smashing together two concepts from different research fields to produce new insights. Skim read papers that aren’t directly related to your work and think about whether you could use the data, methods, or frameworks they use to answer questions that you’re interested in.

Apply for funding now

The deadline to apply for this round of BES grants is 11 September. You will be notified in late November regarding the outcome of your application.

Projects should start from early December 2024 to early June 2025 and be completed within 24 months of the start date.