Who Cares About Research?!
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Who cares about research?! Marc Schut WHO CARES ABOUT RESEARCH?! A STUDY ON THE ROLE OF RESEARCH IN POLICY PROCESSES IN COMPETING CLAIMS CONTEXTS Marc Schut Thesis committee Thesis supervisor Prof. dr. ir. C. Leeuwis Professor of Communication and Innovation Studies Wageningen University, the Netherlands Thesis co-supervisor Dr. ir. J.M. van Paassen Assistant professor at the sub-department of Communication Science Wageningen University, the Netherlands Other members Prof. dr. K.E. Giller Wageningen University, the Netherlands Prof. dr. J. Grin University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands Prof. dr. ir. E.M.A. Smaling University of Twente, the Netherlands Dr. E. Turnhout Wageningen University, the Netherlands This research was conducted under the auspices of the Wageningen School of Social Sciences. WHO CARES ABOUT RESEARCH?! A STUDY ON THE ROLE OF RESEARCH IN POLICY PROCESSES IN COMPETING CLAIMS CONTEXTS Marc Schut Thesis Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of doctor at Wageningen University by the authority of the Rector Magnificus Prof. dr. M.J. Kropff in the presence of the Thesis Committee appointed by the Academic Board to be defended in public on Friday 20 April 2012 at 4 p.m. in the Aula. Marc Schut Who cares about research?! A study on the role of research in policy processes in competing claims contexts. 280 Pages Thesis, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands (2012) With references and with summaries in English, Portuguese and Dutch ISBN 978-94-6173-148-7 For my parents For Sicco Kolijn (†) PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Doing a PhD is not something that you do alone, nor is it a lonesome journey. Since the beginning of my PhD research in August 2007, I have worked with many interesting people and organisations that have all contributed directly or more indirectly to this thesis and the personal and professional learning curve that I have been through during the last years. When my promoter Cees Leeuwis first approached me for this research after my graduation at the end of 2006, I was not particularly looking for a PhD position or a career in science. I was 27 years old, had just finished my MSc thesis and was tired of people always asking me whether I had yet finished ‘school.’ I wanted to enter the ‘real’ working life and gain experience by working abroad where the ‘real’ action takes place, not spend another four years in the books. However, the conversations I had with Cees and Annemarie van Paassen (my co-promoter) resulted in a project idea that very much reflected my interests and ideas at that moment. After three submissions, the project idea was adopted by the working group ‘sustainable spatial development of ecosystems, landscapes and seas and regions,’ which was developing a project under the same name funded by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation. A first thank you is therefore for the working group and in particular Paul Opdam, Eveliene Steingröver and Jolanda van den Berg for your trust and support in making the research idea become a real research project. During the first months of the research in Wageningen I followed courses, participated in CERES (nowadays part of WASS graduate school) activities and developed my research proposal. The always growing pile of research articles, the long ‘to do’ lists and the insecurity about how to structure and organise the research would have been unmanageable if it had not been for the moral and humorous support of my roommates Laura, Maartje and Ellen, and during later phases also Sonja, Horacio, Herman, Fernando and Pushpa (†) who sadly passed away in January 2012. I also found out that the most important people are in the secretariat. I wish to thank Annette, Sjoukje, Sylvia, Joke, Mirjam, Mirjam, Carlotte and our financial manager Vera for their support, the joy they bring to the group, and in particular Sylvia for the never ending supply of candy and sweets. My gratitude to all COM and CIS colleagues for their interest in my work, for their patience and time to answer my questions, and – as promised – thanks Reint-Jan for sacrificing your office for me. For the first case study, I interviewed different people from De Noordwaard, whose willingness and openness to share their personal stories with me is highly appreciated and has touched me. Several people at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment also contributed valuable insights to the research, and I thank colleagues from Alterra (Wageningen University and Research Centre) for sharing their experiences with me. During the first phase of the research, I had already become involved in the Competing Claims on Natural Resources programme, funded by the Interdisciplinary Research and i Education Fund of Wageningen University and Research Centre. This PhD programme provided a platform for interdisciplinary collaboration and learning, which shaped my thesis significantly. I thank in particular Ken Giller, Maja Slingerland and Jens Andersson for their dedication, trust and support. Also the collaboration and friendships with other PhD students form an important part of the PhD learning experience. Fred, we both acknowledge that humour, music and Zhombwe are essential when doing research in the ‘competing claims jungle.’ I know that we will keep in touch. Jessica, you have been my buddy during the last phase of writing in Wageningen. I hope you understand how much I appreciate you as a colleague and as a person; I am delighted that you are one of my paranymphs. The second case study in Mozambique was a life-changing experience in many ways. Anna Locke and Sicco Kolijn played crucial roles in starting up my work in Mozambique. The death of Sicco was a big shock for all of us. It was an honour to have known him, and we still think about him a lot. I dedicate this thesis to him, his work and his family. During the two years in Mozambique, I enjoyed working with Almeida Sitoe, Annie Sugrue, Lara Machuama, Wilson Leonardo, Madeleine Florin, Gerrie van de Ven, Floor van der Hilst, Jasper van de Staaij, Edward Smeets and the several MSc students that did fieldwork in Mozambique. A big thank you for my partner-in-crime Anna Lerner with whom I worked together for the full two years in Mozambique, who helped me reflect, and who became a very good friend along the way; I wish you all the best for the future. I also would like to give a big obrigado to my colleagues at CEPAGRI and DNER, especially Roberto Albino, Hercilia Estrela, António Saíde and Marcelina Mataveia. Within the inter-ministerial subgroup sustainability criteria I worked a lot with Hélio Neves, Aude Nowak and João Chidamoio. I thank them and the other subgroup members for their efforts and hard work to make Mozambique the first African country with a national policy framework for biofuel sustainability. I am grateful for the support of Célia Jordão of the Dutch Embassy in Maputo. Célia, you have been (and still are) of immense value for the biofuel policy process and always facilitated my work; thank you so much! I highly appreciate all investors, commercial and smallholder farmers, researchers, NGO representatives with whom I collaborated and who provided data and insights necessary for this study. I wish to thank Kees Kwant and Carmen Heinze of NL Agency (AgentschapNL) for their belief in the importance of continuing the support to the policy debate on biofuel sustainability in Mozambique. And Núria Cunha Soares for her hard work to operationalise the biofuel sustainability framework with the subgroup sustainability criteria in Mozambique; you are doing a great job! Of more personal note: Carmen, Simone, Heather, Karen and Mike thank you so much for always providing a real ‘home’ in Maputo. And last but definitely not least I thank the Chimoio crew for the lessons in life, relaxing, running, cycling, BBQing and organising trips to the beautiful countryside of Mozambique. As for my supervisory team at Wageningen University: my promoter Cees Leeuwis and my co-promoter Annemarie van Paassen. Cees, it has been very inspiring to work with you, and I am glad that we will keep working together. Your style of supervision and coaching is special. You gave me the space to develop my own ideas and creativity, but you could also be to the point and provide direction when I needed it. Furthermore, you always took care of the more ii ‘bureaucratic’ stuff, and this created an environment in which I could work in an action- oriented way and do my research freely. I am aware of how privileged I have been. Your leadership style makes our department a very pleasant place to work, where there is room for the individual, but also team spirit. Annemarie, you were sometimes way ahead of me, providing me with literature and ideas that I only later realised I needed. Your detailed feedback on my work and the questions emerging from that created the foundation for inspiring discussions that we held face to face, on the phone, on the bike and in the train. You always had time for me, and also told me to ‘let go’ and ‘relax’ every now and then. Thanks for that, I know now that I needed it sometimes. I wish you all the best and I am sure that we will keep working together in the future. Before I start to thank friends and family, I would like to express my gratitude to Catherine O’Dea for making this thesis accessible in terms of the English language, Bjorn Engelen for editing the Dutch summary and Núria Cunha Soares for editing the Portuguese summary. Furthermore, I highly appreciate the work of Joris Ketelaar in developing the figures for Chapter 9 of this thesis and designing the cover and the bookmark.