How to engage ECRs — an interview with Diana Hackenburg
Our YESS member Diana Hackenburg has recently published a paper called Meaningfully engaging the next generation of ecosystem services specialists in Ecosystem Services. For this paper, she led a group of early-career researchers who she met at the ACES conference. Diana is a PhD student in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont in Burlington, USA. Here, we talk with her about the paper, its content, but also the process, and her perspective about the next steps needed to meaningfully engage early-career researchers.
What is the main message of your paper?
Early-career specialists have the potential to contribute in new, valuable ways to the ecosystem services field. Especially considering our exposure to diverse worldviews, interdisciplinary training, and interests in equity and justice, we are well positioned to help ecosystem services thrive in a global research and policy environment. However, life for those just starting out can be extremely stressful. We face similar obstacles as students entering most scientific fields, but heightened in part by the more recent growth and breadth of ecosystem services. We feel ecosystem services organizations and leaders should consider taking additional steps, including looking to initiatives already developed by other fields, to support the next generation and thereby further work to protect the well-being of both people and nature.
How did you come up with the idea for the paper?
Our group met during the December 2018 A Community of Ecosystem Services (ACES) conference in Washington, D.C. While very grateful for the financial support that brought many of us to the conference, we felt like the field overall could do even more to advance its next generation of leaders. One of the keynote panels was asked about the role early-career experts in ES and discussed the topic very briefly, without providing many concrete ideas or next steps. Throughout the conference, we discussed some of the challenges of early-career life, especially related to our interests and involvement in ecosystem services work, and successful initiatives from other fields that ES could replicate. Maybe it was all the coffee and sugar consumed during these chats that had us excited, but by the end of the conference we had enough ideas and interest to start putting together the commentary.
You are 14 (co-)authors of the paper. What was the process of writing the paper?
Great question! Having 14 co-authors presents challenges for writing but also helped us create a piece that reflects many different voices and experiences from across the field. After talking about the piece at ACES, a smaller group of us located at the University of Vermont (shout out to Tatiana Gladkikh and Joshua Morse!) met up to create an outline and draft some material based on our larger group conversation. Then, we presented this outline as a Google doc to everyone for comments. I think it was around this time that we also discussed authorship. We agreed to have one lead (first) author in charge of collating comments from draft and making final edits, and had anyone interested in being first author submit a short summary of their qualifications. All co-authors were responsible for contributing during each of three rounds of editing and would be listed alphabetically for the final publication. As first author, I took each round of comments and worked to incorporate them into a cohesive piece that also met the 1,000-word requirement for a commentary in the Ecosystem Services Journal. Once we had our first real draft, I sent an inquiry to the editors at the journal to assess their interest. After receiving the go ahead from them, we continued through two more rounds of editing before submitting the commentary. Throughout the process, our group communicated primarily through comments in the Google doc and by email. I came away thoroughly impressed by the thoughtfulness and hard work of everyone in this group — it was truly a team effort.
What should be the next step of (a) individuals, (b) YESS, and (c )the ESP to better engage the next generation of ecosystem services specialists?
First, I would encourage all individuals in the field to connect and engage with early-career specialists outside their lab/organization. Many early-career folks are active on social media (e.g. Twitter) so that’s a good place to start, but also think about attending activities specifically designed to highlight early-career specialists’ work, like poster and YESS-facilitated conference sessions, as a way to engage with new faces. This might be an especially valuable step for established experts looking to connect with new perspectives in the ecosystem services community. And then when you find someone’s work interesting or valuable, amplify it. YESS already does that really well by sharing early-career work and accomplishments through the newsletter, social media, and participation in conferences. As a next step, YESS might consider developing more cross-career programming to link early-career specialists with established experts in the field. For example, what about sponsoring a speed-dating coffee-break at a conference to encourage networking among all participants? Same for ESP. At the recent ESP10 in Hannover, I was encouraged to see YESS represented in the opening session (great job Arjan de Groot!) but wished we had a stronger presence throughout the conference. ESP should consider increasing the number of fellowships it gives to early-career attendees, as well as creating more structured opportunities for networking. Anything to make introducing oneself to someone you admire or just don’t know just a little less awkward!
By Klara Winkler
McGill University
