The first prioritisation sessions took place on 27 and 30 March. During the sessions, the ideas submitted were examined and elaborated with the leading question: how does this idea contribute to system transition? Then, in small groups, participants bundled the ideas and made a first selection. After the first selection of topics, the participants separated again to further enrich the chosen topics and to formulate a key message: how can KIN contribute to this? During the meetings, a varied target group of approximately 100 people was present.
Themes and results
the prioritization sessions were intended to take a step from the richness of the many ideas that we have collected to the choice of topics on which we want to start the first series of Crutzen workshops and subsequently the first KIN projects.
The approach of the Thursday session was slightly adjusted after the Monday session. It has led to slightly sharper formulation of key messages on Thursday. None of the information and ideas will be lost. We take everything with us, either in the Crutzen workshops or in the extended KIN program.
We have bundled the results of both prioritization sessions. On this basis, the KIN steering group has decided to distinguish between 6 research themes (circularity, energy, health, cities and infrastructure, food systems and agriculture, and water) and 5 cross-cutting subjects that should play a role in various research themes as guiding principles and hence can be included in all KIN programs. (alignment, education, behavior, governance, and “others”).
Furthermore, the steering group has decided not to include the Global South and biodiversity themes in the follow-up of this trajecotory, because they are central to two other processes that are currently underway within KIN. There are two reasons for this decision: the advice of the Climate Task Force (2022) states that a Global Transitions knowledge program should be established anyway, and a separate working group has been set up for this purpose, which will make use of relevant ideas from the prioritization sessions. In addition, we are currently in talks with the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality and various parties in the country to explore options for setting up a top-down knowledge program with all parties involved, as described in the KIN advice.
Pre- program council
The KIN has set up a pre-programme council to examine the results and issue an opinion. The pre-programme council is asked to take the 6 research themes as a starting point for the prioritisation and to include the cross-thematic topics as part of these research themes. All submitted ideas and relevant input from the participants in the prioritisation sessions that fall under the 6 research themes will be taken into account.
The pre-programme council will discuss each research theme and the associated cross-thematic topics and assess them on the following six criteria.
1. Urgency and importance of the issue, problem or theme; the extent to which the theme aligns with significant and urgent societal challenges.
2. The extent to which the issue contributes to accelerating system transitions that mitigate risks from climate change.
3. Available expertise and capacity on the issue in the Netherlands (this can also be taken into account about comparable research already taking place abroad, which could reduce the urgency for a Dutch program.).
4. The extent to which there is a need for new knowledge on the theme.
5. The extent to which collaborations, initiatives and energy are already present in the Netherlands on the subject. Duplications must be avoided, but a topic can also build on existing collaborations.
6. The extent to which an inter- and transdisciplinary (if possible even chain-wide) approach is necessary to investigate the theme and accelerate the associated system transition.