INTEGRATIVE GROUP
Building Equity and Capacity
with Geoscience
To foster a broader understanding of geohazards and enhance efforts in hazard mitigation
The Building Equity and Capacity with Geoscience Integrative Group is working to identify a range of activities that are strategically useful and maximize the specific assets of SZ4D (i.e., geohazards, international, instrumentation, multi-institutional). Our goal is to support education, outreach, capacity building, and collaboration as key components for the success of scientific endeavors.
Key questions being addressed by BECG include:
Capacity Building
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How can we foster international partnerships that enhance capabilities - such as skills, data, software, technology, and understanding - for all scientists and stakeholders involved?
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What key elements should we incorporate into our programs to ensure these improvements are sustainable?
Equity in Hazard Mitigation
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Geohazards disproportionately affect specific communities. How do we translate improved understanding of subduction zone geohazards into products that can be used to address hazard mitigation equitably?
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What considerations must be made to ensure engagement and positive outcomes for communities?
Education and Training Strategies
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Educational programs with measurable learning outcomes are essential to strengthening our scientific community. What strategies can we identify, develop, and implement to create impactful and effective learning opportunities for all.
Improving Outreach Effectiveness
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Hazard monitoring and rapid response efforts inform decision-makers globally, requiring preparation and clear communication channels. What strategies for science communication would enable people to better understand geohazards and risks associated with them?
Interdisciplinary Collaboration
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What are evidence-based practices for interdisciplinary collaboration that break down silos and improve understanding across disciplines?
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How Can SZ4D Lead Interdisciplinary Efforts in Community Science? What steps can SZ4D take to establish itself as a model for fostering collaborative, impactful relationships and achieving meaningful outcomes in community-driven scientific initiatives?
Fostering a Collaborative Geoscience Community
The geoscience field has faces challenges in building a community that reflects broader societal representation.
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What steps can SZ4D take to enact meaningful change and foster a more collaborative and representative geoscience community?
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How can SZ4D’s programs and initiatives be designed to ensure greater inclusivity in its scientific efforts?
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How can SZ4D support funding structures and develop partnerships that provide mutual benefits to all stakeholders?
Achieving Long-Term Impact Through a Collective Impact Framework
To ensure SZ4D achieves its goals, BECG recommends adopting a Collective Impact (CI) framework. CI is the commitment of a group of people from different sectors to a common agenda for solving a specific social problem, using a structured form of collaboration. It is essentially the “how” to effectively achieve a big vision. CI has quickly grown in popularity and has been recognized as an important framework for progress on social issues by the White House Council for Community Solutions and the National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine. CI is designed in contrast with the isolated impact approach in which single entities try to make the most impact with the fewest resources. Instead, SZ4D community members should be envisioned as playing a role in a larger cooperative effort that is seeking to accomplish long-term transformative impacts guided by the CI framework.
Research shows that successful CI initiatives meet five criteria:
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a common agenda
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a shared measurement system
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mutually reinforcing activities
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continuous communication
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a backbone organization
When these criteria are met, CI fosters cascading levels of linked collaboration, driving sustainable progress toward SZ4D's mission.
Group Members
Emily Brodsky | UC Santa Cruz | brodsky@ucsc.edu | |
Veronica Oliveros | Universidad de Concepción | voliveros@udec.cl | |
Sammy Nyarko | Indiana University Indianapolis | snyarko@iu.edu | |
Justin Sweet | EarthScope | justin.sweet@earthscope.org | |
Elizabeth Nadin | University of Alaska | enadin@alaska.edu | |
Renate Hartog | University of Washington | jrhartog@uw.edu | |
Julie Sexton* | UC Boulder | ||
Brian Terbush | Washington State Emergency Management | brian.terbush@mil.wa.gov | |
Steven Semken | Arizona State University | semken@asu.edu | |
Patricia Persaud | University of Arizona | ppersaud@arizona.edu | |
Carolina Muñoz-Saez | University of Nevada Reno | cmunozsaez@unr.edu | |
Catalina Morales-Yáñez* | Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción | catalina.morales@ucsc.cl | |
Tiegan Hobbs | Geological Survey of Canada | thobbs@eoas.ubc.ca | |
Mike Brudzinski* | Miami University of Ohio | brudzimr@miamioh.edu | |
Beth Bartel | Michigan Tech University | bbartel@mtu.edu |
*Group Co-Chairs