Expert Activities as Part of Research Work

The Example of Biodiversity Studies

Abstract

In a fast-growing body of literature on the science-policy interface, surprisingly few studies have examined the way researchers’ expert and advisory activities are embedded in scientific practice and academic careers. Little attention has been paid to scientists’ points of view on their own expert and advisory activities. Drawing on an empirical survey of biodiversity studies, we focus on scholars’ choices and trajectories in order to document why and how they become involved in this range of activities. Our results show how expert activities and scientific work are co-produced and articulated. A key result is that the nature of expert and advisory activities researchers are involved in, is closely related to the way they consider it possible to generalize ecological knowledge to various fields and networks. We also show that expert and advisory activities can help biodiversity scientists meet some of the requirements weighing on academic work (i.e. securing funds, showing social relevance or obtaining access to the field).