How island researchers navigate the wicked nature of small island research. A conversation continued

Mertens, AnoukAcevedo, DiegoArens, PatrickBecker, TatianaBrinklow, Lauriede Scisciolo, TobiaDrew, RyanFacun, KryssHall, IainHalliday, Andrew MarkJohn, NigelLópez Márquez, VioletaMcDonald, AnneMitchell, JeanMoncada, StefanoNoll, DominikRichardson, YolandaSultan, Salysvan Veghel, AmberWerleman, StephanieMijts, Eric2025-07-082025-07-082025-06Mertens, A., Acevedo, D. , Arens, P., Becker, T. , Brinklow, L. , de Scisciolo, T. , Drew, R., Facun, K., Hall, I., Halliday, A.M., John, N., López Márquez V., McDonald, A., Mitchell, J., Moncada, S., Noll, D., Richardson, Y., Sultan, S., van Veghel, A., Werleman, S., Mijts E. (2025. June 16-20). How island researchers navigate the wicked nature of small island research. A conversation continued [Conference presentation] Turning the Tide 2025, Prince Edward Island.https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14473/1557Turning the Tide 2025Small islands across the globe face the direct consequences of climate change and alarming biodiversity loss. In this context, islands and islanders are sometimes framed as a “litmus test” or “the ideal laboratory” for experiments to advise larger continental areas on how to address the effects of climate change and the biodiversity crisis. Due to the specific island context, islanders are the primary problem solvers in addressing and mitigating these challenges, and finding ways to adapt to them; however, in the first place, to protect their territories, populations, ecosystems, and cultures. It is therefore crucial and urgent to adopt and integrate inter- and transdisciplinary scientific knowledge embedded within the local contexts. Given their leadership role, island-centred research by the local island-based knowledge institutes and researchers is key. Island-centred research should play a pivotal role in generating contextualized knowledge and solutions, whether or not embedded in reciprocal international partnerships with other knowledge institutes. In this presentation, we will dive deeper into the island researchers’ operating space for such island-centred research, based on insights from semi-structured interviews and interactive sessions with island researchers from a wide range of contexts and disciplines. Our data reveal that despite the many challenges of conducting research from within the islands (incl. availability and accessibility of data, or technical and logistic challenges, funding, etc.), island researchers have found an array of ways to overcome these challenges and to produce valuable and impactful results for their societies and the rest of the world. This contribution aims to be a conversation starter amongst island researchers from insular and continental (institutional) contexts to further strengthen productive and equal collaborations in island-centred research.enHow island researchers navigate the wicked nature of small island research. A conversation continuedRecentering research in and on small island states: Island researcher methods, challenges and skillsConference presentation