In general, the research design phase is guided by addressing theoretical questions and research gaps to better understand ecological systems.  The design is increasingly becoming a collaborative process in which scientists from biodiversity-rich developing countries (such as Tanzania and Kenya) are included in the early stages of project and proposal development.  More needs to be done to ensure that this foundational phase in which questions, objectives, and methods are established is inclusive of the expertise, interests, and in situ knowledge of scientists and conservation partners who live in the country that hosts the field research.  Given the diversity of skill sets that were represented in the AfricanBioServices project from data enumerators to senior faculty, there are varying degrees of participation and awareness about the design phase of research.  This phase is driven by project leaders and trained scientists and, in this way, represents collaboration among the elite of the research group.  This occurs due to a number of factors, many of which relate to the norms and hierarchies of scientific disciplines and the funding landscape.  In this project, deliberate choices were made by the coordinating team to foster greater inclusion of African researchers.  This represents a positive step, but more work needs to be done to make this the norm rather than the exception.  Continued support of women and African scientific researchers, administrators, and assistants at all levels is necessary in follow-up.  The influence of inclusion in the research design phase would likely bring shifts to the very questions that are being asked and on whose behalf, which has implications for all other aspects of research.

Theorizing has been considered the pinnacle of scientific activities, and Africa has often been seen as a source of raw data and not a source of theory.  Theory from the global south (3) is growing in importance and, concurrently, new relationships between theoretical interests and emerging case studies.  As new cases and questions are being incorporated into research design, the explanatory power of the most resilient theories and hypotheses is being challenged and improved.  Participatory research, the use of science by governments in the developing world, and the gradual increase of scientists who are from countries in which research is conducted shapes the research design phase.  Foreign scientists are developing connections and relationships to people beyond the boundaries of conservation areas.  This expands the scope of research beyond traditional scientific concerns with the flora and fauna within and near conservation areas.  Conservation research is then situated in a broader context and is understood as connected to local, national, regional, and international socio-ecological dynamics.  As these trends continue, increased awareness, accuracy, and accountability in the research design phase should emerge among foreign and African scientists.  

A focus on the themes of context, cooperation, and communication during research design can help to clarify and refine this phase.  Connecting the field site as a context to a research project as a context is important during the research design phase.  If these two contexts are connected and reflect one another during the research design phase, the probability of a successful research project increases.  When the scientific and research contexts are connected, the research project is more practical and more meaningful.  Furthermore, the accuracy and efficacy of methods, models, and findings increase when context is introduced at the research design phase by those who understand it.  It cannot be assumed by researchers that the context of the field site and research project are the same, should be the same, or should be forced to be the same.  The similarities and differences between the research project and the field site and communities who neighbour the field site are dynamic and debatable. For instance, conservation research projects are viewed as non-secular but, in many cases, the communities surrounding conservation areas have robust religious institutions.  The research design is an opportunity to discuss the connections and disconnections between researchers’ understandings of the field site and the perception of the field site by other stakeholders.  These various perceptions do not always synch and cannot always be easily reconciled.  This understanding of context sets the stage for cooperation in a diverse context that tolerates disagreement and discussion.  

Cooperation during the design phase is important because it is through cooperation that diverse insights are integrated at the foundational level versus being incorporated extemporaneously or ignored.  The cooperation and connections established in the early phases of research extend throughout the life of the project and beyond.  Cooperation is not always easy for human beings who are in competition with one another or come from very different backgrounds.  In many cases, projects are designed by a group of researchers with relatively little diversity.  While this text does not attempt to establish rules for cooperation, it codifies that cooperation is difficult, even for people who are committed to collaborating cooperatively.  It also provides a basis for criticism of projects that do not prioritize cooperation.  Embedded in the excerpts below from participants in the AfricanBioServices project are encouragements and insights about the importance of cooperation and the consequences of neglecting it in conservation research.  The understanding of conservation research involves diverse stakeholders and mandates that researchers take a cooperative posture as they engage the stakeholders.  To acknowledge that conservation involves diverse stakeholders while ignoring the contributions and concerns of this diverse group furthers a disconnect between design and implementation.  

Central to cooperation is communication.  Communication can be a source of function and dysfunction in a conservation project.  The success of cooperation and an understanding of context often hinge on communication.  Particular concern for communication during the research design phase begins the process of engaging multiple perspectives.  Communication in the research design phase should be open, with the goal of clarity and understanding.  During the design phase, a wide lens is potentially used.  As a result, important information may be presented in different languages and disciplinary jargon, and in this way, the research design process becomes multi-lingual, multi-cultural, and multi-disciplinary.  Challenging topics are raised and discussed.  Disagreement emerges.  As with context and cooperation, communication is not a prescribed end or a static set of rules but a process.  The process by which the research design takes shape is an opportunity to communicate the goals of a research project to a broad audience of stakeholders and incorporate their feedback.  This requires commitment, transparency, and oversight because misunderstanding and marginalization in projects often manifest in silencing certain stakeholders.

A key goal of the research design phase is the early stage recognition of conservation research as social.  The pillars of the research process, which is dynamic, are established in the design phase.  Time should be allotted to establish pillars that are strong, adaptive, and sensitive to the human component of conservation research.  If the themes of context, cooperation, and communication are turned into practices during the research design phase, a marker is set.  As a research project takes shape, the research design may be amended, but these markers enable changes to be tracked in relation to the original goals and ethos.  An understanding of context, cooperation, and communication during the research design phase has intellectual and social impacts.  When scientists prioritize these three dimensions, the relevance of the research project improves in breadth and depth.  An ongoing commitment to these three dimensions, if established in the research design phase, aids in the interdisciplinary and indigenous connectivity of conservation research in the long-term.

The following quotations reflect the views of participants in the AfricanBioServices project when asked about the process of research design.  After transcribing the interviews, the quotes were thematically organized, and the analytic frame of the 3Cs—context, cooperation, and communication—emerged.  This tripartite frame is used below to classify and present the quotations.  The quotations are not free-standing but are diverse individual voices that are grouped and sequenced thematically.  This highlights the variation and consensus among scientists about conducting research in an interdisciplinary and international group.

You can design a purely chemical type of research, but this type of research has been overpowered over the years.
– Othman Chande

First, you begin with different disciplines and tackle research questions from different angles.  When you are working together in a multidisciplinary environment, researchers have different knowledge and experience.  You address so many issues at the same time, especially in the early stages as the focus of the project is taking shape.  Many problems are interlinked so when you use only one discipline, you only solve one link between the multiple facets.  If you are many disciplines, you can produce a design that tackles the links together and make a better informed outcome.
– Robert Fyumagwa

If you can, base yourself near the field site during the design phase or for periods during the design.  This will help with the conceptual and logistical aspects.
– Stuart Smith

My study of conservation comes from the critical social science side of the literature.  Closely following the debates as an insider in the AfricanBioServices project gave me insight into the kind of arguments that originate from conservation biologists and the dynamics within the discipline itself. It made me realize that there is a great disciplinary rift between our academic debates and a great need to bridge this rift.  
— Tekle Weldemichel

Conceptually addressing protected area boundaries is challenging, in part, because there are conflicts at these land use transitions.  Novel solutions are needed to deal with protected area boundaries.  In southern Africa, protected areas are often fenced.  In Tanzania, that is generally not seen as a valid solution, and boundaries are soft.  Fencing and hard boundaries impact ecological functioning as they strongly separate people and wildlife.  But, without hard such boundaries, people and wildlife are increasingly in conflict.  These are important issues and problems needing further research.  
— Han Olff

During the design phase, using the gaps from different disciplines can produce more sophisticated objectives and activities.  
— Julius Nyahongo  

The researchers should always take into account the need to familiarize on the knowledge of the country to which they are travelling to conduct research.  They must continue to try to understand the circumstances beyond just the literature review.  If research only represents an outside perspective, there is the danger of producing findings that are inadequately reflecting the local context.  Understanding the environment and engagement of people will suit the objective and findings of the research and possibly the comparison between different countries or issues under consideration. The solutions that come from research become feasible because they take into account the real situation on the ground.  Encourage researchers to do so-called participatory research.  
— Iddi Mihijai Mfunda

What is the context of the problem and how is it reflected in the conceptual framework?  Is it global?  Is it the region of Africa?  In East Africa only?  In Tanzania only?  Then, you can see how variables are contingent on scale and how to design the research accordingly.
– Julius Nyahongo

‍Research topics have generally been treated as separate, but the changes to the ecosystem are interactive and the factors that lead to change are interactive so we need an interactive approach.  If this approach is taken, considering interactions among main factors is built into the design.  
– John Bukombe

‍A well-organized approach is needed to capture interactions in the system and among scientists, natural and social, who study them.  
– John Bukombe

‍The research design needs to be evaluated in terms of whether people in the respective context will participate fully.  Will they respond to your questions?  Will they be willing to participate?  These are among important questions to be answered.  
– Ophery Ilomo

There are key elements for interdisciplinary research teams. There needs to be extensive time, at the beginning of the research, building and reflecting on and discussing terms and jargon, conceptual models, prevailing theories, and potential inter-disciplinary biases. This needs to be followed by interdisciplinary conceptual modeling, linking different parts of the system. Then in crafting the research questions, it is critical that the questions actually span different disciplines, if you want to actually answer interdisciplinary questions. An example questions might look like this: how does human culture affect landscape function?   I include stakeholders in each part of the above process. And, then we make sure that each question is not only interdisciplinary but has a practical aspect that communities care about.
– Robin Reid

Through bringing together expertise on a broad range of disciplines from diverse institutes, research can illuminate the current situation in the Greater Serengeti-Mara Ecosystem regarding biodiversity conservation and human well-being.  The close collaboration between African and European scientists has great potential to yield a firm basis for both scientific research and societal developments for decades to come.
– Michiel Veldhuis

Time allocation and time management is key.  The challenge is getting everyone to work and agree with one another from the start. Nevertheless, with AfricanBioServices the challenge was overcome.  
– Devolent Mtui

Making an application for such a big and complex project is difficult, not at least when so many researchers and institutions are involved and the topics are so diverse.  The research design inevitably reflects the researchers’ personal interests – that is a strength and a challenge. As close cooperation is a necessary survival and success strategy for a project, it is easy to see that the research design should have been discussed more thoroughly in advance, in a workshop. This is however, both a practical and economic question. The overall research design is essential and connecting this to the subprojects within a larger project requires another level of planning, coordination, and designing.
– Kjetil Bevanger

There were multiple times I thought the train was going come off the tracks, but somehow we were able to keep it together.  In hindsight I think this came down to friendships that developed between people based on shared experiences and interests. This enabled the trust and respect required for frank discussions which led to a conciliatory attitude between work packages.  Without this social fabric, the story would undoubtedly be very different.  
– Grant Hopcraft

Research is more effective and efficient when scientists are tolerant.  In this process, scientists can demonstrate tolerance with one another and the non-scientific community, which is a skill and a commitment.  
– Gine Roll Skjærvø

Start collaborating with people and build your ambitions in conversations with one another.  
– Han Olff

In the ideal world, research collaborations would begin with a workshop and a pilot project.   This did happen to some extent in our project and was helpful.   However, we are far apart and not always able to integrate in the planning phase.  As a result, the integration happens in the field while collecting data.  
– Bente Graae

Many people are busy with many professional responsibilities.  There are times when coming together and work as a group is important.  Patience is important, but also sometimes you have to push to get things done.  Be patient and push and make a way to communicate, to reach one another.
– Devolent Mtui

It always starts with the proposal.  The proposal is where the vision is painted in bright colours and linked to clear questions that are both critical and feasible.  We promised a lot on the AfricanBioServices and developed some hugely novel techniques and insights, such as the use of the tail hairs to create physiological diaries of animals as they migrate and the cascading effects that humans can have on core ecological processes.  However, what we over looked in drafting the proposal was ensuring all collaborators were sufficiently well resourced to meet their visions and in hindsight we could have done this better.  This was partially because each institute was responsible for submitting their own budget.  Invariably the experienced and well-resourced institutions did this better, which meant some of our Tanzanian and Kenyan collaborators did not have enough to complete all the tasks they wanted to.  This caused tensions especially for joint work packages, which led to the second lesson - negotiation with collaborators.  AfricanBioServices was heavily inter-linked across institutes both within Europe and between Europe and Africa.  
– Grant Hopcraft

One must understand the capabilities of partners and what can be realistically accomplished by each partner.  The design phase is one opportunity to gain clarity around this issue.  Each partner must make a clear contribution while drafting the design.   The tasks should be divided and each partner should explain and contribute.  Through this, capabilities and expectations can begin tobe realistically established.  This is one of the purposes of the research design phase.
– James Odek

Respect among researchers is important. You need not focus on your friend’s weaknesses. In Africa, we do not have great libraries or the newest statistical packages. While European universities are rich. They have many things and are developing many things. There is a very strong relationship between industry and universities, which is not well developed in Africa. Industry incentives young scientists and shapes the questions that are asked.

When people from one country want to research in another, it is very good to collaborate with locals.  They understand the problems.  The problems cannot only be designed in Europe.  The design may make sense there but then researchers have to force things on the ground according to their thinking in the design phase.
– Julius Nyahongo

The meetings for all project members coming together are important.  During these discussions, the vision for the project and the activities that comprise the vision are defined and refined.  It is also how we realize the gaps.
– Janemary Ntalwila

Capacity building is an important part to consider in the early stages.  Capacity building can include equipment, facilities, and personnel training.  All are important.  Think creatively and pragmatically about what capacity you have to transfer and which you would like to gain.  
– Patrick Wargute

Bringing together an equal number of conservation institutions and institutions of higher learning throughout the region is important.  Uganda was not included in this phase but should be included in future research.  
– Janemary Ntalwila

If you use the power and expertise of the different people, this can lead to novel synthesis of ideas, new hypotheses, which are beyond what an individual researcher can do.  If someone is working on vegetation, modelling animal populations, economics, and they speak to different aspects but together they produce a more rounded view of how things are working.  In this sense, the sum is greater than the parts.
– Joseph Ogutu

For a Danish student, having actual experience on the ground, for instance volunteering with an NGO, to get insights into the actual problems and constraints that appear would be important qualities.  It is difficult to design a meaningful study from abroad if you have no actual experience.  Collaborate with people who have a long-term presence, whether they are part of the East African community or researchers who have worked there. Those with longer track records are essential.
– Martin Nielsen

Interdisciplinary work is a new type of thinking that is becoming popular and increasingly effective.  In the recent past, chemists focused on our chemistry.  Biologists focused on biology.  But, now problems are coming out that are related to each other, so if you just solve the chemistry part, it doesn’t give you a solution.  For instance, before a chemist can measure the chemical properties, we may need biologists to identify the correct species.  We need each other, especially in conservation projects.
– Othman Chande

The main obstacle is that we look at the same thing differently. Biodiversity is looking at species, looking at traits and behaviour. We (chemists) think about biodiversity but in terms of the chemicals and reactions that comprise an ecosystem. During the design phase, the main challenge is to convince the other partner that my way of looking is relevant to the solution, which can be difficult.
– Othman Chande

Given my background, I recommend consulting a statistician early to determine sample size, the appropriate layout of the design in the field.  But, over and above the statistics, try to visit the study site so that you are familiar and can decide where in a system that you will focus because you have limited resources.  How am I going to lay out my sampling units, maybe transects or sampling plots?  A detailed understanding of the site is necessary.  You’ll need to make a plan to match locations during a collaborative project.
– Joseph Ogutu

We are the only work package that deals directly with the socioeconomic issues, so it’s been a challenge to fit in and align with the other objectives. At the Consortium level, it would have been nice to have another social science discipline and work package.
– Martin Nielsen

Mwalimu Nyerere was a great thinker.  What the world is trying to address now.  He thought about a multi-disciplinary approach to addressing problems in conservation at the time of independence.  That is why he said that conservation of our resources is for the nation and the entire world.  In this, he is consideration multiple perspective.  This is foundational to conservation in Tanzania.  
– Robert Fyumagwa

The challenge of working in a large project is the diversity of backgrounds and experiences. It can be difficult to get people talking to each other. There is a risk, if one is not careful, that the research will be multi-disciplinary but not interdisciplinary. You want cross-cutting issues that enable people to work together and exchange ideas. The hope is that we bring the knowledge from different disciplines to bear on the project. We are then able to look at the problem in a way that is far beyond a single discipline.
– Joseph Ogutu

We designed our project together.  We wrote the proposal together and everyone was clear about what was going in the proposal.  Then, everyone played his or her part as well as learned and exchanged.  Not only during the stages of proposal writing but also during data analysis because as a group, we agreed this has to be part of capacity building.  This was a common goal and, as result, everyone developed new capacities.
– John Bukombe

These collaborations are crucial to addressing ecosystems.  The time when people are working alone is gone.  
– Joseph Ogutu

We have different fields, different nomenclatures in our fields and this takes you out of your comfort zone, which is a challenge.  Learning the nomenclature is important during the design phase.
– Joseph Ogutu

For research design, I would advise a student to think seriously about the capacities and skills represented in your team. Plan something that can be executed based on the skills in the group and the scientific merit of the research.
– Hamza Kija

Understand the research design in terms of purpose and techniques.  Read it thoroughly and repeatedly throughout the project to stay focused on the broad goals and specific processes.
– Masoud Masoud

Junior scientists must be involved in the design.  Senior researchers want publications.  They want to be known in their fields, and this influences the designs.  Junior researchers can help maintain the connection between design and research innovation because they are eager.  
– George Kajembe

Throughout this project, our research requirements were met and we were not in the position of needing to request something that had not been provisioned for.  This was the result of good planning in the design phase.
– Masoud Masoud

Project planning can begin as well at the district level.  Information can be collected there and move upward versus top-down.  It is time for things to be the other way around.  The topics that researchers are interested in really impact people’s lives.  They should be incorporated from the beginning.
– Angela Hezekiah

We normally speak of inclusion in decision making, but inclusion can be a part of research design.  Cattle are important for people. This should influence research design and the questions and problems that are being addressed through research.
– Philip Jacob

Time management.  The interconnected and cumulative nature of work in a large project means that time management must be implemented across various phases.
– George Kajembe

Collaboration and participation of key actors and this includes scientists and local communities.  Local communities have a historical relationship with wildlife.
– Rose Kicheleri

When we design our research, we need to look holistically at the problems in ecosystems.  This can be overwhelming and requires a great deal of upfront effort.  
– Philip Jacob

Expectations, understandings, and interests can be completely different.  These can be irreconcilable.
– Vedasto Ndibalema

Disciplines can work to internalize one another during the research design phase.
– Vedasto Ndibalema

Research design is the phase that should be integrated in every study to fully address the research problem in a coherent and logical way.
– Franco Mbise

Different knowledge, different skills, different approaches from different sources can arrive at a comprehensive research design.  
– Rehema Ulimboka

Multi-disciplinary approach gives an opportunity to learn and see what other disciplines can offer relative to a specific area of common interest.  
– Vedasto Ndibalema

These projects offer opportunities for young scholars to learn new techniques, equipment, and how to organize large groups.  This aspect of design—who does what with whom—is an important consideration in terms of skills and capacity building.  
– Shombe Hassan

We look for commonalities, but we must also try to move closer and align our focus.  
– Vedasto Ndibalema

Making time for face-to-face workshops with policy makers and other stakeholders during the design phase.  
– Joseph Ogutu

A mistake is to try and write drafts for partners during the initial phases of the design phase and then ask is this ok.  The early stages of the design phase allow partners to articulate their capabilities.  If they cannot do this, you may have trouble later.    
– James Odek

People often underestimate the cost of travelling within and from developing countries to participate in planning meetings to organize funds for research.  
– Masoud Masoud

Research design sets the frame.  It is key issue in a research. It has to be manageable.  It has to be something that can be executed in the allocated time scheduled.  It has to be achievable.  It has to be within your limits, in terms of finance and resources.  
– Ophery Ilomo

Communication is key during the design phase.  A collaborator will send an email and expect a response in a very short time.  Sometimes, we have no internet or power or we are in the field.  It is important to be conscientious of the logistical context of the recipient.
– John Mgonja

Research design is about clarity.  Research problems can be huge and your objectives need to be achievable.  It shouldn’t be a shotgun approach, where many pellets spray and a target might be hit.  Be specific so your colleagues don’t have to return to your question because it wasn’t probably addressed.  If you provide a focused answer to an important question, you make a contribution that can be built upon and debated. Define your contribution through research design.  
– Norman Owen-Smith

We understand things from different angles and so you must spend time with people in order to understand things holistically, while specializing in your angle.  In the early phases, sharing stories from the field, sharing science, sharing challenges, and new approaches is how groups of scientists can develop the relationships and bonds needed to undertake interdisciplinary research.
– Philip Jacob

Having more social scientists creates a more vibrant debate useful for addressing both conservation and social concerns.
– Tekle Weldemichel

In remote sensing, there are different approaches and they vary across institution and individual.  Harmonizing these approaches is important to creating a common methodology.  I was involved in this process and I proposed a methodology based on a previous project in which I had worked.  It was relevant and it was adopted.  But, this required multiple meetings and forums to come to this agreement.  
– Merceline Ojwala

As far as research is concerned, it is very important that the objectives and goals are common and clear.  If it is international and multidisciplinary, it is very important to read.  If they are developing the proposal, the theoretical framework becomes important.   What have people done in the past? AfricanBioServices is a multidisciplinary project aimed at total ecosystem functioning.  Climate, ecology, human-wildlife, carnivore-herbivore, disease, et cetera.  Researchers need to thoroughly review the literature with a particular emphasis on sources from the country.  
– Julius Nyahongo

Communication and team work are essential. Varying levels of commitment and / or interest from different partners have the potential to throw a major spanner in the works.  
– Craig Jackson

Describing data is important.  Spend time on describing the meta-data well.  To make this point clear through an exercise, ask people to understand a dataset that is not well described or notated.  This can help people to understand the importance of good quality meta-data and good quality data.  Poor meta-data can lead to poor interpretation.
– Peter Ranke

Researchers are coming from different nationalities, cultures, and disciplines and it can be a challenge to understand one another.  The other challenge is some of us work in remote areas and it can be difficult to communicate. From my field station, which is in a remote area, communication can be a challenge, Skype is a challenge.  For many years, we struggled to maintain a consistent internet connection and now have it.  For now, we managed to have that.  It has been a serious problem—communication. At points in the project, when communication is critical such as the research design, consider accessibility and location.  
– Robert Fyumagwa

When we are designing our projects and budget, we need to allot funds for publishing and dissemination.  If I want to go to town or to a village to tell them what I found, they will tell me they need a seating allowance.  In a poor country, you need a fund to disseminate directly to them.  In the villages, where there is no electricity or radios to buy newspapers or the newspaper delivery is not regular, the best way is in person.  It is important to understand these costs from the beginning.
– Julius Nyahongo

We appreciate those that designed this project.  From the beginning, the goals were very ambitious.  The time needed to achieve these goals never feels sufficient.  Focusing the broad goals of the project in this short period of time is a challenge.  We prioritize the gaps.
– Janemary Ntalwila

Somebody did this and learned this, and therefore, it is necessary to address the following.  Students should form the problem statement to address what has been done.  Justification for the problem can be done in as short as three paragraphs.  Just as biologists have a framework of organization—cells make tissue, tissues make organs, organs make systems, and systems make an individual.  Words are like cells to make a sentence, sentences are like a tissue to make a paragraph, paragraphs are like an organ and make a chapter, a chapter is like a system and many chapters will make a book as with a human or organism.  The problem statement brings ideas together in a very organized and systematic way.  Biology students must also write in an organized manner just as they understand biological life in an organized manner.
– Julius Nyahongo

When we began designing the project, I wondered why everyone only thinks of wildlife and not about the chemistry involved when we know chemistry is involved in all life.  My collaborators were accepting of that, so then we have the task of detailing how to include chemistry and work towards the broader goal of the research.
– Othman Chande
‍
First, you identify the question and problem. Try to establish what are the questions and the objectives of addressing this research problem and then identify expertise from different institutions to produce comprehensive outputs that address this research problem. Communication between researchers from different institutions is key throughout this process and this established in the beginning.

– Robert Fyumagwa

Data collection and analysis are often understood as the most technical aspects of research.  Due to this technical emphasis, the social context surrounding data is often muted, while the procedural aspects are emphasized.  The goal is that data collection and analysis is so standardized and transparent that it is valid and reliable regardless of who does it and in what context.  This goal is central to the efficacy of scientific inquiry.  This reliability and validity of data collection and analysis is one of the major factors that contributes to science’s aim to be a universal knowledge system.  The integrity of the data collection and analysis process must remain intact in order for a scientist to have confidence in the findings and the replicability of the findings regardless of context.  How might a better understanding of the social context of research assist in the goal of data integrity?  And, in turn, how does data integrity based on an understanding of social context help to produce findings that are relevant beyond the immediate context?  

The participants in the project illustrate that a greater understanding of context, cooperation, and communication can improve the reliability and validity of data and create opportunities for bidirectional exchange of skills from African and European partners.  In terms of context, researchers stress the importance of understanding the protocol and procedures of research institutions in the country in which research is being conducted as well as awareness of the cultural context of communities that neighbour conservation areas in which data may be collected.  Furthermore, relationships between members of data collection teams is also important as skills and techniques are exchanged and the scientist-community interface emerges in data collection.

Cooperation is essential for the collection of high-quality data because this is often a group activity.  The image of the lone foreign researcher out in the wilderness on an adventurous expedition is a romanticized notion of a fictionalized past.  In truth, data collection has often relied upon the assistance of African experts as collaborators although their contributions were not acknowledged.  Thus, data collection and analysis must acknowledge these contributions, erasures, and exclusions to validate the importance of data enumerators.  Through acknowledging that African people have historically contributed to scientific research, the place and knowledge of Africans in research about their conservation areas, in the past and present, should be valued.  This should go without saying but, unfortunately, it still needs to be said.  By acknowledging the erasure of the contributions, we can better understand the politics of knowledge in conservation science that often separate Africans and Europeans.  By understanding the exclusion of African people from the entire process of data collection and analysis, we can better address the skills that need to be ascertained so that African scholars can participate in every step of data collection and analysis as well as conduct the type of analyses that they see fit, given their research questions.  

An awareness of communication in data collection and analysis can also help to achieve the goals of reliability and validity in a project with many participants.  Good and continuous communication with people and institutions that neighbour conservation areas reduces the likelihood that respondents provide inaccurate responses.  Good and continuous communication among data collection teams ensures that each individual with knowledge to share is given the opportunity to articulate this knowledge.  In addition, each individual who has questions about the data collection and analysis process is given the opportunity to articulate their questions.  Communication ensures standardization through understanding and transparency.  Building a strong data collection team is essentially about getting everyone on focuses on the same process and outcome.  This requires meeting everyone where they are with the understanding that they have something to contribute to make the research process more thorough.  This also sets the stage for the synthesis of data, which is a complex and multi-dimensional task, and ensures that it is premised on a strong foundation.

The following quotations reflect the views of participants in the AfricanBioServices project when asked about the process of data collection and analysis.  Interviews were recorded and transcribed.  These raw data were analysed and synthesized, through which the three themes, the 3Cs—context, cooperation, and communication—emerged.  This three-part thematic approach is used to classify and present the quotations in an open and structured manner.  This presentation highlights the complexities of interpretation and consensus among a diverse group of scientists.

Though I am born in this country (Tanzania), I travelled to new areas for data collection.  I met people who didn’t speak our national language but only their local language.  I saw so many good things and some troubling.  Living in an urban center, you realize how precious certain resources are—water, food, the basics.  Going to villages opens up a different perspective and different appreciation for rural livelihoods.  They truly depend on the ecosystem.  Their lives depend on it, and it can be heart-breaking because it is difficult to imagine the making of a new future in rural conservation areas.
– Angela Hezekiah

We often take the context for granted.  Everyone thinks they know the Serengeti, but this must be described.  We must be on the same page or, at least, understand the picture in our respective minds before getting into fieldwork.
– Julius Nyahongo

The trick is to develop data collection protocols that are clear and straightforward and to do great training so that everybody collects data consistently in the same way. The frontier here is integrating local knowledge methodologies into scientific methodologies. I don’t see many scientists doing that very well.
– Robin Reid

Is it experimental, purposive, longitudinal?  Is it snowball, questionnaire, survey?  This depends on the aims and the context.
– Julius Nyahongo

For data collection, be prepared for all kinds of transportation, especially walking.  You will walk until you get blisters.  
– Angela Hezekiah

I lived in the village in which we worked.  It gave people the opportunity to see us learning from them.  I learned so much about consumption, time allocation, and sexual division of labor.  Living with a host family is not easy, it may not be for everyone. But push yourself to do it.    
– Flora Manyama

Working with communities, there are demands.  Many thought they would receive tangible benefits, especially those who provided responses to our questionnaires.  Many of these respondents were generous because we had to interview them repeatedly.  We interviewed them seasonally, sometimes as many as four or five times.  Lights in their home can be a nice gift.  Sometimes lunch or dinner.  How can you interview someone who has not eaten for two days?  You must go to the shop and provide something for them and their children in order to continue the interview.  
– Janemary Ntalwila

We must consider ethics.  Is it ethical to go and ask a person these kinds of questions?  
– Julius Nyahongo  

During data collection, particularly when you are discussing a sensitive topic, it is important that people feel comfortable talking with you.  My research focuses on illegal bushmeat hunting.  Any opportunity that I had to engage with respondents, I participated in it.  Even if it was to help someone else with their own work or have a conversation unrelated to research, I tried to be there.  I tried to be as present as possible.  I wanted people in the village to see me working to build trust and learn about them.  They should be able to see your efforts.
– Flora Manyama

Culture comes in.  If you want to interview Maasai ladies but you have assembled a group of men and women, it may fail because men will answer the questions.  If you have questions that are going to be asked among men and women, the context may dictate that you speak to men first.  In other cases, women are the ones who come first.  If you go to visit the household, especially in an area where there are illegal activities, a man will not come first to greet a visitor.   They are not sure if it is a representative of the government or park authority who is looking to catch them.  So the wife will come first and ask what are you trying to do.  Then, you should say we are here to see our friend.   If they are suspicious, they will say he is not around.  Then, you say, may I ask you a few things.  She may say ok but I am cooking so let me go and settle that.  She will go inside and talk to the husband.  They want to know that they have a project that is beneficial.  Then, the husband will come out.  We need to think about these things during data collection.  
– Julius Nyahongo

You go the first time and you think—this is not working.  You go the second time you think—Is this working? It might be working.  By the third time, respondents are beginning to open up and it is very interesting.  Then, by the fourth visit, I knew I would miss these conversations and this experience.  
– Angela Hezekia

It is an honour to be able to work in the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem.  When I step out the door (during fieldwork), I feel highly privileged to be in such a place of such beauty and naturalness.  
– Han Olff

Capacity building, especially in Africa, tends to be framed as degrees, computers, skills, teaching cost control, et cetera.  Once this is achieved, the capacity building process is seen as complete and work can commence. This technical side is important but don’t ignore the softer side, namely the social relationships between colleagues and their bosses.  If you don’t understand this, you won’t be able to understand why there is not always clear evidence of the capacity that has been built.  For example, if you meet a bright person and collaborate with them and then they are not demonstrating their capacities in a certain context as you expected, you should question the reason.  That person may remain quiet in meetings or out of fear that they will be fired by outshining their boss. Their capacities can be perceived as threats.  Or alternatively, that person may have issues outside of the workplace that influence their professional demeanor.  In the west, there is HR but in many African contexts there are not institutional resources to support workers.  Consider this when evaluating work performance.  
– James Odek

Establishing the objective and collecting a rich data set that can help build a strong and accurate narrative is crucial.  If your study requires field data, reliability and accuracy must be considered on the ground and in context.  In savannahs like the Serengeti-Mara Ecosystem, you need to take seasonality into account.  The system varies strongly according to season, and you need to capture that to understand how the system really works.  It is not sufficient to collect data in only one season.  
– Joseph Ogutu

Be very well prepared but don’t have expectations.  Go prepared to learn and be overwhelmed by everything.  Have an open mind.
– Angela Hezekiah

Data collection should stick to the approved data plan.  The most important aspect is adhering to the ethics for data collection.
– Hamza Kija

Qualitative methodology is key to understanding conservation.  It is important for sustainable management because through this research we can understand how to continue with communities in mind.
– Innocent Babili

For a long time, we (scientists) did most our research within protected areas, studying the basic ecology, studying the animals, what they eat, where they move, what they do, how they interact with predators. But, now I am expanding my views as my research also started to include work outside protected areas.  Also there, the landscapes are beautiful, and the people are interesting, exciting, and motivating.  They are curious about what we do, so it broadens my view as a researcher.
– Han Olff

In an ecosystem, there are a lot of changes as you move in space, you must design and collect data that reflects the variation in the landscape.  You must design and distribute the data collection in a way that it is representative of the landscape and specify the aspects of the system that your data explain.
– Joseph Ogutu

Seasonality is a logistical and scientific concern.  Our greatest findings are tied to the seasonal aspects of heavy metal accumulation in plants, but to determine this, we had to organize logistically.
– Masoud Masoud

Difference can be an asset.  Different people, backgrounds, and experiences help to understand what is really going in villages.
– Angela Hezekiah

Disciplines and cultural differences can have similar challenges with respect to interpretation, particularly the interpretation of the results to suit the local context.
– Ophery Ilomo

There are different types of protected areas and these different types provide different types of opportunities and challenges for scientists in terms of developing data protocols.  
– Philip Jacob

At the beginning, when writing the proposal, one has mostly questions.  Research is iterative, not fixed.  Before one undertakes the research, one must undertake the exploratory research.  The exploratory phase is important.  It is here that the literature and the reality meet.  This is how you can ask pertinent and relevant questions, particularly to the community.  Your first idea must be developed during exploratory research.  Here, you adapt your tool to the reality.
– Innocent Babili

Even when organized well, your research may encounter resistance.  People in villages have their experiences, and they may not compare with a researcher’s understanding.  A researcher must be polite and clever.  Use the appropriate channels.  
– Innocent Babili

There are differences between collecting ecological data inside the protected area and outside the protected area.
– Masoud Masoud

Local scientists contribute a lot and can take a lead in certain aspects.  They know the areas both inside and outside the protected areas and also know how to collect accurate and reliable data in such areas.  When it comes to collecting social data outside the protected areas, for instance, it is advised to use local scientists although they might be accompanied by foreign counterparts. The foreign counterparts may not be familiar with collecting this type of sensitive information from local people and most of the time, language acts as a barrier to foreigners.
– Flora Magige

Social scientists have different challenges than natural scientists when it comes to data collection.  They may often have different interests.  Social scientists are often aware of the concerns of communities and emphasize development.  Many natural scientists have been trained in conservation areas that are maintained using fines and fences.  Social scientists are often trained in conservation spaces as community-based.  Is livelihood a conservation activity?  This is a question that we must discuss extensively.
– Vedasto Ndibalema

Many data collection methods are similar across contexts.  Standard methods are used and variation, if any, might be small to accommodate differences in the environments.  
– Flora Magige

You can develop a similar metric to address different parts of the system.  There is a great deal of variation within a system, but similar measurements can be used across systems.  This comparison is important to understand the system holistically, though there is a great deal of variation.  
– Philip Jacob

Data collection has important logistical aspects.  In Tanzania, it can take three months for money to be released for use through the public university system.  This is a challenge.  
– John  Mgonja

If your host is unpopular, for instance a district game officer in an area where there is tension, then you’ll likely gather incorrect or biased data.
– Innocent Babili

Wildlife forage outside of protected areas, and people forage and domestic animals graze inside the park.  Understanding the similarities and differences can influence how questions are asked and the resulting data collection methods.
– Philip Jacob

Researchers often think about local communities as empty.  Communities are actually very informed.  
– George Kajembe

Time is a challenge with every aspect of the data collection and analysis process.
– John  Mgonja

A researcher should understand the context—the people, the culture, how they live.  They also need to understand the institutions involved in the management of wildlife resources, academic institutions, and research institutions.  The process matters, prior to data collection.  The design is the beginning of this process of interfacing, understanding, and inclusion.
– Rose Kicheleri

As an urban person from Tanzania who has spent time in rural areas, I still need to take time to contextualize myself.
– John Mgonja

Communities are very interesting.  They often know the answers or have observations that are relevant to scientific questions.  They will study a researcher.  They want to know your aims, evaluate your sincerity, and understand the benefits.  A researcher will have to establish and continue to build trust.  It takes time to understand the social and ecological surroundings.  
– Rose Kicheleri

As we become multi-disciplinary, we must not undervalue specialization. The practical aspects of science require disciplinary training, but we must also train in making links.
– Vedasto Ndibalema

From a professional point of view, I felt we made some huge progress with key questions.  I am interested in regarding the protection of ecosystems, such as what are the ecological effects of different management techniques, how do animals respond both behaviourally and physiologically to these interventions, and how do ecosystems change human behaviour (rather than the other way around).  The data sets generated by AfricanBioServices will continue to be mined for years to come and provide the foundation for continued collaboration among the partners even after the project has finished.
– Grant Hopcraft

Through data collection and analysis, we were able to build regional cohesion and coordination between East African institutions.  This will have a lasting impact.  National and regional connectivity around research is alongside international connectivity.
– Merceline Ojwala

It’s interesting that data analysis, at least statistical analysis, can be a rather solitary endeavor. Of course, once some analysis is done, a wider group can look at it. But in my experience, especially with male colleagues, this is a territorial part of science, where a scientist becomes known for being able to do a particular method of analysis. Personally, this behavior seems very foreign to me. With qualitative data, obviously coding of narrative can be done in a group and more easily compared. I look forward to the day when quantitative data analysis is more collaborative, but have not experienced that so much, except in a sequential way.
– Robin Reid

If you are from natural resource management or the natural sciences, a central concern is having enough quantitative data to run a valid statistical analysis.  Those who use qualitative data have other ways of confirming reliability and validity.  Often the two approaches don’t see the value in one another’s data and that is a problem.  There is some mind modulating that needs to happen.  I prefer to use both.  Questionnaires can have qualitative and quantitative responses.
– Bente Graae

It is difficult to do synthesis alone.  You need to interact with people who have different perspectives and originate from different disciplines so that your outcomes reflect a holistic way of thinking about the problem.  
– Martin Nielsen

Interpretation of data is where the very best of interdisciplinary and international work can occur. And in my experience, it is worthwhile sinking lots of time into joint work to interpret the data from different perspectives. That can be done around the graphics and in broad discussions about what the data really mean. Why is this important for policy? Why is this important for the community? What does this mean for what you would do to improve human welfare and the environment? This is true and can be done with both interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary teams.
– Robin Reid

Data collection in GSME is a challenging task for several reasons. Fortunately, a majority of the participating European researchers were experienced working in African ecosystems. It was a big advantage to have so many African research institutions and researchers involved, thus most of the data collection could be made as a mixed African/European team.  
– Kjetil Bevanger

Village monitors and rangers assisted with data collection.  Village monitors were teachers, self-employed entrepreneurs with wildlife, tourism, and agricultural experiences.  Many were recommended by the village leaders.  We compensated them for their work and the data was useful.  It also strengthened our relationships with the villages, which was helpful during the dissemination phase.  
– Stuart Smith

Patience is so important in data collection.  Sometimes a great deal of time will pass before one finds a specific species or individual.  It can take five visits, sometimes more.  Sometimes, it happens quickly but it will, inevitably, take time.
– Devolent Mtui

Remote sensing is a great tool to collect data.  The open source movement makes an enormous difference.  You can download the image, you can download the statistical package.  Stay motivated and persistent as you pursue this valuable skill.  It requires practices and will.  
– Lucy Njino

We try to train students in working in a multidisciplinary project, which involves being interested in each other’s disciplines, broadening one’s view, listening to each other, and trying to learn from each other.  But, my first lesson to students is to enhance their technical skills.  Being a researcher, it is less relevant what your personal opinion is about your study subject, and how strongly you are interested in other people.  Most important is what you technically can do to solve difficult and complex problems.  I compare it to building a bridge.  If I was an engineer and I was teaching, I could ask a student—what is your view on the importance of bridges.  They can have a beautiful story about how bridges can connect people and their ideas, but it all starts with the skills to build a bridge that doesn’t collapse.  And, protected areas and natural corridors between them are like bridges, they are bridges that shouldn’t collapse, and it starts with understanding how they really work, where they should be, and how they should be managed and protected.  So as a student, get the key data skills to be an excellent researching, by learning statistics, learning GIS, learning to write and structure a scientific paper. Once you know how to do these things, then you can develop opinions on whether management strategy A or management strategy B is better.  But, it begins with these skills, and your opinion should be based on the outcome of your scientific analyses, making it evidence-based.
– Han Olff

Data analysis is a great way to improve capacity building. Techniques, statistical software, and analysis training are important for data reliability and validity and capacity building.
– Philip Jacob

It is essential to focus on the quality of data and not necessarily the quantity.  Many researchers are very quantitative in nature and conduct large-scale surveys that are rushed through the use of local assistants who are not necessarily engaged in the entire process or the outcome.  As a result, the outcomes are not accurate portrayals of what is on the ground.  The focus should be on obtaining high-quality results.  Part of that process is sharing the questionnaire with people who can comment and provide suggestions about how to improve it. And select research assistants that are interested and have some stake in the outcome of the research to ensure that they remain truthful in the data collection process.
– Martin Nielsen

Different research institutions have different traditions when it comes to data collection procedures and this also extends to individual researchers. One of the problems turned out to be that due to a delay in money transfer, African institutions could not always be in the field at the set time – no money, no activity. Another obstacle was that research institution leaders prioritized other work for the researchers and projects compete for time. Sometimes fieldwork could not be carried out due to unfavorable weather conditions.  There are many kinds of obstacles.  
– Kjetil Bevanger

The synthesis needs to begin early enough and thought about well at the beginning of the study, and it needs to be a continuing process.  If you wait until the end to begin the synthesis, the team may already have moved on.  As soon as the data start becoming available, synthesis can begin.  The various participating partners can analyse and contribute in order to address a cross-cutting question.
– Joseph Ogutu

To collect and incorporate all the secondary data that was available before this project was an important task to which I contributed.  We processed it to ensure that they were entered validly before entering into the repository.  
– Wilfred Marealle

If a study is multidisciplinary, you may want your site or timing of data collection to overlap with your collaborators, and this will make it possible for you to do synthesis and comparison.  Think about time and spatial aspects of data collection.  Comparison becomes much more efficient and possible.
– Joseph Ogutu

There are people who work with existing data, and you have to get them from institutions.  When you are given data, you need to take steps to verify that data.  Our experience is that these data sets may have issues.  Your conclusions are only as good as the data that you use.  Original records that were collected in the field are helpful in establishing the quality of a data set.   Do not assume that because data is given to you by reputable institutions that it is reliable.  You need to interrogate, check if there are errors and outliers before a reliable analysis can be undertaken.
– Joseph Ogutu

Training is important on data collected, handled and presented systematically.  This is important, particularly for long-term projects.  Training should be ongoing throughout the project to ensure consistency over time and across individuals.  
– Wilfred Marealle

Partnering with botanists was very important for our research questions.  We increased the connectivity between botany and chemistry.  This bridge has been built within and across our institutions and can be used again.
– Masoud Masoud

Data collection with a diverse team is important, especially in terms of gender.  I went into the field with a fellow researcher, who was a woman.  In some cases, men don’t feel comfortable speaking to a woman researcher.  They can fear one another.  Because we were in the field together with one female and one male researcher, we could understand households better.
– Moses Kyando

First, do the analysis with which you are comfortable and build this into the design.  The tool you use and the analysis are tied.  The collection, analysis, and synthesis are connected.  Take the design and the methodology of analysing data that is consistent with your discipline.  If you want to go beyond your discipline, then you invite others and combine methodology.  A division of labour with analysis is ok.  Training and continuing education are also important.  
– Innocent Babili

Analysis is a challenge.  People’s skills differ, and it is important to seek advice early on in the design phase so that you are sure that you have the data that you need to conduct the analysis that you envision.  Very often people have collected a lot of data, and it turns out they miss important variables in constructing a model to make a prediction.  It is rarely possible to do anything about it at that stage.  It needs to be thought through very well at the onset and that requires that you are not alone but that you interact with people who can help you.
– Martin Nielsen

Even among hard sciences, it is not easy to connect fields.  Where do ecology and engineering connect?
– Vedasto Ndibalema

As students prepare for projects, there is a lot to learn.  They also bring some knowledge and experience.  But, they need short course training on how to write competitive projects as well as attending workshops in order to learn how to be engaged in large, interdisciplinary, and international projects.
– Flora Magige

Synthesis is challenging because differences in perspective and discipline can emerge.  Remaining open-minded and cooperative during synthesis is the only way to achieve an interdisciplinary interpretation of the data.  
– Joseph Ogutu

New ways of analysis are being developed.  Some people in the project are more advanced and more current in these developments hence frequent meetings enable new forms and tools for analysis to be shared.
– Flora Magige

Know your data collection tool well.  Spend time with it.  The tool is shared by many people, and everyone needs to have sufficient time to ask questions and standardize.  This way, everyone is using a similar approach and completing the entire process, and the interpretation of data can occur by different people with assurance.
– John  Mgonja

There should be opportunities for students to move abroad.  People learn to confront their perspectives and make connections. Exposure helps people see the intelligence of a person, not just the colour.  
– George Kajembe

In the past, data collection has had a different pace due to equipment.  With the digital data loggers, data collection was efficient, and we were able to generate preliminary analysis in the field.
– Shombe Hassan

Analysis should be rooted in the local communities.  It is a collaborative process.  In my case, our analysis team was international.  We considered various perspectives on what conservation institutions do and how they work.
– Rose Kicheleri

What I liked best was moving together to the site.  Everyone is doing their own thing—collecting water, looking at plants, but it is the same site, and we are looking for what is interesting on our terms.  In the evening, we are together again.  Eating, spending time by the bonfire.  Not talking about work necessarily but enjoying.  The next morning, everyone is back to work.  When a group of chemists work together in the field, the post-field conversation is only about chemistry.  In this case, after work, we discuss many things.  We explain our work, talk about context, and talk about experiences and life.
– Othman Chande

Without communication, things will go haywire.  
– Merceline Ojwala

In a project this large, there are overlaps and duplications in data collection.  Division of labour and delineation of work require time but can also save time during implementation.  As long as information is shared and transferred throughout the group, data collection can be assigned to specific groups and there needn’t be repeat field visits.
– Janemary Ntalwila

A data sharing protocol must be developed.  Data is dispersed and is not in one institution.  A group must be clear about how the data will be shared and disseminated.  
– Patrick Wargute

Patience.  People are not as understanding as you expect.  People are not forthcoming with strangers. You must be patient, polite, and persuasive in order to be let in and gather the info that you need.  
– Angela Hezekia

Local scientists should feel more comfortable asserting their knowledge and themselves.  Politeness and perceived hierarchies can stand in the way of constructive criticism and true collaboration.  As a foreign professor, I appreciate hearing criticism from people on the ground who have much knowledge and experience.  
– Bente Graae

You may put camera traps in a place or create an enclosure to study vegetation and later find that they have been removed.  You need to discuss your work with communities, and a community facilitator who can communicate the importance and relevance of what you are doing.  This is crucial.  The hope is that they will collaborate with you and support your work.
– Joseph Ogutu

We engaged communities to help with data collection and we also relayed preliminary results to the village monitors so they knew what we were collecting during the early phase.  This set the ground work for dissemination and the use of results to improve livelihoods.
– Stuart Smith

Every time the group gathers to discuss scientific results, project coordination must also be discussed.  Time should be dedicated to discussing coordination, expectations, and rules as a group so there is agreement or, at least, a common understanding.  The organizational structure of a project is fundamental and it must be regularly attended to and supported.
– Eivin Røskaft

Spatial data was very important for this project.  Household economics is my focus and learning to put this data into a spatial frame was important for the interdisciplinary objectives and synthesis.  Further developing this perspective was very important for data collection and analysis.
– Martin Nielsen

With the community, you need someone who can communicate effectively.  Translating data into a language that people can understand is important.  Sometimes it is not a national language but a local language, and you’ll need to be creative and understand the context so that you secure the right help and package the information in the appropriate media, language, and forum.  
– Joseph Ogutu

Synthesis is not an easy thing because it requires you to understand all the different aspects of a problem.  You have to learn to speak the language of the different sub-disciplines of a problem, and bridge and connect insights among them.  Students often try start too early with synthesis when they still insufficiently understand the ins and outs of the components of what they try to put together.  So begin by understanding these parts by reading a lot and talking to people who have specialized on these parts.  And, start to become one of these specialists yourself. After this, you should increasingly be able to put things together and see the big picture.  That is the beauty of scientific careers, they are like building a pyramid.  They start with key building blocks at the base that you can put down relatively independent from each other. But further on, the pyramid can become higher and higher when new building blocks you put down increasingly rest on your previous ones, increasing your view on the surroundings.  
– Han Olff

Continual two-way communication between junior scientists and senior scientists is important throughout the project to ensure that information is represented.  Continual communication about data can ensure that it is collected systematically.
– Wilfred Marealle

Talk to the people who know the study site so they can give insights about the area that are not necessarily available in published sources.  This will help you to understand, particularly if your study involves people.  You need to understand the cultural context.  The dos and do nots may not be written down or spoken about.  
– Joseph Ogutu

We had very efficient communications.  We used a variety of modes—emails, WhatsApp, phone—because we live in different areas and different countries, so getting messages on time is difficult.  This happens especially when there is a need for a quick response, especially related to field work and sampling, which samples should be prepared and in what ways.  There is difficulty communicating and understanding, but we made it work, we keep communicating and trying and using many methods.  The communication influenced the rigor of data collection and analysis.  
– John Bukombe

We must operate in the interface of knowledge.  There needs to be change of mindset.  Formal education must acknowledge indigenous knowledge.  This can be addressed through training.  
– George Kajembe

The line of questioning may make a researcher come across as a government agent who is in the process of land grabbing.  You have to explain your activity thoroughly.  You have to be open about the activities, objectives, data collection, and how you will use the data.  
– Innocent Babili

Translating data for policy and publishing are different processes, two very different lines of work.
– George Kajembe

Data collection in rural areas requires prior notice.  This is a way of communicating respect and ensuring the process goes as planned.  They need to be prepared to receive you.
– John Mgonja

Visualizing data is so important.  Software that deals with data visualization is an important skill to learn.  It is also important for dissemination.
– Shombe Hassan

Specialist knowledge is important, particularly in light of climate change and other threats facing wildlife.  Synthesizing this knowledge is key to the survival of wildlife.
– Rose Kicheleri

Synthesizing papers into briefs is a special skill.  The skew is on publications and data for policy needs greater emphasis.  
– George Kajembe

Data collection depends on having defined proper objectives for the study.  At the outset, one must specify to ensure the data are relevant to answer the outlined questions.  You need to define the variables and parameters to answer the question sufficiently so that you don’t complete the study with information that you don’t need and without information that you do need.  
– Joseph Ogutu

Data and statistical methods are highly exciting in their generality.  They allow connections between disciplines.  I was discussing with a social scientist about their household survey data and I think that I could contribute to the analysis from my (natural science) research because we use similar statistical approaches.  Therefore, developing strong quantitative skills enables you to work interdisciplinarily because you speak, at least, one common language.  If you don’t speak that language, you risk being locked up in the narrow boundaries of your own discipline.
– Han Olff

Publishing is one of the most important currencies in the scientific world.  It is how scientists share their findings, build and refine theories, and offer meaningful critiques and debates that push disciplines further.  Publishing helps to create a longitudinal record of the progress of ideas, which enables the scientific community to evaluate itself and its goals through written communication.  The publishing process has many phases, progressing through the drafting of a manuscript, journal submission, incorporating feedback from reviewers, preparing supplementary materials, and responding to published comments.  These tasks are often undertaken by multiple authors, which introduces yet another social and relational dynamic into scientific research.  Open access and interdisciplinary journals are increasingly common and represent new audiences and, with this, new considerations of context, cooperation, and communication in publishing scientific papers.

Context means a number of things in terms of publishing.  Journals are contexts, and determining which journal is the best setting in which to publish a particular article influences the success of the publishing process.  In addition, journals are elite contexts due to the language and cost associated with accessing their content.  This raises questions about the disconnects between journals and the contexts in which research is actually conducted.  These issues need to be continually considered in order to ensure that the publishing process remains ethical, reflective, and aware of its relationships to the places and people that are involved in research yet outside of academia.

The production of a high-quality synthesis of ideas produced by a number of authors based on the multi-phased process of research is evidence of the unique human capacity to cooperate.  Surrounding journal publication are intricate and elaborate networks of individuals and institutions that engage in the production of this particular medium of expression.  Journals were created for specific reasons that emerge out of the need of scholars to communicate and debate.  They have staffs and editorial boards.  The contributors to journals span global institutions, which have their respective infrastructure that results from human beings working together.  Journal readership and citations engage another broad audience (as well as exclude people, an important topic is raised in the next chapter on dissemination of science beyond publishing).  This is a sketch of the enormous institutional capacity and connectivity that is needed to produce a journal (which is one factor in the cost of journal access).  Beyond highlighting publishing as a cooperative exercise, the chapter also hopes to share best practices and critiques towards improving cooperation in publishing.  

Communication is at the core of journal publishing and is, arguably, its primary purpose.  Journals facilitate and are facilitated by a number of communications.  Circulating new findings and information throughout a community of scholars indoctrinates young scholars to the canon and trends of a discipline.  It is a form of standardization and reinforces the conventions of a discipline to create a common place of departure for collaboration.  Journals are also platforms for debate and may communicate deep intellectual and personal disagreements.  If we think of a discipline as a linguistic group and community of practice, i.e., a collection of individuals who share a common language and craft, journals are repositories of group norms and foundational ideas.  Journals are like the material culture of science; thus, they are important symbols of science that can be analysed to better understand the social context of science.  They do more than simply communicate facts, though that is one of their primary functions.  Understanding journals as symbolic forms of communication offers insight into how science is produced, by whom, for whom, and to what end.

Given the trend towards interdisciplinarity and collaboration in science, multiple authorship is becoming the norm across disciplines.  Open access journals are also extending the reach and connectivity of scientific publication.  Many global scholars have committed to publishing in languages besides English, which may help to broaden the audience.  Publishing is both emblematic of the barriers to entry that surround the ivory tower as well as attempts by scientists within academia to provide greater access.  Publishing and journal access remain key mechanisms of inequality between European and African scientists.  Given the collaborative nature of scientific research, one must remain mindful of publishing as yet another example of context, cooperation, and communication in science.  As a social form of knowledge production, journals represent and respond to the longitudinal trends in science, which are being refined and revised through international and interdisciplinary scientific collaborations.

The following quotations reflect the views of participants in the AfricanBioServices project when asked about the process of publishing in scientific journals.  Their responses are presented in the form of thematically organized quotes.  The analytic frame uses three themes, the 3Cs—context, cooperation, and communication.  This threefold approach provides an interpretative framework for the quotations; however, there is also connectivity between the quotations in the three sections.  This thematic organization of the diverse voices of scientists offers a cohesive approach while acknowledging the individual variation among scientific perspectives.

Experience is quite important in the decision where to publish your results and how high to aim. What should you send to the African Journal of Ecology, and what should you send to Nature or Science (and everything in-between)? This requires good assessment of the generality of your message, and the audience you are trying to reach.  
– Han Olff

There is a financial aspect to publishing that must be considered in collaborations where there is different access to financial resources.  
– Innocent Babili

Open access journals are very important so that people from different nations can have equal, or at least equitable, access to journals.
– Innocent Babili

We have a system of impact factors and young scientists often aim high, sometimes too high.  Aim at a place that is suitable for the importance and impact of your paper.  In addition, this is difficult to judge at the beginning.  This is what PhD advisors are for.  What is the harm of sending something to Nature, Science, Ecology Letters, PNAS?  You get disappointed in your own paper.  If you start too high, then it gets rejected and you revise and get rejected and you become less motivated.  Aim where it should go, which keeps your motivation.  In addition, the publishing process moves faster.
– Han Olf

When people feel ownership over the project, then they will drive the publication process.  If they don’t feel that ownership, which goes back to the origins of the project, then they are less inclined to drive the publication process.
– Stuart Smith

I am of the philosophy that the only way we break down boundaries in publishing is to be widely inclusive during this step. That includes scientists of all ages and disciplines and major stakeholders. And, then in the acknowledgments, others who contributed but not materially to the research in any stage appear. So, this means I would include as an author a community organizer who set up the research logistics but I would not include the politician who signed the research permission letter. I would also include people closer to the research as authors like community members who collected data, even drivers on intensive field collection teams, if they were with the team for a long period of time. I will never ever forget the look on the face of a Turkana pastoralist when I handed him a paper that had his name on it for the first time. Or when we gave a major national scientific award to community members and their names were on that award as well. These are things I will take with me for the rest of my life.
– Robin Reid

I insist that my students take the leading role on papers.  They will come up with a work program for the team.  Students should take the leading role in situations like this and they can learn.
– James Odek

We struggle with internet connectivity, power, and access to journals due to library subscription.  Share articles.  This is one benefit of working with scholars in Europe and the US.  This enables a stronger literature review and more relevant publications.
– John  Mgonja

In other groups, I’ve heard people comment that they collected the data but were not included as participants on publications.  This is one place where accusations of stealing data or using data without consent may come in.  If a person collects data but is not included on the publication, they may feel as if their work was used without getting credit.  
– Stuart Smith  

Don’t underestimate the power of writing a paper through online collaborative documents, such as Dropbox Paper or Google Doc. At first, people often find this difficult because they have become used to the process of writing a version, then sending it to another person who comments on it, then working the comments in new version, send it again, and so on.  This can work well with 2-3 people.  But, what if you write a paper with 20 or 30 people and you need all their contributions? Once you have a trusted group of colleagues that you work with, you simply accept that the text is developing all the time and that is where online manuscript development can work very well.  In such a case you can’t, as a lead author, keep track of every detail or who has changed or contributed what exactly.  As a researcher working this way, in a collaboration, there is a need to change the mindset. You should not think: I’ve written this beautiful piece and the lead author may not realize that I contributed this.  The end product is what really matters in such group collaborations and this should be everyone’s focus in the writing process.  
– Han Olff

In some journals, they ask what role did people play.  From my perspective, data collection qualifies as participation, especially if the data collector participates in design.  
– Stuart Smith

While writing an online manuscript, someone, of course, has to take the first initiative to write a first draft or outline.  You can start tasking out things.  Make a remark.  Flag the problem.  The next person can respond and so on.  The first person can say, I will write this.  Problem solved.  Signal problems and solve problems through dialogue and a solution is found.  Change the text directly, don’t comment with suggestion.  Change it again, if you do not like a new change. With Dropbox Paper, you automatically get a weekly overview of who contributed to the manuscript.  The intrinsic competitive nature of researchers often also motivates them to work on it, as they do not want to stay behind others in contributing.
– Han Olff

On my team, I wanted my junior collaborators (in terms of academic rank) to also have publications on which they were first authors to help develop their career. I ensured that this happened by helping them develop their analyses and writing style with this goal in mind.  It worked.  
– Stuart Smith

Write good papers for high profile journals and take it from there. The resulting publicity around such papers in regular and social media can help to spread the news of your findings and promote the use of the results by stakeholders, such as policy makers.  
– Han Olff

Open access journals are important representations of this process. They represent sharing knowledge and working towards a common understanding. They remind us that conservation is not a single individual’s or group’s decision or work.  
– Rehema Ulimboka

Have reasonable expectations but do the best that you possibly can. At some point, you need to narrow it down to something in which you can realistically have your results disseminated. It is not always necessarily so, that the highest impact journal is the best outlet. Sometimes there is a bigger impact by interacting through other sources and other media than peer-reviewed international journals.
– Martin Nielsen

If you are working on a paper with different people in different parts of the world, the authors are able to work very closely and exchange the skills of writing, which is influenced by experience. International groups with senior and junior scientists can transfer knowledge, both about local context and the writing process.
– Moses Kyando

The fact that I am an outsider (as a social scientist) in a group (of wildlife scientists) seemingly coherent within itself often left me with a sentiment of loneliness and desperate helplessness. I often found myself feeling helpless during meetings when everything that my colleagues present is problematic, but I have nothing to say because I did not know where to start. I have tried to overcome this desperation by engaging in scientific debates both in face-to-face meeting and through publications that addressed some of the flaws in the arguments made by my colleagues which are based on taken-for-granted notions, which I generally found counterproductive for conservation work.
– Tekle Weldemichel

Researchers are accustomed to sending their research to journals, and they look for high-impact journals, but in fact that audience can be limited.  
– Innocent Babili

Being open to input is important to developing the manuscript. Take the time to consider inputs from everyone who is willing to share.  
– Hamza Kija

Dissemination ensures that research outputs and general information about the project are available and accessible to target audiences in appropriate formats so that the content can be absorbed and used by the non-scientific community. Dissemination, in contrast to communication, is one-way delivery of information, such as radio, signage, and news articles.  Communication, instead, represents two-way communication and includes community meetings, focus groups, and unstructured interviews.  Dissemination and communication was the phase of research about which scientists spoke the most and expressed the greatest need for further work.  The dissemination of findings beyond the ivory tower of academia is increasingly important and expected by the scientific community.  This reflects changes in the standards of conservation as well as the expectations of communities in which research is conducted.  In the face of new challenges, some conservation scientists have begun exploring various forms of community-based conservation.  This has been accompanied by new commitments to engaging communities in the research process by disseminating the progress and findings of research at the village and district level.  Communities that neighbour parks and host-country researchers have also begun to demand benefits from research that include useful information that address socio-political concerns at the local, national, and regional levels.  If researchers do not discuss their findings after analysis, they may jeopardize their ability and the ability of other researchers to return to an area in the future.  Villagers have begun to complain of research fatigue, and the dissemination of findings is one way for researchers to assuage this.  While this engagement is becoming the disciplinary standard, sincerity is important.  

Beyond demonstrating respect for and interest in the livelihoods of communities, dissemination is an opportunity to share appropriate conservation strategies and to respond to new and longstanding concerns of people who neighbour conservation areas.  It is also a way for researchers to validate data, confirm conclusions, and exchange ideas.  Dissemination also provides an opportunity for researchers to begin to identify with villagers and to create pathways for villagers into formal employment and careers in science.  Field assistants and community facilitators have long been a part of the research process though they were often taken for granted and unacknowledged.  Dissemination also offers an opportunity to include communities in every stage of the research process.

Dissemination, however well-intentioned, is not easy.  It is a meeting of different perspectives, both within villages and between researchers, governments, and communities.  This diversity is valuable, but it also prompts issues of translation, power dynamics, complex exchanges of time and information, and the violent history through which many conservation areas were delineated and maintained.  As a result, dissemination is best done with care.  Below are a few lessons that scientists who work in the Greater Serengeti-Mara Ecosystem have to share.

The following quotations reflect the views of participants in the AfricanBioServices project when asked about the process of disseminating research findings beyond traditional scientific audiences.  After transcribing interviews with scientists, the quotes were thematically organized using the 3Cs—context, cooperation, and communication—as an analytic frame.  This tripartite frame is used below to classify and present the quotations.  The quotations are not free-standing but are diverse individual voices that are grouped and sequenced thematically.  This highlights the variation and consensus among scientists about conducting research in an interdisciplinary and international group.

Dissemination is an area where many researchers have not done very well.  Their thinking is often to get results, write the paper, and have it accepted in a high-impact journal.  This does not help to address the problems in communities, who are suffering.  We, as researchers, must change our mindset to make sure that we give feedback.  First to the communities.  They must be debriefed.  We must explain the findings to them.  Explain the problem and solution to them in a language and vernacular that they understand.  
– Robert Fyumagwa

It is very important that we see that there are cultural differences.  That is fine.  We should not try to minimize the differences and streamline people and their ways of doing things.  People should contribute from these differences to the collective conversation without having to necessarily assimilate.
– Bente Graae

Policy briefs must all shared at various levels of government and should target the appropriate institutions and authorities.  They should not be lengthy.
– Robert Fyumagwa

Dissemination should be understood as feedback to the people who were helpful in gathering information collected during research.  This includes decision makers, planners, management authorities, and the community at large.  They have expectations.  Plans for dissemination should be ongoing from the beginning.  It is not a final step but an ongoing task.
– Janemary Ntalwila

We had expectations that people would want to intensify their production and engage more with the market when gaining access through road development that is taking place in the ecosystem and develop small business. And that this would encourage them to drop or reduce direct reliance on the ecosystem (i.e. harvesting environmental goods).  But, people want to expand and convert more land to agriculture and for cattle rearing. The less a person is educated, the less likely they are to take up business.  They don’t want to increase involvement in hunting or bushmeat, but they don’t want to halt either. Development does not necessarily lead to sustainability. This is a policy concern.
– Martin Nielsen

A good policy brief is targeted to specific districts. Specific districts have different concerns, and they have different approaches and understandings. They cannot be expected to simply accept scientific findings. There are many stories that need to be considered. We teach but we also listen.
– Philip Jacob

Conservation conferences held in the country in which research was conducted should be attended.  They should be a priority for all scientists.  Foreign scientists should prioritize returning to the place in which they collected data to contribute to scientific conferences as much as other international conferences as a way of disseminating scientific findings.
– Flora Magige

In dissemination, one must distinguish between the cultural barrier and the language barrier.  They are similar but distinct.
– Masoud Masoud

Consider primary schools, secondary schools, and colleges about specific issues.  Students represent the next generation of conservationists.  They need to be aware, included, and inspired.  
– Shombe Hassan

What is the so what of this research?  Ask yourself what is the applied value?
– John  Mgonja

Disseminate beyond your discipline, beyond academia.  It is always a good idea to validate your results and your conclusions by presenting them to the people on the ground. Especially if you are doing household questionnaire surveys or have any other interaction with the local communities, to make sure that you understood and analysed it consistently with what they actually meant.  That can be a challenge, but it can also provide some insights that make it a better, more well-founded conclusion.
– Martin Nielsen

Nature connects the world and likewise dissemination must be global, national, regional, and local.  However, although there are some similarities, the magnitude of impact may differ.  Sharing research findings will certainly inform decisions at these described dissemination levels.  The dissemination levels represent different understandings, and consequently, the need for designing common interventions that will engage all parties in the same manner. The suggestion recognizes that every dissemination level has a role to play in protecting nature, sustainable use, and livelihood improvement.  
– Iddi Mihijai Mfunda

We did research at four different sites and the dissemination strategy was different for each.
– Innocent Babili

Communities want research to solve their problems. This has to be understood.  
– Vedasto Ndibalema

Instead of developing conflict between nature and people, we should try to see if this can be developed into mutual benefits.  That is an important message.  As scientists, we are generally careful of saying what the exact societal solutions and policies are that should be chosen because these should be part of a democratic process, involving elected representatives of the people of a country.  As scientists, we try to disseminate our results—this is what we found and these are the problems that need solutions, these are possible directions and solutions to think of.  Then, it is up to decision makers and politicians to make the final choices on where to go.
– Han Olff

Dissemination is broad as well.  We need to include all Tanzanians in the conservation of wildlife.  The context of dissemination is broad as well as targeted towards direct stakeholders such as local communities and government officials.
– Rose Kicheleri

Bilateral and multi-lateral cooperation is paramount to natural resources management and environmental protection despite the differences in policies and strategies. However, the development cooperation negotiations and agreements should always consider interests of both parties. Striking a balance between partners makes easy implementation and likewise achieving the intended goals.  
– Iddi Mihijai Mfunda

One goal of dissemination is motivating policy makers and decision makers to act in ways that contribute to people’s rights and desires for development while nature is protected now and into in the future.  
– Han Olff

The responsibility for protecting the environment is international and benefits the world. In this regard, financing, human resources, technology and innovation, research and sharing of the findings to generate informed decisions and actions is an international effort.
– Iddi Mihijai Mfunda

The final funds of a project should be given after proof of dissemination.  The incentives for publication in scientific journals are there.  The incentives for dissemination must be understood.    
– Julius Nyahongo

We used a board game and posters to interact with people in villages in order to ask people about what they want, what their visions are, what their decisions are based upon.  Through these unconventional methods, people seem more willing to open up, share, and trust one another.  It promotes interaction and facilitates data collection.
– Bente Graae

Policy makers need results that solve social problems.  They are less interested in academic and theoretical framings of issues and findings.  There is a political willingness to focus on conservation, so we need to harness this and address social problems in an ecosystem.
– Shombe Hassan

We specifically thought of dissemination in designing the Bayesian belief network model. A bunch of scientists from different disciplines together built a model that describes the GSME system and enables you to adjust aspects of the system and see what the consequences are.  Then, having built that model, we went back to the communities and presented the model for them and asked for input on the way we had structured it, whether it was how they thought the system actually functioned.  Then, based on their insights, we adjusted the model. Another aspect of this work is that we will use a specific technology that enables you to play with the model yourself.  There will be a specific webpage that you can make small adjustments and choose different scenarios and push a button and see what the consequence are.  It gives people power in their own hands to plan their future. They can make adjustments. If they think we will see more precipitation as a result of climate, they can see what the consequences are, and they can plan accordingly.  I think that is an important dissemination outcome.
– Martin Nielsen

We had people from the village involved.  We had enclosures in the village and the people had to be involved.   We had to engage in discussions about how conservation may have a positive impact on their livelihoods.   This is a continuous process.  It has to be sustained, the process of dissemination because there are changes.  Migrants come in, people age, the landscapes change, the communities are changing daily.  Dissemination is one of the issues and it has to be done more frequently and continuously because people are changing.  
– John Bukombe

Research must be ongoing.  If conservation is to be sustainable, then research must also be sustainable.  New challenges and new opportunities emerge, and they must be studied.  This is where the support of international communities is important.  For local protection of wildlife to continue, local researchers must be supported.  
– Innocent Babili

Dissemination is ultimately about influencing rules.  Rules play an enormous role in the sustainable management of wildlife areas.  The enforcement of regulations and legislation that focus on inclusion of communities is not fully understood.  Translating our findings into rules is a key part of dissemination.
– Rose Kicheleri

I wrote a paper about relating the policy process and outcomes.  It can be exciting, but once regulations are formulated, they become centralized as well.  Local people’s voices are not always carried through the policy process.  This stage is problematic for village people.  This is important in terms of dissemination and policy recommendations.  Conservation policy can be manipulated to limit access to land.
– Innocent Babili

Other disciplines force local communities into the ecological discussion.
– Vedasto Ndibalema

We say let us collaborate, but we must recognize that our agendas are often not compatible.  Coordinators must see three dimensions—civil society, the resource, and bridges.
– George Kajembe

Local officers, agricultural officers, and game officers are particularly important to include in dissemination.  Knowledge exchange is very important at this juncture.  Increasing scientific capacity of local officers is important, and scientists must understand their insights.
– Philip Jacob

Dissemination is for policy makers, students, funding agencies, and communities to use the findings to make decisions.  One must consider many different kinds of outlets—media, social media.  
– Joseph Ogutu

Science can be so abstract that people don’t understand it and, as a result, they don’t trust it and it isn’t incorporated into decision-making.  Perhaps, scientists need to engage communication professionals to translate computational and conceptual models for broader use.  
– Norman Owen-Smith

The best examples of communication have been when the community does the communication themselves. They are only able to do this if they have participated fully in all the previous steps of the research. And, then they are doing this every day by telling their family and friends about the research, but also in more formal community meetings. I have sat, many times, in the back of the room as Maasai co-researchers stand and present information to school classes and to community members in the Maasai language with me staying pretty much silent. I am again going to take these moments with me for the rest my life.
– Robin Reid

Scientific publishing is a form of dissemination but the focus is the scientific community with the goal of influencing the direction of the conversation and gaining in your field.  That is important and, in many ways, a given.  Public dissemination is often prioritized based upon personal preference.  Our group focused on this from the beginning because we felt obliged and committed to share it with communities.  We went to the village and had meetings with the executive committee and the environmental committee.  
– Stuart Smith

People appreciate if you can give them a picture, a picturesque picture.  For instance, how does a tsetse know that wildebeest are near?  It knows by receiving a chemical that is coming from the wildebeests, and the tsetse says there is my target.  Though you cannot see these reactions, you show them in a compelling way.
– Othman Chande

Relevant tools and organizations must be identified for the dissemination of key findings and progress.  There are many tools.  Calendars with images of the project.  Flyers with visuals are another way to engage communities and demonstrate what is going on in the field sites near their homes.  Policy briefs are key for government officials.  Journalists are helpful as well, and press releases should be prepared.  One well done press release can be shared with the entire country through journalists with different specialties from different areas.  
– Janemary Ntalwila

Learning to do interviews and preparing stories with journalists is an important part of science communication.
– Joseph Ogutu

Institutions vary across ecological systems.  In Tanzania, it is public ownership of land.  In Kenya, it is private.  Communicating and disseminating to institutions with different organizations and cultures matters.  
– George Kajembe

Dissemination should be discussed. It should be interactive. It is more respectful and efficient this way. The effort that is put into research should also be put into dissemination.  
– Bente Graae

Simple and easy publicity materials.  T-shirts, local fabric materials, posters for schools, village meetings, briefings for district level government, translating materials for villages are all options.  Scientists must use these and engage community facilitators who understand the skill of communication.  How do we engage and accommodate people who need this information?  If we don’t, when the project ends only scientists have gained knowledge, but the villagers’ understanding and use of the ecosystem have not changed.  
– Janemary Ntalwila

Language matters.  In Tanzania, for example, official languages are English and Swahili, but at the local level, it would be more appropriate to use the ltater for more understanding, appreciation and engagement.  
– Iddi Mihijai Mfunda

We used pictures and records to communicate with people in the village about what we found.  Go directly to villagers through local structures.
– John Bukombe

Translating findings into Swahili is important.
– Hamza Kija

Communicating findings is a difficult task when you target the audience.  For instance, chemistry has its own language, and communicating to other scientists from different disciplines, lay men, and local people is a translation process.   You have to sit down and decide which methods and language fit.  Sometimes one language can suitable for all and sometimes not.  In most cases, visual aids are great because they have wide applicability and they are easily understood.  
– Ophery Ilomo

Econometrics is a language.  It is not a language that all people understand and these findings need to be translated.
– Innocent Babili

Local people asked us why we are doing this research, and this is not always anticipated in the research design.  Resources need to be dedicated to convey information to local people who give us information.  They have a right to learn what was uncovered.
– Innocent Babili

Communicating statistics and models should be done in a simple way that policy makers and local communities can understand.
– Franco Mbise

It is helpful to have ideas about what platforms that you will be using from the beginning so they can be further developed in context throughout the project.
– Innocent Babili

The policy process, development, and review is a lengthy process.  Findings should be shared and reiterated throughout this process.  It is a different way of writing.  
– John Mgonja

Policy briefs are important tools, for taking the message to the decision makers however,   understanding the political context is also very important.
– Flora Magige

Science also fails at dissemination because of miscommunication.  Communicating science in simple and clear ways is a skill that must be represented in a project.
– Philip Jacob

You have to ask— Who will find this information useful?  Who is obliged to understand these findings? Local people should be included in all stages.  Including them throughout the research process makes dissemination easier.
– Philip Jacob

The most important thing for dissemination is to make sure that it is done effectively and thoroughly and the findings are presented in a manner that the audience will understand. It has to be quick and fast for the results to have an impact to the respective area.
– Flora Magige

The Parliament will provide opportunities for scientists to speak, if these opportunities are requested.  Scientists must prepare for these, but they must work for them if they want science to influence policy.  
– Philip Jacob

We collect data in Swahili and analyse and process them in English and then put them back in Swahili to disseminate to local communities.  This is a complex translation exercise.  
– Rose Kicheleri

Dissemination at the national level is much easier because people are educated.  You can present policy briefs in face-to-face meetings and can use technical data to convince them.
– Rose Kicheleri

Often people finish research and then return to their institutions.  The findings and feedback do not return to the local people who are the custodians of these resources.  If the research is only disseminated in scientific language in conference and journals, this is problematic.  Local people should be included in a language that they can understand and in ways they can implement.
– John Mgonja

People want to see wildlife flourish.  This is not the issue.  People need more information about the conditions on the ground for wildlife and communities.
– Rose Kicheleri

Using the 3Cs as an approach to each phase of research provides a consistent framework.  The 3Cs as a thematic approach help to illuminate each phase of research and the process as a whole.  Managing the social aspects of research requires an ongoing commitment.  The 3Cs offer a way to better understand each phase and link each phase through this understanding.  They are a basis for an ongoing commitment to understanding the social context of research by scientists themselves.  Furthermore, focusing on cooperation, context, and communication highlights the dynamic and interconnected dimensions of research.

The collection of insights above reveals that research is a dynamic and interconnected process.  Scientists remark on changes to plans, context, and understanding throughout the research process.  Research must be structured and adaptive.  Scientists also highlight the connections between phases of research.  They influence one another, and as a phase changes, the entire process changes.  By using a thematic framework, these broad insights can be seen.   These broad dynamics become more apparent by using the 3Cs as a framework.  Furthermore, these insights also emphasize the importance of having a structured but adaptive framework during a dynamic and complex research process.  Balancing a clearly defined approach while keeping an open mind is not an easy posture to maintain throughout the research process.  The 3Cs offer one way of maintaining this posture such that clarity and new insights can emerge.  They open the possibility for new information about the social context of research to enter scientific discourse.

‍Taboo Topics in Conservation Research of African Ecologies

Social critique about Africa often focuses on disparities and inequality in the political and economic spheres.  These disparities and inequalities reflect the legacy of colonial violence, the unequal treatment of women, structural violence along the lines of ethnolinguistic groups, and corruption vis-à-vis the illegal siphoning of funds for the personal gain of elites.  There is emerging understanding that these social ills are, in many cases, related to one another, both historically and at present.  While many scholars have focused on the influence of these problems in economic and political spheres, little attention has been given to these problems in science.  

There is a growing understanding among natural scientists about economic disparities and inequality in communities that neighbour conservation areas; however, natural scientists have given limited attention to how these problems of economic disparities and inequality manifest in the production of science.  By focusing on the social context of scientific research, the production of disparities and inequality in scientific procedures can be identified and, ideally, addressed.  Scientists are beginning to develop analytical frames to study problems in local communities, but scientists also need to use comprehensive frameworks for studying these problems within the scientific community as an independent context and one that is part of the communities in which scientific research is conducted.  Scientific research projects are not immune to the problems of Africa’s social history, and the scientific conservation community is required to turn its critical lens towards itself.  This reflective gaze generates uncomfortable truths.  Social inequality exists in research as perceptions that shape reality and as part of reality that goes unperceived.  Both produce bias.  However, the social nature of these problems means that scientists can work to change the production of both science and social inequality.

This text is one attempt at describing the experience and recommendations of scientists working in an interdisciplinary and international research project.  Reflections from other projects are needed and welcome.