Matthias Gross Holger Hoffmann-Riem Institute for Science and Technology Studies (IWT) Bielefeld University PO Box 100131 33501 Bielefeld, Germany

Real-world Experiments:
Strategies for Robust Ecological Design

This project examines various types of human intervention in ecological systems with the aim of developing a theory of "real-world experiments" that can help make these interventions more successful. Large-scale ecological interventions - such as adaptive management in dune restoration, landscape design, lake restoration or waste management - can best be understood as real-world experiments.
The notion of real-world experiments is derived from the German concept "Realexperimente" as it was originally developed by Wolfgang Krohn and other members of the Institute for Science and Technology Studies at Bielefeld University during the mid 1980s.
Real-world experiments, in our understanding, are attempts to solve socially relevant environmental problems under uncontrolled conditions. In real-world experiments the idea of experiment is beginning to be understood as a process of self-experimentation comprised of mutual action and reaction between different parts of nature. It is an experiment in and with the non-human environment. Whereas laboratory experiments are generally thought to exclude social conditions, real-world experiments involve complex combinations of social and natural factors. They are associated with recursive learning processes that result in better understanding and increased control of environmental and social systems. In real-world experiments the context of discovery and the context of justification coincide; new knowledge enters into ecological design immediately. Real-world experiments involve many actors and include both academic scientists and lay people. They are therefore appealing for interdisciplinary environmental research.

This project is thus based on:

• the observation that ecological design is increasingly omnipresent;
• the judgement that many ecological interventions are neither socially robust nor based on sound scientific knowledge; and
• the hypothesis that ecological interventions should be conceived as real-world experiments to avoid these pitfalls.

This project examines to what extent the notion of real-world experiments can be used as a tool for the planning and implementation of scientifically reliable and socially robust processes of ecological design. Using diverse examples of ecological intervention in Europe and North America, the study extends the framework of real-world experiments to better understand its broader meaning in a societal context as well as to deliver guidance for future projects.

The project goal is threefold:

• to carry out several empirical case-studies to identify the parameters and variables that affect the dynamics of ecological design.
• to develop a theoretical foundation for real-world experiments based on concepts from the theory and sociology of science.
• to develop a practical research strategy that allows future planners and policy makers to use our results as a tool for an optimal design of ecological research.

The research team for this project consists of the environmental sociologist Dr. Matthias Gross and the environmental scientist Dr. Holger Hoffmann-Riem. The project is affiliated with the Institute for Science and Technology Studies (IWT) at Bielefeld University, and is accompanied by, among others, Prof. Wolfgang Krohn.

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