The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will convene an ad hoc committee to conduct a study on co-production approaches to knowledge-building and decision-making in environmental change contexts to optimize societal benefits. The study will make findings and recommendations based on information gathered about the challenges, needs, and opportunities associated with co-production of environmental knowledge between scientists and local and Indigenous experts, especially at local and regional scales where fine-grained peer-reviewed scientific knowledge may be absent or limited.

To gather evidence, approximately three workshops will be held in communities of place or practice, where co-production of knowledge approaches have been employed to assess the principles, methods, and practices that have evolved in diverse social-environmental contexts. The workshops will focus on both policy and practice considerations, as well as cross-cultural and cross-community engagement strategies to support co-production throughout the research process. Understanding the nature and sociocultural dimensions of bridging and integrating Indigenous and local knowledge systems with professional scientific ones will be a centerpiece of the workshops.

A proceedings-in-brief will be produced by a rapporteur and in accordance with institutional guidelines following each workshop.

Following the completion of the workshop series, the committee will produce a report that:

• Synthesizes common themes identified through the public workshop series (e.g., policy and practical challenges, information needs, best practices).
• Incorporates evidence from the literature in areas such as bridging Indigenous and local knowledge with scientific knowledge, co-production research design, funding, data gathering, ethics, applications, evaluation, dissemination, and implementation.
• Identifies pathways to increase consideration and successful implementation of co-production models to improve understanding of and responses to environmental change at appropriate scales, with particular reference to science funders, including federal, state, and local agencies, their consultants and contractors, as well as foundations and other relevant NGOs.
• Offers recommendations for advancing and operationalizing co-production in both basic and applied research to produce relevant and actionable science at appropriate scales for community and societal benefit.