Towards a process of translational palaeoecology: A practical guide to research co-production

Palaeoecology has the potential to support practical conservation, offering a long-term perspective to issues such as biodiversity loss, environmental restoration and peatland carbon storage. However, achieving a widespread and effective application of palaeoecology within conservation practice requires greater and more efficient collaboration between academics, practitioners and policymakers. Translational palaeoecology offers a methodological approach to achieve collaboration between academia and conservation and produce palaeoecological research that can support and inform conservation action. This paper reports the results of a workshop involving academics undertaking palaeoenvironmental research and conservation practitioners concerning the barriers and practical recommendations for effective research-practice collaboration. The experiences of the participants highlight the benefits of a collaborative approach for producing palaeoecological research that is enriched with experiential and contextual knowledge. Key themes emerging from the workshop include the importance of mutual learning and knowledge exchange, and supporting practitioners to be co-researchers. Practical implication. The workshop outcomes are presented as a framework of practical guidelines for implementing translational palaeoecology. Key recommendations for academics include engaging with practitioner activities as relationship-building opportunities, utilising field visits for knowledge exchange, adopting a knowledge facilitation role or involving a facilitator to support practitioner understanding, using workshops to explore the practical relevance of palaeoecological data and enabling practitioners to communicate palaeo-research findings in their sphere. Key recommendations for practitioners include inviting academics to practitioner meetings, providing tacit and experiential knowledge throughout the process, exploring practitioner- or land-owner-led funding opportunities for translational research and partaking in communication roles for wider dissemination of research.