Enhancing the effectiveness of policy-relevant integrative research in rural areas Piran C L White*, Steve Cinderby**, Dave Raffaelli*, Annemarieke de Bruin † , Alison Holt* and Meg Huby † *Environment Department, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD Email: pclw1@york.ac.uk **Stockholm Environment Institute at York, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD † Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD Revised manuscript received 2 October 2008 There has been much debate about the importance of policy-relevant research in geography over the last decade. There has also been an increasing recognition by policymakers of the importance of integrative (interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary) approaches to policy-relevant research. However, geographers have been more reluctant than their colleagues in other social and natural sciences to embrace integrative research collaborations. For integrative research to achieve its full potential and to encourage greater participation from the geographical research community, we need to increase our understanding of its potential value, but also some of the challenges that it poses, and how these can be overcome. In this paper, we consider the processes involved in conducting successful integrative research from the perspective of researchers involved in these projects. We base our analysis on the results of a questionnaire survey of international integrative research programmes on environmental issues in rural areas, combined with our own experiences of working in integrative research. We conclude that effective integrative research depends on the establishment of a clear conceptual framework, the use of appropriate temporal and spatial scales in the research, effective language and communication, time and commitment, and trust and respect. We also highlight the value of stakeholder involvement in integrative research to ensure the policy relevance of the work and provide a mechanism to assist with effective knowledge transfer of the results. Key words: environmental, international, interdisciplinary, knowledge transfer, policy integration, scale, transdisciplinary Introduction There is a growing consensus on the need for policy-relevant research in geography (Pain 2006), as in many other social and natural sciences. However, the processes involved in conducting successful research in the policy area have been the subject of considerable debate. For example, in the geographical literature, there has been much discussion about different ways in which researchers and policymakers do and should interact and the implications of this for the development of policy- relevant research (Massey 2000 2002; Dorling and Shaw 2002; Ward 2005; Pain 2006). Many of these commentaries highlight the need for geographical researchers to embrace cross- disciplinary approaches to address some of the key socioeconomic and environmental problems that are faced by society. Single disciplines can provide some insights into certain aspects of these problems. Area (2008) 41.4, 414–424 doi: 10.1111/j.1475-4762.2008.00871.x Area Vol. 41 No. 4, pp. 414–424, 2008 ISSN 0004-0894 © 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation © Royal Geographical Society (with The Institute of British Geographers) 2008