A Tale of Tenets and Tensions: Our journey to create a common language and collective understanding of “convergence” across the RECIPES Network.

Illustration by Steffanie Espat

Long, long ago (back in 2021), in a land not so far away, the NSF SRS RN grant was bestowed upon the RECIPES network. Although our network was formed and this gift “granted” (Ba Dum Tss) to us to “advance the science needed to make our wasteful food system sustainable, equitable, and resilient,” it was also to do so through convergent research. In other words, not only do we as members of the RECIPES network need to focus on improving our food system, but improve it (and evolve new approaches, methodologies, and science) by melding together our diverse array of disciplines, methodologies, and areas of expertise.

As part of the original request for this grant, part of the responsibility and role of Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) within the network, as the lead design team and institution in RECIPES, is to enable convergent thinking and action amongst network members. After the first year collaborating as a network, the MICA team began to notice that while members of the network were beginning to embrace and use the term “convergence” – not everyone was using it to mean the same thing. If the term “convergence” means something different to each of us and we aren’t all on the same page, then how will we know when it is happening or has been achieved? Thus, with our responsibility to enable convergence in mind, the MICA team set out to facilitate a process and means of creating a common language and collective understanding of convergence across the network. 

Chapter 1: Understanding What Convergence Means to NSF

Before riding off into the sunset to chase this goal, we had to make sure we were well prepared.

Our journey first began by understanding what “convergence” means to NSF. Seeing as NSF is our funder and has mandated that convergent research is part of our goal in addressing wasted food, we thought it was important to understand what “convergence” means to them before creating our own common language for RECIPES.

Conducting secondary research, we searched high and low through NSF’s website, as well as through articles and posts written by individuals associated with NSF. Every resource we found was tracked in MURAL, where we also synthesized the data we gathered into themes. For those who are not familiar with MURAL, it is an online “visual work platform purpose-built for collaboration.” It functions like a virtual whiteboard.

MURAL board used to consolidate and synthesize data from various NSF websites and articles about convergence.

Through this research, we determined that to NSF:

Convergence:

• Intentionally brings together diverse stakeholders, researchers, and experts.
• Transcends disciplinary boundaries and potentially forms new frameworks.
• Pursues a shared goal around a complex or compelling social, scientific, or engineering problem.
• Considers the system as a whole.
• Can happen on multiple levels and with different intentions.
• Creates better informed solutions and advances creativity, invention, and innovation.
• Fosters sustainable relationships between collaborators.

For convergence to work, teams need to:

• Break down silos between team members and create a team that functions holistically.
• Create effective communication, frameworks, structures, and roles.
• Hold space for disciplines to merge and cross.
• Understand that convergence requires time and energy and is not easy to achieve.
• Recognize there needs to be discomfort, opposition, and even divergence to create convergence.
• Understand the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, as a team and in the work.
• Understand that complex systems are multi-dimensional.
• Fail fast and lean into the chaos and unknown.
• Consider the now, near, and far instead of getting stuck on quick wins.

For additional details, please see our presentation from the 2023 RECIPES In-Person Meeting.

Chapter 2: Conducting and Synthesizing Convergence Conversations

With this understanding of NSF’s general conception and intention for convergent research, we then shifted our attention to evolving a collective understanding of convergence that resonates with the RECIPES network to help ensure we as a group are all on the same page, and have a common language that connects to our work and purpose.

We thus moved forward to conduct what we called “Convergence Conversations.” These were 30-minute conversations with 20+ network members, with the goal to understand how they describe and characterize convergence (what is it and what is it not), how they know convergence is happening or has been achieved (how it feels; examples based on their experience; can and how is it measured), and if and why convergence is important for addressing wasted food. We recruited network members to participate in these conversations based on a few different criteria: 

• Ensuring that all or most institutions in the network were represented
• Focusing on some ‘new’ voices who had not typically weighed in on convergence thus far.
• Capturing perspectives from a variety of roles (faculty, students, staff, and not only PIs).

During these one-on-one conversations, we introduced ourselves, as well as our mission to create a common language and collective understanding of “convergence.” We clarified with participants that our goal was not to write a definitive “definition” per se, but rather to build consensus around some core tenets (Ooh, foreshadowing!) in the hopes that it would help us better articulate and work towards our network’s goals and metrics. We also notified participants that these were open conversations with no right or wrong answers. Each interview was recorded, transcribed, and anonymized to help us capture each participant’s responses as thoroughly as possible while respecting their privacy.

Once we had collected all of the data from the Convergence Conversations, it was then time to synthesize it. In synthesizing the data, our goal was to look across what network members shared with us to find patterns, themes, common trends, as well as points of tension or confusion. To synthesize the data, we distilled individual data points from each interview transcript and moved them into MURAL, using categories from our conversation guide. In MURAL, each data point was color-coded to represent the type of participant or data (Students and Postdocs, Professors, Staff/Other, information from past work). The data were then sorted into themes, describing what conversation participants were thinking, feeling, and doing (e.g., Feeling convergence tackles a shared problem or goal, especially one that is “pressing”). Similar themes were then combined or grouped together with labels to describe larger phenomena in the data.

MURAL board used to synthesize data from the Convergence Conversations.

Chapter 3: Presenting Our Initial Findings to the Network

Now that we had our initial findings, we wanted to share them with the broader RECIPES community to see if they resonated with network members beyond the 20 we conversed with.

As fate (or planning) would have it, our network’s first in-person gathering was approaching. We packed our bags and made the treacherous journey from Baltimore, MD to Warrenton, VA to convene with our fellow network members at Airlie.

During Day 1 of the in-person meeting, we shared findings from our secondary research about NSF’s definition of convergence, as well as the key themes from the Convergence Conversations. We highlighted areas for further examination and requested that network members provide their thoughts and feedback in the main plenary and in the Convergence Café–a space where MICA curated and facilitated various activities to enable convergent thinking and action. We also invited members to participate in additional Convergence Conversations if they so desired.

From the network’s two days at Airlie, we collected feedback from a wide array of network members. After our presentation, Hannah Jardine facilitated additional small group conversations about convergence and in the Convergence Café, network members were presented with a series of posters: some with questions from the Convergence Conversations and some with the initial findings for their reactions and input.

We then brought all of the feedback back to MICA to continue evolving our common language around convergence. 

Chapter 4: Leveraging the Co-Design Cluster’s Knowledge and Input

Based on our time at Airlie, we determined we not only wanted to continue evolving this common language, but also wanted to understand the importance of convergence in addressing wasted food. With this in mind, we sought the wisdom of the powerful…(wait for it)…Co-Design Cluster! Over the course of various cluster meetings, we picked the Co-Design Cluster’s collective mind on convergence in relation to wasted food, as well as our first iteration of the Convergence Tenets and Tensions.

Co-Design Cluster activity to understand convergence specific to wasted food.

Initial draft of the Convergence Tenets and Tensions for Co-Design Cluster and Network feedback.

Building on their input, we sent out a call to the Network (at a virtual Network meeting) for another round of feedback on what had now become the Convergence Tenets and Tensions. Taking the feedback from the Co-Design Cluster and the Network, we created the pen-ultimate draft.

Chapter 5: Gathering a Final Round of Feedback

Before we knew it, it was time again for our network’s annual in-person gathering, so we trekked back to Airlie. Using the Convergence Café again – we now presented network members with our new iteration of the Convergence Tenets and Tensions, requesting any final input they may have. A brief introduction to the project, as well as the Tenets and Tensions were printed on large posters for network members to review and leave comments on with sticky notes. Members were able to see each other’s comments and build on one another’s feedback.

Just as we did in the year prior, we gathered all of the feedback provided by our fellow network members and used it to inform a final iteration of the Convergence Tenets and Tensions.

Chapter 6: Sharing the Convergence Tenets and Tensions

Through wordsmithing and track changes, our common language and collective understanding of convergence: the Convergence Tenets and Tensions were finally ready to be shared across the kingdom and published on the RECIPES website for network members and non-network members alike to access and use as they see fit.

Convergence Tenets and Tensions page on the RECIPES website.

Epilogue: The Quest to Self-Publish

Taking inspiration from our RECIPES Guiding Principles and Community Norms, the MICA team is now working to create a for-print version of the Convergence Tenets and Tensions that will be self-published by the RECIPES network! 

Because the creation of the Convergence Tenets and Tensions was a collective effort by the network, we feel it is incredibly important that each and every contributor is acknowledged. We are currently working on a citation taxonomy to allow us to ensure everyone’s contributions are recognized accordingly.