Normative frames for the ULTRA network: Exploring the merits of environmental justice, vulnerability, and sustainability

Background/Question/Methods

The ULTRA exploratory competition was launched as a partnership between the US Forest Service and the National Science Foundation. As a mission-oriented organization, the US Forest Service supports research that is tied to societal goals while the National Science Foundation principally supports research in basic science. New initiatives in the NSF to fund sustainability-related research along with continued emphases on broader impacts and transformational science widens opportunities for research driven by normative goals. 

Results/Conclusions

The successful establishment of the ULTRA network provides a timely opportunity to examine how normative goals can guide science, especially within a coupled socio-ecological framework. I argue that environmental justice, vulnerability science, and sustainability are useful frames for ULTRA research, especially when the ideas, principles, and practices of these fields are drawn together. Network level science within ULTRA can test the efficacy of an expanded socio-ecological framework that includes normative components.