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International Development and Studies

From Data to Impact: A Community-Driven Convergence Approach to Global Environmental and Health Challenges Guangqing Chi*, Guangqing Chi,

The environmental, social, health, and policy challenges facing the world today are deeply interconnected and rarely can be addressed by any single discipline in isolation. Although interdisciplinary research has become more common, scientist-driven approaches often fall short in disadvantaged communities—particularly Indigenous communities—where Western frameworks may lack local context and where historical experiences have fostered distrust toward external researchers. In this talk, I advocate for a community-driven convergence approach that integrates Western scientific methods with local and Indigenous knowledge through knowledge co-production. This approach engages Indigenous communities as intellectual partners rather than research subjects. I illustrate this framework through Arctic research led by the Environmental Demography Network (EDeN) over the past seven years. This work examines how environmental change affects social well-being, subsistence livelihoods, food security, migration, and community infrastructure in rural Arctic Alaska, while also identifying key assets that support community adaptation and resilience. I argue that this community-driven convergence approach is mutually beneficial to researchers and local communities and is essential for addressing complex socio-environmental challenges and achieving meaningful societal impact.