Abstract
Community-based research involves people as citizen scientists, whereby citizens actively participate in research on local issues. The inclusive nature of community-based research has the ability to produce auxiliary benefits uncommon in conventional research. These include the development of social capital and social learning. In addition, community-based research also has the potential to enrich the range of management options available by increasing the breadth of accessible knowledge. With this in mind, this paper explores the potential of community-based research as a framework for the integration of expert and lay knowledge. Recommendations are drawn from experiences with recent regional natural resource planning arrangements and associated governance arrangements. These are then explored in depth utilising a multi-site case study spanning two catchment areas in South East Queensland, Australia. Particular attention is paid to the complexities of citizen participation in catchment research and management and how the knowledge outcomes of expert and lay interactions may be demonstrated in practice. Consideration of such integrative knowledge production with regard to natural resource management reveals the importance of continuous evaluation in both qualitative and quantitative forms and the need to systematically consider the outcomes from multiple perspectives. This paper describes how community-based research may be conducted to ensure the integration of expert and lay knowledge and how an embedded and iterative evaluation process can assist in identifying and demonstrating the social and environmental outcomes of this form of research.