Programme A - Exhibitions:
Future of our seas – learnings from co-designed community outreach - Ian Rowlands (Incredible Oceans)
Reporting on a successful NERC Engaging Environments consortium in which eight leading marine research, advocacy and arts organisations formed ‘Future of Our Seas’. MBA, King's College London, JNCC, University of Plymouth Marine Institute, University of Edinburgh, SAMS, Incredible Oceans and Invisible Dust consolidated expertise and training into a ‘blueprint’ to equip early career researchers with the capacity and skills to create innovative activities co-produced with local community groups.
Building scientific capacity and understanding of marine research in the community - Jo Myers (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation-CSIRO)
To increase the ecological understanding of Australia’s Ningaloo Coast World Heritage Area’s deep and shallow reefs and the reef’s shark and turtle populations, BHP and CSIRO formed a strategic marine research partnership, Ningaloo Outlook, investing $5.4 million (AU) over five years to gather new knowledge on the reef and its important ecological values. A key component of the project has centred on the building of capacity and understanding around the research and its importance, in both the local community and beyond. To achieve this outcome the CSIRO research team have not just focussed on manuscript preparation as the key output, but also embedded a range of outreach activities, some highly interactive and novel. The development and timing of communication activities (passive and active) have enabled more meaningful and direct engagement between researchers and stakeholders, with different approaches used to target different audiences with key scientific messages from the project, maximising the impact of effort in science communication activities.
Programme B
Using behavioural insights to enhance public engagement and campaigning - Rob Moore (Behaviour Change)
We now understand more than ever before about why people behave as they do and how that can be influenced for the better. The growing field of behavioural science, and work to develop and test models and tools that can be used to change behaviour, is of increasing interest to campaigners and communicators. Delivered by social enterprise Behaviour Change, based on work on topics from littering to healthy eating, this session will explore practical ways to use behavioural insight in your work.
