Lecture Topics

Topic 1: The role of science in natural resources governance

  • Introduction to the marine estate
    • goods and services
    • current status
    • future projections
  • Governing marine resources
    • range of actors
    • models of governance
    • key features of governance
    • issues of scale (local to global)
  • Governance case studies to highlight challenges and complexities:
    • Marine governance in Croatia
    • Governing the Baltic Sea
  • The role of science in marine governance

Topic 2: How to produce usable marine science

  • Traits/features of ‘usable’ marine science
    • Salience, Credibility, Legitimacy
    • Combining knowledge systems (scientific, experiential, cultural, traditional, etc.)
    • Scale/context/place specific
  • Practical approaches to producing usable marine science
    • Transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary science
    • Co-production
  • Dealing with uncertainty in data/models/projections

Topic 3: Improving knowledge exchange among scientists and decision-makers

  • Introduction to knowledge exchange (autonomy vs interdependency)
  • Barriers to knowledge exchange among marine scientists and decision-makers
  • Models/frameworks for improving knowledge exchange
  • Practical strategies for improving knowledge exchange with decision-makers
  • Individual skills/attributes for knowledge exchange
    • Options for gaining practical skills needed (e.g. policy internships)

Topic 4: Career pathways to have impact at the science-policy-society interface

  • Traditional academic
    • ECR
    • Established researcher
  • NGO/Conservation group
  • Knowledge broker
  • University based boundary organisation
  • MPA Manager
  • Tourism Manager
  • Policy maker

Workshop/practical activities

  • Writing policy briefs
  • Developing infographics
  • Turning a scientific paper into a blog that people want to read
  • Developing and implementing a Research Impact Plan
  • Using social media and other web-based tools to communicate your research 
  • Practical tips for building and maintaining strong stakeholder networks
  • Simulated science-policy discussions – participants pitch their research to an invited policy-maker.
  • Citizen Science – when to use it, what role it could have, types of data you can obtain, etc.