Workshops

Workshop 1.1

Media, messaging, and the public narrative

Facilitator: Sean Kennedy (Climate Media Centre)

This workshop will give valuable insight to how news media report on the reef, what the media are looking for when covering the reef, how a spokespersons messaging affects the public narrative, and can give experts advice on how to prepare for their interactions with the media.
It will specifically focus on traditional news media, messaging and a narrative analysis on how the Reef is being portrayed in the media.

Location: G16 1.11

Workshop 1.2

Where to from here? Reimagining social research methods for a changing world.

Facilitators: Dr Claudia Benham (University of Queensland) and Dr Jacqui Lau (James Cook University) (co-convenors)

This workshop will explore how social science methods are adapting to new challenges and changing environments. The workshop will provide a forum for sharing practical reflections on research methods – what is working and what is not – in environmental social science research. Participants will also have the opportunity to discuss novel and emerging methods, and their potential to address contemporary issues facing the environment. The workshop will run in hybrid format, with facilitators in the room and on Zoom.

Themes include:

• Engaging communities in research, including methods for co-producing knowledge
• Notes from the field: reflections on the research process
• Technology and social science research: challenges and opportunities
• Changing methods for changing times: innovative research methods for new and emerging topics.

A key outcome of this workshop will be to foster ongoing conversations and reflections on promoting and sharing good practice in environmental social science. This workshop is an opportunity for researchers, practitioners, and stakeholders to engage in meaningful dialogue and collectively advance the field of environmental social science research.

Location: G11 4.28 and 4.29

Workshop 2.1

What if human centred approaches were a key pillar to protecting Reef Catchments for a Healthy Reef?

Facilitators: Maria Rosier (OGBR&WH/DESI), Meg Bickle (OGBR&WH/DESI), and Edith Muruka (DCCEEW).

This workshop is a great opportunity to collaborate on the Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan (WQIP) review. The current WQIP guides how the government and communities (including councils, Traditional Owners, the agriculture industry, conservation groups and others) work together to improve water quality in our local waterways and the Great Barrier Reef.

We will:

• Explore the new holistic narrative - how can we articulate a community’s connection to catchment and Reef?
• Brainstorm implementation principles - what is the ‘framework’ for enabling community led design, planning and responses based on all values, knowledge systems and expertise.
• Identify priorities - what human-centred interventions would be priority actions for the next plan.
• Identify existing knowledge and gaps in social science – what is the evidence to support the new narrative and the knowledge gaps that we will need to address to ensure we are able to deliver a genuine holistic approach that can be monitored and reported?

Location: G11 4.28 or 4.29

Workshop 2.2

Network mapping Reef governance: how is the Reef really managed?

Facilitator: Dr Mark Limb (Queensland University of Technology)

This workshop aims to showcase the potential of network analysis to improve our understanding of how the complex array of institutions and instruments combine to deliver Reef health. Participants will learn about conformance (outcome) and performance (use) based plan evaluation, and how understanding both elements are important to inform a complete understanding of the effectiveness of strategic level planning for Reef health. Utilising a novel method of participant network mapping, attendees will be encouraged to develop their own maps of Reef governance, and to then to compare and discuss their results with other participants.

The results of the workshop will contribute to further developing the Reef network map, and to help understand the degree to which those involved in implementing the Reef Plan work within structurally coherent frameworks of governance. Such developments are a key research priority for Reef managers, and the results may influence the implementation of policies aimed at improving Reef health.

Location: G16 1.11