Not Just a Buzzword: Bringing Meaningful Engagement to Life | Collaborative Science Conversations

You’ve probably heard the phrase meaningful engagement. Maybe you’ve even used the phrase yourself. But have you ever found yourself wondering, what exactly do we mean by meaningful engagement and how do we achieve it? Many of us recognize that engaging meaningfully with partners is at the heart of effective collaboration. However it’s not always easy to define what meaningful engagement is, and what it means in practice.

In this fourth annual installment, the NERRS Science Collaborative and the NOAA RESTORE Science Program dives into the practical realities of meaningful engagement, building on the January 2024 NERRS Science Collaborative webinar that provided a framework for understanding meaningful engagement. The webinar features the voices of two collaborative science project teams who share their project-specific experiences. Together, we dig into examples of what meaningful engagement is, what it looks like in practice, and what strategies we might use to foster it during collaboration.

The NOAA RESTORE Science Program was authorized by Congress in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to carry out research, observation, and monitoring to support the long-term sustainability of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem, including its fisheries. The Science Program supports teams of resource managers, researchers, and stakeholders committed to working together to produce science that helps answer the questions resource managers are facing.

Speakers: Hannah Ramage, Lake Superior NERR; Laura Reynolds, University of Florida; Arianna Stokes, NERRS Science Collaborative

Learn more about the NOAA RESTORE Science Program:
https://restoreactscienceprogram.noaa...

View resources related to the webinar:
https://www.nerrssciencecollaborative...

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00:00 - Intro and housekeeping
03:31 - Setting the stage for discussion
21:16 - Why does meaningful engagement matter for your work?
35:15 - What does meaningful engagement look like?
48:46 - What's one piece of advice for engaging meaningfully?
52:01 - Q&A