PORT ARANSAS, Texas – The Mission-Aransas Reserve recently hosted a workshop to help scientists and resources managers bridge the gulf between science and policy. This was a unique workshop because it helped participants build awareness, capacity, and skills to develop projects that engage stakeholders. Often scientists and policy makers conduct their work without talking to each other and hope that knowledge transfer will happen through written products. This workshop provided examples of how active engagement of both scientists and policy-makers at the beginning of a project produces more effective results and creates research products that are incorporated into decisions instead of those that sit on a shelf. The workshop featured experts from across the United States with experience in collaborative research and imparted their lessons learned and best practices upon the workshop participants.
The workshop was sponsored by the National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) System Science Collaborative and was in collaboration with Texas A&M University and the Wells NERR in Maine.