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 webinar, the NERRS Science Collaborative and the NOAA RESTORE Science Program will dive 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 will feature the voices of two collaborative science project teams who will share their project-specific experiences with meaningful engagement. Together, we’ll 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. We’ll also save time for questions from the audience, so come ready to engage (meaningfully)! Bring questions or submit them in advance via the registration form.

About RESTORE: 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.