We look forward to welcoming you to the Third Annual Conference for the Sustainable Management of UK Marine Resources (SMMR). Focusing on the delivery of tools and interventions to inform policy, regulation and management, this conference will be held as a hybrid event from 14th – 16th May 2024. For those able to attend in person, we invite you to join us at the M-Shed in Bristol, and for those wishing to participate remotely, we will welcome you to the conference via our online Platform. You can register for the conference here.
This transdisciplinary conference brings together members of the UK marine science community, funders, policy makers and practitioners.
The first day and the afternoon of the third day will be devoted to workshops, and more details will be available soon. The second day and the morning of the third day will bring together expert plenary speakers and contributed talks and posters outlining the latest research and management practices that address key topics related to the sustainable management of UK marine resources. You will also be able to enjoy networking with your peers and making new contacts across the UK marine science research and practitioner community.
View the SMMR Conference 2024 Programme Outline here.
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Deciding on which workshop to register for? Take a look at what each session has to offer below:
Diverse voices in marine research and policy
This workshop will invite a discussion about the challenges of engaging diverse voices in research and policy consultations for sustainable management of UK marine resources. The SMMR Resilience of Coastal Communities project team will share their experiences of collecting oral histories, survey and interview data in sites across the Southwest UK with a particular focus on the challenges of including female and younger voices. The Diverse Marine Values project team will offer their insights into incorporating the diverse values and voices of other harder-to-reach groups. Please join us to share your own experiences of engaging and collaborating with diverse voices. Through the workshop we aim to collate our joint perspectives on the blind-spots we might inadvertently introduce into research and consultation, the barriers to more inclusive research and engagement, and any insight on strategies or best-practice that can address these challenges.
CoOpt + Diverse Values: Communicating Climate Change Workshop
An inherent challenge of climate change research is the ability to communicate scientific information to non-specialist audiences. Tailoring information for various audiences, including policy makers and members of the public involves utilising a range of methods and techniques to ensure that the message is received effectively. This workshop aims to synthesise the learning from the SMMR projects about the best strategies to communicate and engage with communities about coastal protection decisions, as well as to reflect more broadly on the experiences and expectations of researchers tasked with communicating and disseminating their research. Participants will be encouraged to submit their reflections in advance of this workshop via a short survey.
Mapping and understanding ocean literacy for England
This workshop will be the first in a series of actions designed to co-develop an ocean literacy strategy for England. Defined as ‘having an understanding of the ocean’s influence on your, and your influence on the ocean’, ocean literacy has been positioned as a key mechanism for change and central to achieving the goals set out by the UN Ocean Decade’s Ten Challenges. In the UK, recent years have seen ocean literacy increasingly at the forefront of discussions about ocean and coastal management, governance and research priorities. Drawing on the results from the 2022 UK wide ocean literacy assessment as well as outputs from the Diverse Marine Values project, this workshop will map existing ocean literacy activities and initiatives across England, identify current gaps and barriers and highlight opportunities and priorities for the development of a co-designed strategy. Crucially, the workshop and ongoing related activities will look to the work that has already been undertaken in Wales to develop a national ocean literacy strategy for Wales.
DMV Exhibition – Echoes of the Shore
This workshop explores new horizons for marine research and management. Join the Diverse Marine Values researchers for a guided tour of our exhibition showcasing the full range of arts-based research methods we used to engage local communities in eliciting lesser-heard voices in Portsmouth, Chepstow and the Shetland Islands. We will discuss how arts-based research methods can be used to enhance marine decision-making and ocean literacy through more inclusive and engaging processes. Within the backdrop of an immersive exhibition, this workshop will help researchers and practitioners explore the potential of arts-based methods, including digital storytelling, participatory theatre, photography, and community voice method. It will also delve into transdisciplinarity and ways of working differently in marine management and research settings. There will be the opportunity to pose questions to researchers and practitioners on their experiences and shared lessons.
Pyramids of Life Q Method workshop
Every year, the SMMR Conference demonstrates that a sustainable and resilient management of marine ecosystems can be achieved only through interdisciplinary approaches co-developed with stakeholders recognising their respective diverse value. However, consistently capturing and synthetising the range of marine stakeholders’ values, attitudes, perspectives, and viewpoints on sustainable and resilient marine management is not a trivial task. Mixed quali-quantitative approaches such as the Q-method can help.
In this workshop, Pyramids of Life project members will present and discuss protocols and tools to designing, analysing and interpreting a Q-method. To make the seminar relevant to participants, we will ask them to take part in a Q-method which will then be used to present the data preparation, analysis, and interpretation of results. No previous knowledge or specific skills are required. During the workshop we will use R Studio and open access Q-method tools, so please bring your laptop to make the most out of the session.
Opportunities and challenges for financing UK marine habitat restoration
This workshop will bring together stakeholders from the UK marine management community, restoration practitioners, economists and the finance sector to examine the opportunities and challenges of financing of marine habitat restoration, and thereby support the development of a road map towards broader adoption. Activities for the workshop will be framed by examining some UK-specific case studies of financing nature restoration, both from terrestrial and marine spheres. We will examine the long-term feasibility of applying schemes such as carbon and biodiversity credits in the UK. Alternative finance frameworks that could be employed to harness private finance in the UK will then be explored and their potential utility assessed.
The Sustainable Management of UK Marine Resources Conference took place from 16th – 18th May 2023, in Bristol. Building on the success of our inaugural conference in 2022, this year’s event featured presentations, discussions, and workshops exploring the varied work underway in the SMMR programme, both from our funded project teams and across the SMMR Network.
Highlights from the conference were shared across social media under the hashtag – #SMMRConf23, and recordings of talks shared at the Conference may be found on our YouTube channel.
The Sustainable Management of UK Marine Resources (SMMR) first Annual Conference was held as a hybrid event from 9th – 11th May 2022.
The transdisciplinary conference brought together members of the UK marine science community, with the aim of promoting and communicating research and policy excellence. The first two days saw expert plenary speakers and contributed talks and e-posters outlining the latest research and management practices that address key topics related to the sustainable management of UK marine resources. The third day was devoted to a selection of workshops hosted by the six SMMR Funded Projects.
Highlights from the conference were shared on Twitter via the conference hashtag – #SMMRConf22.