Pitch your ideas and get to know people in industry, government, funders and other academics.
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Event format
The aim of this event is to share knowledge and build connections between fishermen and people working in the marine research and technology industry – with a focus on developing ideas that support the science used in UK fisheries and marine policy. Fishing into the Future work with industry and fishermen facilitators and are joined by a group of fishermen and people working within the fishing industry, all with a shared interest in co-management and collaborative research. Using industry facilitators, we give researchers the opportunity to pitch research ideas and projects, and develop these ideas and gain insights through informal conversations.
Why it’s important?
The difficulty of bringing industry into the fold has ultimately impacted the sustainability of fisheries and has contributed to data deficient fisheries, poor research capacity and a siloed approach to conducting and developing fisheries science and management.
It is now widely accepted that industry, academia, and government all have unique contributions to fisheries research, and no single group can provide the information required to meet the increasing challenges of fisheries sustainability alone. Research that is collaborative (i.e., involving industry, academia, and government) will help to solve persistent and emerging problems in fisheries; effectively utilising the skillset of stakeholders; and help to build new capacity in fisheries science. Collaborative research also allows stakeholders to disseminate insight to a wider audience so that the science is effectively understood and accepted outside the scientific community.
Our first Industry-Science mixer event was part of a wider event hosted by Fishing into the Future at Chilworth Manor, the 3-day Fisheries Resource Education Programme – F-REP – sharing expertise and building connections for fishermen, scientists and fisheries managers to work together effectively. With a Gus Caslake, a fishermen and the South West Regional Manager at Seafish facilitating the event, and the University of Southampton hosting the space for us, providing drinks and nibbles, we brought over 40 fishermen, industry representatives, and people from UK Government together with researchers from across the UK, from academia and government, including recent post-graduates to to professors with years of experience.
We saw many contact details being exchanged and we even had a post-graduate student join the rest of our F-REP event. Now we are waiting to hear about any lasting connections and projects that came out of this opportunity.
