Home > Ningaloo Collaboration Cluster: Ningaloo client outreach
Ningaloo Collaboration Cluster: Ningaloo client outreach
| Title | Ningaloo Collaboration Cluster: Ningaloo client outreach |
| Publication Type | Report |
| Year of Publication | 2011 |
| Authors | Dzidic, PL, Syme GJ, Dambacher JM, Malkin S |
| Pagination | 1-49 |
| Date Published | 06/2011 |
| Institution | CSIRO’s Flagship Collaboration Fund |
| ISBN Number | 9781921826405 |
| Keywords | Cluster, Ningaloo, outreach, research |
| Abstract | The Ningaloo Collaboration Cluster, a partnership between Murdoch University, the University
of Western Australia, Australian National University, University of Queensland, Edith Cowan
University, Curtin University, the Collaborative Research Centre for Sustainable Tourism and
CSIRO’s Wealth from Oceans Flagship. The Cluster was established as a mechanism for
ensuring targeted and coordinated research for the sustainable management of the Ningaloo
Marine Park (NMP), namely through the delivery of systems which aid in the ecological,
economic and social decision making in the region. Research varies from bathymetry through
studies of fish species to the social science of visitor behaviour. One of the significant activities
is the development of models of various types that will serve as a major integrating output.
While there is an ’all encompassing’ model there are also activities to incorporate qualitative
modelling and ‘user friendly’ modelling of components. The intention is that these efforts will
result in informed decision makers and managers who will have tools that they will regularly
use to reach decisions enabling them to manage the uncertainties that are associated with what
is a complex socio-ecological system. To help ensure that the research has impact, CSIRO’s
Wealth from Oceans Flagship (WfO) created a small “Ningaloo Client Outreach” project.
The research question was approached through the construction of sociograms as a means of
exploring group roles and networks. This prompted us to consider critically who the ‘client’ is
for the projects. There were many potential end users, particularly governance bodies whose
policies could ultimately be informed by the science and research and the communities in the
regions studied who may be ultimately impacted on by the science/research informed policy.
The results clearly show the need to consider the ‘client’ from outset. They also show that the
motivation behind research questions, the mechanism people employ in their enquiry and the
role of scientists and researcher are changing. This makes for an exciting future in how
scientists and researchers engage with ‘clients’ and how science and research is communicated
in the future. A Ningaloo Client Outreach Community Report is also available. The report is a
concise version of this technical report and has been structured to tell the ‘story’ of the research
while explaining the technical aspects of the project. As such, care has been given to ensure an
appropriate level of technical information (e.g. methodological and interpretive) that remains
comprehensible for the general community. |
