Lessons Learned Relating to all challenges

• Develop real-time information systems, training activities and incentives to share knowledge and information for avoiding tendencies of local governments and businesses to downplay negative consequences;
• Organise carefully the workshop phases for successfully meeting the objectives and for engaging all participants;
• Define a clear plan for the future engagement of the workshop's participants to keep the community active;
• Define a workshop triggering question that is short, clear and easily understood by all stakeholders;
• Ask participants to state their workshop expectations because experience shows that some find the workshop and its participatory method intriguing, others were interested In how to develop a shared vision, some had an interest in being inspired and build networks;
• Focus not only on high-level ideas but also on required research and innovation actions needed to execute them;
• Explain the workshop topic in an inclusive, strategic and broad manner for involving all types of participants;
• Describe the workshop topic with clear and concrete examples of the subject using storytelling;
• Allocate sufficient time for discussions and to involve all participants interests and ideas;
• Encourage researchers to voice their opinions on marine issues in the media focusing on economic, environmental and social needs to enable the uptake of new technologies;
• Focus on environmental aspects through a multi-stakeholder approach to ensure stability and availability of resources;
• Improve marine education provided in medium and higher education;
• Adjust legislation to allow open access to marine-related research;
• Embed governance in legislation through accountability to ensure the sustainability of marine sectors;
• Enable workshops participants to create networks and communities of interest to further research and identify solutions for the studied issue;
• Identify motives for policy makers and implementers to participate in the workshops as they are reluctant in participating;
• Use the media to bring awareness to the society about the results from research and innovation;
• Use both phone and email for citizen recruitment;
• Achieve success through multi-stakeholder engagement and consensus;
• Establish transparent, efficient and effective democratic mechanisms amongst all involved and throughout all the phases to create trust;
• Explain RRI and innovation tools and how to embed them in policy agendas as participants find it useful;
• Create a friendly and relaxed workshop atmosphere for participants to have lively and open discussions;
• Involve politicians and municipality representatives in workshops to increase its effectiveness;
• Awareness and education are fundamental in changing mindsets;
• To measure the workshop's success, define clear and achievable objectives;
• Use diverse communication channels (e-mail, telephone, face-to-face and word of mouth) for recruiting participants;
• Email and telephone were the best communication channels for promoting the workshop;
• Be aware of the motivational factor that workshop participants may feel because they like the fact that an interdisciplinary group representing all society's niches is invited to brainstorming for resolving the problem;
• The SDD method was evaluated as very well structured, inclusive, productive, scientific, interesting and dynamic;
• Disseminate research and innovation outcomes that have societal relevance for ethical acceptability;
• Succeed with public engagement through science education and open access in policy;
• Plan well the workshop so that participants provide their ideas in an active way;
• Allocate a good part of the workshop for creating a clear common action plan;
• Plan well the participant groups so that all stakeholders are sufficiently represented;
• Action and follow-up the co-defined action plan;
• Promote the workshop through websites and poster campaigns;
• Explain at the start of the workshop the different phases that participants will go through;
• Achieve positive engagement with all types of local stakeholders including relevant government agencies, local businesses; regulators; NGOs, CSOs, researchers and citizens;
• Use of technology as an instrument to both monitor the regulations and to disseminate data in near real-time;
• Consider the impacts of any activity before consenting which may require the deployments of monitoring technologies to facilitate monitoring and impact assessment;
• Build capacity through education by developing local and national programmes for secondary schools and outreach programmes through citizen projects utilising real-time data from monitoring equipment;
• Generate ideas for actions during the workshops by having: a) simple, short title; one line describing the idea and one-two lines (minimum) explaining and clarifying the idea;
• Generate ideas for actions during the workshops by having: b) think who would be responsible for implementing the proposed action and how to engage the person or organisation;
• Generate ideas for actions during the workshops by having: c) timing (when could such an idea be implemented);
• Generate ideas for actions during the workshops by having: d) resources (how would the idea be implemented);
• Coordinate all activities related to policy, planning and regulation in the best possible way to reduce conflict and help meet environmental, economic and social objectives;
• Perform an analysis of publics' behaviours before engaging the public engagement;
• Use audience targeted communication for all types stakeholders that is engaging.

See also...

Societal Challenge