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CERF 2019 Workshop:

Building and Sustaining Effective Community-Researcher Partnerships

Katy Hintzen, Brenda Asuncion, and Dr. Darren T. Lerner

Date: Sunday, 3 November
Time: 1:00 – 4:00 PM
Regular: $30
Student: $20

Sponsored By 

NOAA Sea Grant

About this Workshop:

This three-hour workshop draws on lessons learned in developing the Kulana Noii (Research Standards) a set of guidelines for building and sustaining long-term relationships between researchers and community in the Hawaiian Islands. While the Kulana Noii reflect a uniquely Hawaiian perspective, these guidelines address common challenges faced by research institutions, resource managers, and community stakeholders globally. The best practices outlined in the Kulana Noii have been incorporated into professional development trainings and university curricula reaching hundreds of researchers engaged in projects studying Hawaiʻi’s coastal and marine ecosystems.

This workshop will highlight lessons learned from the development and dissemination of the Kulana Noii and feature activities designed to build capacity among workshop participants to engage in effective community partnerships in the context of their own work. While most relevant to researchers at all career stages (students, early career professionals, and advanced professionals), the discussion topics, best practices, and skills covered in this workshop will be useful to any coastal professionals engaged in collaborative partnerships with communities.

The workshop will be a mixed format combining:

  1. Group discussions on broad themes related to the challenges and benefits of engaging in collaborative partnership with community
  2. Presentations of lessons learned from a Hawaiʻi case study of developing and implementing guidelines for community-researcher partnerships
  3. Scenario-based activities that guides participants through real world application of best practices for effective community-researcher partnership.

The Kulana Noii can be viewed online at http://seagrant.soest.hawaii.edu/kulana-noii/


About the Presenters

Katy Hintzen is an Extension Agent with the University of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant College Program specializing in coastal resilience. As part of this role, she works to foster collaborative and equitable partnerships between coastal communities, resource stewards, and researchers across the Hawaiian Islands. Prior to her position with Hawaiʻi Sea Grant, Hintzen served as an Extension Agent with Michigan Sea Grant where she provided leadership for education and outreach programming related to community resilience, watershed health, and ecosystem conservation. She has also worked with NOAA developing strategic plans for research, restoration, and public engagement in the Great Lakes and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador. 

Brenda Asuncion was raised in Waipiʻo (ʻEwa, Oʻahu) and her foundational experience with loko iʻa (traditional Hawaiian fishponds) comes from volunteering and working at Heʻeia fishpond with the non-profit organization Paepae o Heʻeia. She worked as a policy specialist with the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary where she assisted with management plan development and community-based projects, prior to joining the Hawaiʻi-based non-profit Kua‘āina Ulu ‘Auamo (KUA) in 2013. Her primary responsibility is to facilitate opportunities for loko i‘a practitioners to collaborate and amplify their collective efforts through a statewide network of over 40 loko iʻa called Hui Mālama Loko Iʻa.

Dr. Darren T. Lerner serves as the Director of the University of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant College Program, the University Director of the Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Science Center and the interim Director for the University of Hawaiʻi Water Resources Research Center. In these positions, Lerner interacts with the public at large in communicating the value of the scientific enterprise to the sustainable and regenerative use of coastal and marine resources including water resource sustainability and climate adaptation. Lerner has oversight of many K-12, undergraduate and graduate education and public policy activities conducted throughout the State of Hawaiʻi and the Pacific region. Under his administration, these programs are involved in a wide range of public outreach, education and training programs.