Dr. Megan Jennings of the Connecting Wildlands & Communities (CWC) Project, a collaborative project led by SDSU’s Institute for Ecological Monitoring and Management, was invited to present on a panel highlighting successful research engagement stories at the California Strategic Growth Council’s Climate Change Research Symposium.
On November 5, 2019 the California Strategic Growth Council’s (SGC) Climate Change Research Symposium hosted scientists, community leaders, tribal governments, non-profits, and state agency staff to discuss “Science to Action” and the state’s vision for climate change research and what it can achieve in California.
For their “Successes and Best Practices in Research Engagement” panel, the SGC invited Dr. Megan Jennings to share the importance of engagement in her research. Dr. Jennings is a Climate Science Alliance Advisor and leads the Connecting Wildlands & Communities (CWC) project, which is using integrated land use planning to support climate resilient ecosystems and local communities. The three-year project is funded by the California Strategic Growth Council as part of the California Climate Change Research program, and is led by the Institute for Ecological Monitoring and Management at San Diego State University. The Climate Science Alliance team is proud to be part of this project to support and lead meaningful engagement efforts.
Dr. Jennings shared how the CWC team collaborates with our boundary-spanning organization to better engage the research with stakeholders and the community. The goal of this research is to provide an integrated planning and decision-making framework that supports multi-benefit landscape-scale planning and facilitates science-informed climate adaptation and strategies across the region.
By practicing meaningful engagement such as hosting interactive feedback meetings for a diverse group of attendees, the CWC team has been able to support actionable science for climate adaptation.
About the Climate Change Research Symposium:
California Strategic Growth Council’s Climate Change Research Symposium highlighted engagement in research, showcased best practices and presented paths forward to advance actionable science through meaningful engagement of stakeholders and communities in the research process. Participants engaged actively throughout the day via a mix of panel discussions, plenary speakers, networking, and workshopping. The goal for the Symposium was to build knowledge in California’s research community on engagement best practices, as well as to demonstrate the role and importance of research in helping citizens, legislators, and communities.