Examples of Outreach Activities for Research Proposals
Hypothetical Research Project:
A new suite of techniques to control riverbank erosion in high-density sportfishing areas in Alaska
Examples of activities prior to submission
- Consult with:
- Local community officials
- Agencies, such as Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Habitat Division; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; U.S. Forest Service; National Park Service; Alaska State Parks; etc.
- Community organizations such as conservation groups, sportfishing groups
- Seek support in the form of agreement that, if research leads to effective new erosion control technique(s), officials or agencies will seriously consider incorporation in their programs or operations.
- Try to set up ways to collaborate by sharing results with field personnel, holding formal and informal meetings to convey results and newly developed techniques.
- Consult with the Marine Advisory Program (MAP) and Alaska Sea Grant (ASG) staff to develop potential outreach activities.
Examples of potential activities to disseminate results
- An illustrated technical manual, New Horizons in Riverbank Erosion Mitigation, outlining our new techniques, will be published and distributed free of charge.
- We will collaborate with the Alaska Sea Grant web coordinator to post GIS-based maps identifying damaged and at-risk riverbanks at a Riverbank Erosion website. The website will also include details of our new remediation and protection techniques.
- A color-illustrated brochure, written and produced in collaboration with ASG, will illustrate the damage that can occur from high-density activities and will provide tips to help fisherman and others to reduce their impact.
- An 8-minute video summarizing the problem and our solutions will be produced. The program will be designed for showing at sportfishing conventions, public festivals, sportfishing association meetings, and on the NOAA Weather Channel, among other places/opportunities.
- A magazine article will be written by the Alaska Sea Grant media specialist.
- Three public radio news producers have committed to interviews with the PIs that will focus on awareness and impact reduction for river users.
- We will collaborate with the Alaska Sea Grant marine education specialist to incorporate age- and learning concept-appropriate information on riverbank habitat protection into the Alaska Seas and Rivers K–8 online curriculum, melding our information with existing information contained in the curriculum on riverine habitats.
- Implementation dates/timeline should be included.
Budget implications
Discuss potential collaboration with ASG/MAP staff and develop cost and workload estimates. Costs should be documented in the budget section in a format similar to the following example.
Our budget includes $XXX for [specify] outreach tactics. Costs of other tactics [specify] will be absorbed by Alaska Sea Grant, as agreed on by [specify] in preparation of this proposal.
Additional examples of outreach activities
Utilizing the Marine Advisory Program and Sea Grant staff, other examples of possible outreach include:
- Direct involvement with a fisheries management agency to improve, test, or implement a new or improved fisheries model.
- Direct contact through community meetings, workshops, seminars, or official meetings with stakeholders and stakeholder organizations to solicit input, present and explain new research, or to further the application of research to management or other community needs.
- Incorporation of new research findings into formal and informal education activities.
- Proactive contact with news and other media to broaden local, regional, or national understanding of research outcomes.
- Organized, professional-quality use of traditional and/or new media to disseminate research results to appropriate audiences.
