What were the Science Town Hall Meetings?

Our Science Town Hall Series were three meetings we held in the communities of Likely, Horsefly and Williams Lake. They were designed to be a two-way reflexive learning exercise between academic and non-academic participants.  These meetings were intended to assist in a multi-way transfer of knowledge among scientists based in natural resource management and the social sciences, policy makers, and local community members with the ultimate goal of increasing the relevance of, and community participation in, our research at the Quesnel River Research Centre (QRRC).

Who attended these meetings?

We were fortunate to have a very good cross-section of the people who live, work, and/or recreate in the Quesnel River watershed. We had residents from each community, small business owners, ranchers, government biologists, representatives from industry, professional consultants, and fellow academics join us to discuss issues that were important to them, or the organizations that they work for.

What did we learn from these Town Hall Meetings?

These meetings provided us with a clearer picture of the concerns of the people that live in the area where we conduct our research. Gaining these insights was of tremendous importance to us for two reasons. Firstly, we were able to determine that many of the concerns raised by workshop participants overlap with some of our current and proposed research projects. Secondly we recognized that the more challenging follow-up aspect for us will be to develop and sustain community partnerships and funding sources that address the issues raised by the communities and which can be integrated into our research program at the QRRC.
We found the results from these meetings valuable because we see community engagement an important step to serve the communities in which we operate. Often, academics working in remote settings like the QRRC will conduct their research in a veritable vacuum, whereby we fulfill our academic research requirements without asking two simple questions of the communities we operate in: what is important to you, and how could you be involved? We strongly believe that the approach we have undertaken here is of value to us as we develop our research programs.