What is Social Science, and why is it important to the Reef?
Social science for the Great Barrier Reef is about understanding and managing people’s relationship with the Reef for the health of both the Reef and the people.
- What do social sciences study?
- Social phenomena: markets, governance, politics, culture, demographics, ideas, narratives, development, socio-economics, well-being, policy and law
- Social processes: social organization, decision-making, educating, marketing, local development
- Individual attributes: values, beliefs, knowledge, motivations, preferences, perceptions and behaviours
What are social sciences for?
- Like all sciences, social science works to:
- Understand and describe phenomena: social phenomena, processes or individual attributes - why or how something is occurring
- Develop and test theory - what factors are associated with illegal fishing? What motivates people to engage in activities to protect the Reef?
- Anticipate future trends - how people may use the Reef in future - through modelling and forecasting social and/or economic conditions
- Imagine desirable futures - to question the status quo or business as usual by understanding different perspectives and how we might create the future we want.
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority adopts a social-ecological system approach to its management and protection. This approach recognises that the Reef and the people who use it are strongly interconnected. This dual approach is one that involves management actions that consider ecological, social and economic factors, while applying the precautionary principle.
We use social science to understand the human dimensions of the Reef.
Human dimensions of the Reef
- Human dimensions of the Reef include:
- Where are people going in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park?
- What are they doing?
- How are they doing it?
- When are they doing it?
- Why are they doing it?
- What are the connections between all these things and what does it mean for the health of people and the Reef?
Human dimension framework for the Great Barrier Reef
The Human Dimensions Framework for the Great Barrier Reef helps us organise this information to understand and track change over time.
- The framework groups the human dimensions of the Reef into five overlapping hubs:
- Sustainable Use
- Stewardship
- Governance
- Heritage
- Connection to the Reef
These hubs describe social, economic, cultural and institutional aspects of people’s relationship to the Reef. The framework will be used to report progress against objectives in the Reef 2050 Long-term Sustainability Plan.
Explore how the Reef 2050 Integrated Monitoring and Reporting Program (RIMReP) brings together information to guide Reef management decisions via the Reef Knowledge System.
View the Reef Authority’s priority information needs and knowledge gaps, focusing on long-term Reef management and protection.
This image represents the Human Dimensions framework for the Great Barrier Reef.
Adapted from: Assessment and monitoring of the human dimensions within the Reef 2050 Integrated Monitoring and Reporting Program: final report of the Human Dimensions Expert Group (2019)
Social Science Community for the Great Barrier Reef
The Social Science Community for the Reef brings together social science practitioners and academics working in the Great Barrier Reef Region. The group's purpose is to collaborate, share knowledge and provide a platform for improving understanding of social science for the Reef, both research and applied.
This Community is an initiative of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority in collaboration with:
- Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
- Office of the Great Barrier Reef (Department of Environment and Science, Queensland)
- James Cook University: University, the Cairns Institute
- The Queensland University of Technology,
- The University of Queensland and
- Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
To join or for more information, please get in touch with Science@gbrmpa.gov.au
Join our Community
Join our Linked group: Social Science Community for the Great Barrier Reef
Join our mailing list or for more information contact: Science@gbrmpa.gov.au
Watch
Watch videos from previous meetings and symposium:
Reef Authority: Deep Dive - SSCR - YouTube
The SSCR holds quarterly meetings bringing both academic and practical perspectives on themes of interest.
Examples of previous themes have been: policies, communication, valuing ecosystems, etc.
Watch videos from previous meetings Quarterly meetings recordings - YouTube
The Social Science Community for the Reef is excited to announce a stellar program for its third Symposium which will take place in Cairns on 11 - 12 September. James Cook University and the Cairns Institute are hosting the event.
We invite you to join us at the symposium and/or workshops. Be inspired by the latest Reef social science and meet with your peers to help collectively explore the diverse values, ecologies and communities of the Reef.
For more information and to register for the event, please visit the 2023 Symposium Eventbrite page.
Please note that the in-person sessions have limited capacity so get in quick!
The Social science community for the Reef held its second symposium on 3 - 4 November 2022 in Brisbane, Queensland. The University of Queensland hosted the event.
Diverse coastal communities and Indigenous peoples rely on the Great Barrier Reef (the Reef) for their livelihoods, well-being and cultural continuity.
The Reef is part of our national identity and one of our most loved icons. Yet, the Reef continues to be under threat. The Reef’s waters again warmed early in December 2021, leading to the first mass bleaching event to occur under La Niña conditions.
It has never been more important for us to come together to help progress the Reef 2050 Long Term Sustainability Plan’s vision and outcome of “Healthy Reef, Healthy People”.
Be inspired by the latest Reef social science and meet with your peers to help collectively shape a future for the Reef.
- Workshop Day - 3 November 2022 consisted of 3 workshops, a panel and a performance:
- Whole-of-system, Values-Based Implementation Workshop- Mike Ronan (DES) and Dr Rachel Miller (DES)
- The Translation of Social Science for Reef Management – Dr Michelle Dyer (GBRMPA) and Dr Angela Dean (UQ)
- Social Science with Reef Traditional Owners – John Tapim and Dr Michelle Dyer (GBRMPA)
- You CAN ask that – Social Science with Traditional Owners Panel: John Tapim (GBRMPA), David Hudson (Didgeralia), Keron Murray (Wuthathi Chairman), Brent McLellan (Gidarjil TUMRA coordinator)
- Performance by David Hudson (Digeralia)
- Presentation Day - 4th November 2022 consisted of:
- 2 keynote presentations:
- The history and future of Sea Country co-management - John Tapim (Acting Director Traditional Use of Marine Resources, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority) -
- The Reef’s History of protection and How the Reef’s history remains a source of hope and inspiration - Dr Rohan Lloyd (Reef historian, JCU)
- 19 presentations and 10 poster displays were divided into 3 broad themes on Reef social science:
- Reef and Climate Stewardship
- Monitoring and Decision Making
- Innovation and Solutions
Watch videos from 2022 symposium Social Science Symposium 2022 - on YouTube
The second social science symposium was attended by:
The Social Science community for the Great Barrier Reef held its inaugural symposium on Tuesday 5 October 2021, in Townsville, Queensland. The event was hosted by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.
The symposium inspired social perspectives on maintaining and enhancing connections and flows that link and replenish, essential for the diversity and resilience of the Reef.
We sought to explore social-ecological connectivity, which we defined as the exchange or connection of ideas, benefits, knowledge, information and data, people and place, tele-connected and cross-scalar movements and other relationships.
We had an exciting program with a welcome from the Authority’s chief scientist David Wachenfeld, two plenary talks from Peta Ross (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority) and Bruce Taylor (CSIRO), 12 presentations and two discussion sessions around the themes “Connecting and collaborating” and “Navigating change”. We ended the symposium with a panel discussion on critical paths forward.
Watch videos from 2021 symposium: Social Science Symposium 2021 - YouTube
