Understand how coral reef research priorities are currently set at the level of individual investigators, research groups, and funding agencies and foundations.
	Have a productive discussion about how those processes could be altered to better serve knowledge needs of coral reef managers and other stakeholders.

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Scientists have significantly expanded our understanding of coral reef ecology over the past several decades and significant work has gone into characterizing the importance of various stressors on coral reef ecosystems worldwide. Some stressors are local in nature, while others are regional or global. Each reef system faces a different set of stressors and management takes place in unique socio-political contexts. Researchers, research administrators, and funding agencies who seek to create useful knowledge face complex decisions in setting their research priorities because of this complexity in understanding knowledge needs.

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We are convening a workshop in conjunction with the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS) in July, 2008 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to better understand the factors that influence choices made at each of these levels. Participants in this four hour workshop will discuss coral reef ecology research priority setting as it is currently practiced and brainstorm ways of improving the system to better address knowledge needs.

The workshop will consist of a series of breakout sessions. The first session will focus on the factors that affect individual researchers’ choices of research problems and how that process might be improved to better address knowledge needs. The second will focus on the same issues at the level of research communities, which can mean laboratory groups or larger communities. The third breakout session will address what shapes research priorities at the level of funding agencies and foundations.

Participants in this workshop will be drawn from ICRS attendees and will include researchers, reef managers, research managers, NGO representatives, and others. By including this diversity of people we will better be able to capture the diversity of political and other factors that shape research priorities at each of the aforementioned levels. Participants can expect to gain from each others knowledge of research priority setting and have the opportunity to develop strategies for optimizing the research portfolio to address the complex management needs of coral reefs.

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The workshop will last a total of four hours. Half an hour at the beginning will be dedicated to introducing the project, laying out the schedule for the day, and assigning participants to working groups. The three subsequent hours will be dedicated breakout groups charged with discussing the factors that shape research priorities at the following levels: the individual researcher, the research community (laboratory groups through scientific society), and funding agencies and foundations. The first twenty minutes of each of these discussions will be dedicated to understanding how research priorities are currently set, twenty minutes on how the process could be improved to better address knowledge needs, and twenty minutes will be reserved for a discussion amongst the whole group about the findings from each breakout group. The remaining half hour will be reserved for further discussion of factors affecting project selection at each of these levels and wrap up. Ideally, we would like to have between 18 and 30 participants in the workshop. Snacks and beverages will be provided.

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The workshop is currently at capacity. To add your name to the waiting list, please contact Mark Neff (mark.neff@asu.edu).

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We have sufficient student volunteers for this meeting. If you would like to add your name to a waiting list, please contact Mark Neff (mark.neff@asu.edu).

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