Schlesinger (2010) warned that ecological knowledge was not making its way into policy as often as it must. He called upon ecologists to engage in “translational ecology” that conveys ecological information accurately and in ways that are both understandable and approachable for stakeholders. If ecologists are falling short in that respect, one likely reason is that we have not been trained to do so. To address this issue, a 12-member group formed with assistance from the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) has identified learning processes and teaching approaches that could best train graduate students to function as translational ecologists. Our group’s goal is to support a community of practice engaged in actionable research to enhance social-ecological resilience through collaborative work across boundaries. This workshop is designed to share with our ESA colleagues some tools and activities to develop core competencies for the practice of translational ecology.

We will present results of our work, describing core knowledge, skills, and dispositional attributes that can promote successful efforts at translational ecology. Then, focusing on a subset of those skills and content knowledge, we will propose instructional approaches and invite workshop participants to share educational activities or experiences that be useful for building those skills or knowledge. Working in small groups we will collaboratively develop case examples that participants can adapt for use in their own graduate programs. The overall workshop goal is to establish a community of practice that promotes instruction and skill-building for translational ecology to better connect ecology to action.

Attendees are encouraged to bring a lunch.