Inviting members of the ocean community interested in learning about how we can better identify what motivates peoples’ behaviour, what helps them take action, and what might get in the way, in relation to ocean conservation.  These insights can help guide, for example, strategic ocean communications, effective knowledge mobilization and community engagement practices, as well as broader ocean decision-making and investments that consider peoples’ lived experiences and realities.

Date: June 10, 2025

Time: 15:00 – 16:15 PM

Location:  Beyond Borders: Future Ocean Pavilion, Green Zone  

Hosted by: Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition, Communications Inc, Boticário Group Foundation, Instituto do Mar Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Ocean Generation

Ocean challenges are people challenges. To design effective ocean literacy and communication efforts, we must understand how people connect with, value, and act for the ocean and all waterways leading to it. While understanding the ocean itself is crucial for developing impactful solutions, equally important is understanding the human connection to it. The Ocean and Society Survey is a first-of-its-kind tool for ocean practitioners to understand how people across the world think and feel about the ocean. We must leverage this exciting new knowledge to create more targeted, effective and measurable initiatives.

Both the ocean literacy and strategic communications communities recognise that the data provided by the OSS, as well as other public perception research and tools, can provide a path for action, equipping us with the evidence-base required to design more targeted, impactful interventions and providing a shared measurement of effect.

COLC’s Diz Glithero will be moderating this event, and COLC’s Research Manager and lead coordinator of the OSS initiative, Jen McRuer, will be sharing collaboration efforts to date, setting the stage for partners to speak to its impact and relevance in global regions.