Year: 2021
Relevance
From 2014-2021, the Sea Grant Oil Spill Science Outreach Team worked with audiences from multiple sectors - including emergency response, academic research and the oil industry - to connect the latest oil spill science to people who needed answers. These target audiences expressed a strong desire for outreach publications tailored to their interests along with increased opportunities to interface as a group and find ways to more effectively work together prior to another major oil spill.
Response
The team developed more than 50 outreach publications addressing topics of interest to the emergency response community. Additionally, the team partnered with local, state and federal oil spill response leaders to host a workshop series for these audiences. The events included input sessions and featured representatives from the oil industry, federal, state, and university researchers. The events focused on sharing respective roles and challenges faced during oil spills, discerning needs and providing a place to network and collaborate.
Results
The workshops and input sessions brought together over 200 attendees, positioning the Oil Spill Science Outreach Team as a trusted resource, a catalyst for engagement and a community connector. The National Oil Spill Control School, an oil spill response course in the Canary Islands, the Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator's Office, and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement requested and used the team's publications. In addition, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the team facilitated a HAZWOPER training that provided annual certification for 24 emergency responders in Florida.
Recap
The Sea Grant Oil Spill Science Outreach team acted as a catalyst for engagement between scientists, emergency responders and the oil industry by hosting seminars, organizing workshops and training, providing resources and sharing publications that were incorporated into trainings for the response community. (2021)