Workshop Summary

Authors: Carol Cotterill, Kira Homola, Richard Norris, Suzanne OConnell, Mitch Schulte

Introduction

The IMPACT Policy Mini-workshop was designed to understand how the Scientific Ocean Drilling Community can work with policy makers to advance our science. We addressed three policy-related questions:

• What policy themes exist in scientific ocean drilling?
• What are the best mechanisms to reach and engage policymakers in Scientific Ocean Drilling?
• How best can we open an information exchange with local policymakers about research that addresses local interests?

We also considered messages that the scientific ocean drilling community would like to convey to policy makers, particularly the critical need for a new drillship and resources for workforce training. In advance of the workshop, the organizers wrote a list of policy implications of Scientific Ocean Drilling that was based on policy-related themes in the 2050 Science Framework. This information, along with videos describing drilling-related marine science, was presented to the workshop participants in advance of the workshop itself. The workshop was virtual and participants met for three hours on two days—July 19 and 21^st.  The format consisted of moderated panel discussions followed by breakout groups to discuss the second and third questions listed above and summary of breakout group discussions captured in text and in a summary sketch.  What follows is a summary of the main findings of the workshop.

Executive Summary

How do you make your program-related information stand out from the average 6,000 other briefing notes received weekly by the staffers of federal representatives? The Advancing Scientific Ocean Drilling Impact through Policy (IMPACT-Policy) included two days of virtual panels and discussion where the opportunities for SciOD to build, strengthen and expand connections to policy were discussed. In addition, the workshop attendees discussed what SciOD can be doing to facilitate and support current and future policies relating to the critical understanding of the oceans as part of Earth science. Presenters and panelists included Congressional staff, and representatives from geoscience societies (American Geophysical Union (AGU) and Geological Society of America (GSA)) and the Office of Ocean Leadership, all with experience in current demands on policymakers and staffers, science communication and policy.

The following recommendations and challenges are synergistic across all guiding questions from the IMPACT-Policy workshop.

Key Recommendations

• When talking to policy makers, it is best to ask for specific support, ideally for something very concrete-- be that funding, championing a bill, co-sponsorship, or engaging an agency. Many scientists lead with research results, which are only indirectly related to an "ask".
• Make sure any "ask" is relevant to a given member, as indicated by their current support of legislation, their historical support of similar bills, or being a direct benefit for their state / constituents.
• Reach out using the channels that are preferred by the staffer / official. For example, effective means of being noticed are opinion pieces, social media and articles in local news media, because these are picked up by news clipping services that are seen personally by members.  These news pieces become especially noticed if they call out the local official, or comment positively on something they are doing.  In-person visits or approaches in collaboration with another organization can also be effective.
• Form long-term working relationships with elected officials and their staff, working through government relations staff on our campuses, and developing coalitions to carry our "asks".
• Make your "ask" easy, requiring no additional work by the official's staff to assess budgetary impacts, source background information, or how your ask can be put into action.

Key Challenges

• Establish a coordinated effort for policy engagement that can support the SciOD community, including:
  • A clearinghouse of legislator contact information and background for each scientist's home district.
  • Identify key issues that officials routinely champion or are already advocates of, including the bills they have supported and committees / caucuses they are involved in.
• Develop a series of talking points that can help guide interactions with the policy arena.
• Make the initial contact with the right staffers and build relationships that have longevity.

Scientific Ocean Drilling Messages

Clear "asks" about physical things, like a new drill ship, have potency because they are concrete with definable impacts.  Conversely, other "asks" the community might want, such as funding for students, and resources for public engagement are highly distributed between mission agencies and levels of government, making them more challenging to identify for discrete funding.

1. We need a new ship to continue US leadership in Ocean Exploration.

• We could lose this leadership position, built over five decades, if we do not invest. 
• US expertise will be lost if we do not try to maintain it or if there are long delays in obtaining a new ship. 
• The expertise is not only in ocean technology, but also database architecture, program organization, and "enduring principles' that govern how international collaboration works.
• If the ship is built in a US port = jobs. 
• US research vessel will support research in many universities (list the ones in your state)

2. The new ship will allow us to: 

• Assess and predict threats to human society—from tracking the threats from large earthquakes and tsunamis, tipping point behavior in ecosystems and climate, and testing models to understand likely future environmental change on a warmer Earth.
• Discover new resources—from evaluating genetic resources and making novel discoveries in the "deep biosphere" to assessing the nature and size of energy reserves such as gas hydrates. The ship can also evaluate the economic potential of deep-sea mineral resources and identify reservoirs for carbon sequestration in the ocean.  
• Capture the public imagination and understanding of Earth—on such topics as the origin of life, the most extreme forms of life, Earth analogs for life on other planets, and an unparalleled view of Earth's past.
• Diversify and position the US for future leadership--- increasing diversity in STEM fields and interdisciplinary training in Earth and Life sciences, marine engineering, data architecture and integration, and collaborations with the space sciences.

Summary

The IMPACT Policy workshop identified themes in the 2050 Science Framework that could be developed to engage policy makers, whether to make a case for further funding, political support or public messaging.  Working with policy makers involves identifying areas with intersections to Scientific Ocean Drilling where elected officials can be champions for us.  Elected officials are more likely to support our community if we can identify specific, concrete "asks", have built coalitions of support, and built personal relationships with their staff.  Like space exploration, Scientific Ocean Drilling has an advantage in not having natural legislative opponents. Further, some of our "asks", like a new drillship, are concrete and can be fit into narratives about leadership in international research, construction jobs, and "showing the flag".

Workshop Findings and Links

• What are the best mechanisms to reach and engage policymakers in Scientific Ocean Drilling?
• How best can we open an information exchange with local policymakers about research that addresses local interests?
• Breakout discussion findings
• Selected resources
• Virtual workshop participant list
• Virtual workshop program