With the ever increasing availability of data and computing power, the potential of ecological forecasts is growing. While the practice of constructing and improving ecological forecast accuracy and precision is core to the field, the community of practice around ecological forecasting is also concerned with improving how forecasts are made to be useful, usable, and used. Accomplishing this requires advances in all aspects of the iterative and recursive forecasting cycle, from initial conceptualization of a forecasting problem through the use of a forecast to make ecologically-relevant decisions. At the center of each of these processes are people. As a result, the advances in this space present opportunities for advances in the social sciences, while ingraining them in practice will require the application of social science insights.
Results/Conclusions
Within the grassroots Ecological Forecasting Initiative there are two working groups that address these issues, one more research oriented and one more practice oriented. The Social Science Working Group is focused on expanding the field of social science related to ecological forecasting. The Partners and Knowledge Transfer working group seeks to foster collaborations and forecast (co-)production. This presentation will discuss two roles EFI has in: (1) leveraging the growing forecasting field to advance fundamental research in the social sciences and (2) building and supporting partnerships among the many actors involved in the ecological forecasting process, from funders to end-users. This presentation will discuss how the social science working group is outlining a research agenda that highlights where the people are in the ecological forecasting cycle and how they may affect and be affected by its processes. It will also provide information on the partners working group’s ongoing outreach program to create a database of partners active in all phases of the forecasting cycle and how potential partners can become involved in this grassroots initiative.